jingle mail

noun

The practice of posting one's house keys back to the mortgage company because of negative equity or inability to pay mortgage investments.

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Meanings

nounjingle mail (uncountable)
  1. neologismuncountableThe practice of posting one's house keys back to the mortgage company because of negative equity or inability to pay mortgage investments.

    However, all four states have had the most overheated mortgage markets and reportedly the highest incidence of jingle mail.

    2008, OECD Economic Surveys: United States 2008
    3 more examples

    "There's going to be a lot of jingle mail this winter," Barnes says of owners who will simply pop their house keys in the mail in lieu of a mortgage check.

    2007, U.S. News and World Report

    Nouriel Roubini, one of Wall Street's most pessimistic seers, worries that the "forthcoming jingle-mail tsunami" could spawn $1 trillion-2 trillion of financial losses, creating a systemic banking crisis.

    2008, The Economist

    However, with all the jingle mail going on, there is a good chance you can sway the mortgage company with the correct psychology.

    2009, Paul Stemborowski, How to Modify Your Loans: And Save Thousands of Dollars by Doing It
Cite this entry
APA

jingle mail. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jingle%20mail

MLA

“jingle mail.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jingle%20mail. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “jingle mail,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/jingle%20mail.

Source: jingle mail on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.