As the US housing slump deepens, troubled mortgage lenders are getting used to a new, unsettling sound. Jingle-mail – the clink of housekeys being mailed in by homeowners who are opting out of mortgages – is fast becoming a buzzword in the industry.

Websites take the initiative

As in 2005, when the Miami-based website condoflip.com came to symbolise the heady appetite for speculating in real estate, the internet has been quick to spot an emerging market as house prices have dipped, writes Michael Mackenzie.

With a 79 per cent increase in foreclosures,
to 2.2m in 2007, according to RealtyTrac, several websites have sprung
up offering to help homeowners avoid such a fate.

Others have taken the opposite route. John Maddux, a partner in youwalkaway.com, says the website offers advice
on legal and tax matters
to people faced with foreclosure for a flat fee of $995, and enrols them in credit repair programmes.

“It is not our job to tell people to walk away from their obligations; rather we help them when they have no other choice but to follow plan B and hand back the keys,” Mr Maddux said.

Borrowers who overstretched to finance the purchase of a home have been hit hard by plunging house prices and a tightening of credit standards, and for many, foreclosure appears to be the only way out .