Citi Mortgage

1sts - Citi is pretty reasonable on 1sts, once you figure out who to talk to. If you get a good contact at Citi, save the number. We have success at times when we direct a file to a negotiator we have had success with previously. Without a contact person when you call they say email and when you email they say call. This gets very tiresome. It is taking over 3 weeks to get assigned to a negotiator.
2nds - Citi has been moving files into the "Recovery" department when the loan hits 180 days late. The recovery department is very difficult to work with. Once in the Recovery department, it will take a bigger contribution from the homeowner most times, even on non-recourse debt. Even with a 10 cents on the dollar contribution, it sometimes takes an agreement to a soft note to get an approval. Bottomline, move fast on Citi 2nds if you can.
Update - CitiMortgage has a new form approval letter containing the following: CitiMortgage, Inc. reserves the right to revoke the short sale authorization until the certified funds and final HUD 1 settlement statement is received and reviewed. In other words, they reserve the right to unwind your deal – that would be after the buyer, with a policy of title insurance in hand, already owns it. Getting a short sale closed on an approval letter that includes this clause requires an extensive and entirely silly work-around by the agents and the escrow agent.