What is the issue with the bank holding the title? Sure, you lose the house if you can't make the payments to the bank, but you also lose the house if you can't make the tax payments to the government. In both situations (with or without a mortgage), you never truly own it.

> knowing that the bank still holds the title to your house.

While the bank holds the title on a financed car, they don't actually hold title on your house. They will have a recorded lien, of course. But you hold the title, which should help you sleep ;p.

That's why a house is foreclosed, and a car is repossessed. Repo is lender calls the tow peeps and they pick up your car; foreclosure requires notice and often court and plenty of bureaucracy.

Neither option is fun, of course.

On topic, I was paying a little extra on my mortgage (mostly as I rate adjusted down, I would tend to keep paying the old payment), but when savings interest is more than mortgage interest, it was just as easy to sleep with a savings balance equal to the mortgage balacne as with no mortgage.