Cyber Monday is probably a really good day for affiliates in general, but E-LOAN affiliates just got some bad news. Did they cut commission right before the Holidays like some scrooge merchants did? Nope. The mortgage crunch must have hit them hard. They are closing down their affiliate program and links will expire on Dec. 14th.

Dave from Freezing Hot just alerted me to the issue. Here’s one paragraph from the email they sent affiliates.

“In order to stay ahead of the current mortgage cycle and enable E-LOAN to maintain its leadership position in the industry, E-LOAN will begin scaling back some operations/programs to reduce its cost structure and unfortunately removing our affiliate program is one of them.”

Read the rest: Bad Move of the Day: E-loan Cancels Affiliate Program

“…to reduce its cost structure…” Properly structured the affiliate program should not be a revenue drain. If payouts are right, then the program should be more than paying for itself, unless its an issue of cutting back on staff or something.

Added 12/2 Shawn has an update: Why E-LOAN is Closing the Affiliate Program