A story in the LA Times that ran several days ago has been bouncing around blogs and into my email inbox ever since, so I thought you might like to check it out. Apparently, the idea that homeowners are skipping out on their mortgages might be just an idea.

The story, which you can find here, says it is hard to find much evidence to support the notion that people are walking out on their mortgages and mailing their keys back to banks -- a practice that has been dubbed "jingle mail" in real estate circles.

I found this portion of the story to be particularly eye catching:

Bruce Marks, CEO of Neighborhood Assistance Corp., a Boston-based nonprofit agency that helps strapped homeowners, says flat out that the notion that legions of borrowers are simply deciding not to pay is an "urban myth" that largely reflects the mortgage industry's desire to blame homeowners, rather than their lenders, for the surge in problem loans.

Marks and others assert that mortgage bankers have an incentive to blame the rise in delinquencies and foreclosures on borrowers skipping out on obligations they're financially able to meet, because that diverts attention from the lenders' own role in the mortgage crisis.