You're only threatened with foreclosure should you fail to pay your mortgage. Your mortgage being upside-down has nothing to do with it. Having said that, the

You're only threatened with foreclosure should you fail to pay your mortgage. Your mortgage being upside-down has nothing to do with it. Having said that, the major banks shouldn't have got bailed-out either. Smaller banks that were responsible would have had the opportunity to grow when the larger banks faltered due to their bad decisions. As another commenter here quipped, the first houses Wall Street bought were in Congress.