Jingle Mail May be Urban Myth

Despite reports to the contrary, a trend described as "walking away" or "jingle mail" which involves homeowners voluntarily defaulting on their loans even though they possess the means to make payments has been dismissed by experts as a myth.

The trend which was the subject of "Inside Edition", a celebrity focused TV news program highlighted a story featuring former baseball MVP, Jose Canseco, who abandoned his $2.5 million mansion outside Los Angeles to move into a smaller property.

"You look at the Jose Canseco issue and say that it's a walkaway, but he is probably the only person on his block that did that, said Robert Padgett, director of loss mitigation for Freddie Mac. "Those types of stories garner a lot of attention," he added, but they are isolated occurrences," he is quoted as saying in The New York Times.

According to Moody's, an estimated 9 million American households, or 10.3 percent of all single-family homes, owe more than their home is worth. By comparison, 4.8 percent of home loans were in foreclosure or delinquent by 60 days or more at the end of last year, figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association indicate.