Veterans wounded, injured, or disabled in the line of duty can now make reduced monthly payments on CitiMortgage-owned loans as part of a new initiative by the financial services company. The Citi Disabled Veterans Mortgage Relief Program offers an interest rate reduction of 2.5 percent on existing mortgages for a period of two years. Surviving spouses may also be eligible for the program.

Residential mortgage foreclosure rates continue to fall in Texas, dropping to 1.89 percent during the first quarter of 2011 - well below the national average of 4.52 percent. The Lone Star State now has the sixth lowest foreclosure rate in the country. Mortgage bankers in the state say the numbers provide further evidence that Texas has one of the best lending landscapes in the country.

CitiMortgage and Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services will host a free homeowner outreach event for distressed homeowners in Torrance, California on Tuesday. Part of the Citi Road to Recovery Homeowner Assistance Series, the event is open to all homeowners needing help with their mortgage payments.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently announced a new mechanism that encourages servicers to report non-incentivized loan modifications using the agency's online system. A mortgagee letter will make this reporting a requirement in the future. FHA warns that servicers who miss the 60-day window for filing an incentive claim should still report modification terms or they may incur monetary damages by delaying future claims activity after the original loan maturity date automatically terminates the FHA insurance.

Lender Processing Services, Inc. recently added a new property module to its McDash Loan Data suite of products. The suite is offered by LPS's Applied Analytics division. The new module supplements the McDash database with an updated view of borrower equity. It combines public records information related to second liens with the analytic capabilities of the LPS Home Price Index to provide an indication of current total loan-to-value (LTV) ratios for residential housing across the country.

According to data released by S&P Indices and Experian, the default rate on second lien mortgages has increased for the first time in at least five months. The agencies' report shows second mortgage defaults rose from 1.42 percent in March to 1.51 percent in April. First mortgages, on the other hand, saw a decrease in default rates. These results are based on data extracted from Experian's consumer credit database, which covers approximately $11 trillion in outstanding loans sourced from 11,500 lenders.

Foreclosure filings and foreclosure sales at auction in Colorado's metropolitan counties declined during April, according to a report by the Colorado Division of Housing. It was the fifth consecutive month where both filings and sales were down in the state when compared to the same month a year earlier. Foreclosure filings hit a 31-month low in March of this year but have risen slightly since.

Veri-Tax, LLC, a provider of income and identity verification products for banks and mortgage lenders, successfully completed a SAS-70/SSAE-16 Type II audit. Veri-Tax calls the SAS-70/SSAE-16 audit the more rigorous Type II audit, which involves an assessment of its corporate-wide policies and procedures related to handling client data. Such an audit addresses how employees access borrower tax and identity orders as well as the security of Veri-Tax's financial billing systems, information technology, and disaster recovery plans.

Las Vegas residents facing foreclosure can receive help during a Home Rescue Fair this Friday and Saturday at the Palace Station Hotel Casino. Sponsored by the city of Las Vegas, the event was organized by Housing for Nevada and the Alliance for Stabilizing Communities, with the support of Bank of America.

Interthinx, a provider of risk mitigation solutions, recently integrated business search and bankruptcy data within its FraudGUARD system to help lenders identify high-risk borrowers. According to the company, the changes ensure a more concise borrower risk review, can improve loan quality, and provide users with a fraud prevention report.