Fifth Third aims to get unemployed mortgage holders jobs

Fifth Third is set to try an interesting approach toward bringing people back up to speed on their mortgages: getting unemployed people who have mortgages with the bank new jobs.

The bank announced Wednesday a new program with a company called NextJob that will give unemployed mortgage-holders one-on-one career counseling, weekly webinars on things like resume-crafting, and access to job search software.

More than half of Fifth Third's mortgage delinquencies come after job losses.

It's unclear how many people in Charlotte would be eligible, but Fifth Third's mortgage business is active in the area.

The bank and its mortgage subsidiary originated 282 loans for new home purchases in the Charlotte area in 2011, worth a total of $70.7 million, according to the latest data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. It refinanced 1,286 loans, worth $271 million.