CHARLOTTE -- A mortgage lending company headquartered in Charlotte laid off many of its employees. Security guards stood at the front entrance of EquiFirst on Tuesday while dozens of people filed out into the parking lot with boxes in hand.

According to employees, more than 430 people were told to pack their belongings and leave immediately.

Equifirst is headquartered in Charlotte. They also have an operating center in Phoenix and workers across the country. This is just the latest round of cuts for companies in the sub-prime lending business.

Some industry experts including president-elect of the Charlotte Regional Mortgage Lenders Association, Robert Goodling, say they aren't shocked by the news of the latest layoffs.

"I think this is the correction, the weeding out, who are stretching it out too far," Goodling said.

He adds that sub-prime lending, or lending to people who have less than perfect credit for buying a house, has been around for years.

But in the past five years, the guidelines were loosened, or stretched, and many mortgage companies created departments to take advantage of the business.

As a result, 10 percent to 12 percent of those people are delinquent and Goodling believes it will continue to grow.

"When you have depreciation of a market, your equity position as an investor, that's buying the loans and servicing the loans, is compromised," he said.

Equifirst isn't the first company to make cuts or close down. American Home Mortgage and HomeBanc are filing for bankruptcy.

Goodling says this is an unprecedented time now and believes the cuts like at Equifirst will likely continue.