Home Owners Cut Losses – Send Jingle Mail
While the motivation to sell can be enormous, it’s sometimes worth it to cut your losses and just send the keys back to the lender – the proverbial jingle mail. That’s where more and more people are finding themselves – the position to cut their losses, throw in the towel, and take their first step toward financial recovery.
Jane Hobson, a contributor at MSNBC.com, wrote about a family that opted to abandon their home in order to preserve their own physical and mental well-being.
By the time her family mailed keys back to their lender during fall 2007 and moved in rent-free with friends, Bondora no longer cared about the fact she’d let her home go to foreclosure, nor did she care about the $15,000 property tax bill she got after relinquishing her property or the fact that her credit score has plummeted from about 690 to the 500s. The family escaped personal bankruptcy and will pay off their debt within 18 months.
I can’t say I blame people who make this decision. If you have limited income, cause your family to suffer because of the stress, depression, and worry of making ends meet, and make yourself physically sick from the worry, maybe it is a good time to walk away.
It will take take time recover from a foreclosure – how long depends on where your credit score was to start. It could take up to 10 years to build your good name, but could take less time if you are dedicated to no future late payments on ANY of your bills (phone, credit cards, rent, etc.).
Tough decision, but definitely something to consider if the downward spiral never seems to stop.
Photo by Butler Corey via Flickr Creative Commons.
[...] mortgages – that is they owe far more on their home loan than the house is actually worth. Plus, jingle mail, short sales, and foreclosures have decimated not only neighborhoods, but entire cities. For [...]