jingle mail

n. building or house keys sent by mail and unexpectedly received by a mortgage-issuer from someone who can no longer make mortgage payments and chooses to relinquish control of a property. Subjects: English, Houses & Housing, Slang

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Citations: 1992 Pamela Yip Houston Chronicle (1) (Nov. 1) “Haunted by debt”: Kosciuszko said the mortgage insurance industry coined the term “jingle mail” because homeowners whose mortgages were worth far more than their homes literally mailed their house keys in to lenders. 1997 Davis Bushnell Boston Globe (Massachusetts) (Dec. 6) “Boom got away from many condo owners” p. G1: When the recession of the early 1990s hit, many owners of converted apartments in the Boston area, and especially those who had purchased them as investments, resorted to “jingle mail”—sending condo-unit keys to their banks or mortgage companies and walking away. 2006 Bill Fleckenstein MSN Money (Aug. 7) “Even if the Fed pauses, the trend is down”: I have heard about isolated cases of “jingle mail,” where homeowners have mailed in the keys because they can’t make the payments and no longer have any equity in their homes. That phrase was a prominent feature of the S&L bust and ensuing real-estate debacle in 1990-1991—and something we’ll be hearing lots more about in the future. 2007 Charleston Daily Mail (Charleston, West Virginia) (May 6) “Mortgage spike forcing evictions in the nice neighborhoods, too” (in California): In the great Southern California bust of the early 1990s, real estate legend holds, many defaulting homeowners mailed their keys back to the lenders, in effect washing their hands of the whole matter, and promptly left town. Thus was born the term “jingle mail.”

Posted 24 May 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

The phrase “jingle mail” appeared in the New York Times of 5/10/08, p. B1, in an article entitled “Mortgage Holders Find It Hard to Walk Away From Their Homes.”
URL http://www.nytimes.com/20 08/05/10/business/10housi ng.html?em&ex=1210564 800&en=df014084fed21b a5&ei=5087

by Karl Benghauser 11 May 08, 0341 GMT