From AP:
The federal Office of Thrift Supervision, a division of the Treasury Department, is drafting a plan to help borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
The plan would allow an estimated 8 million homeowners with "upside-down" mortgages to refinance into government-backed loans covering the home's current value. To make up the difference, lenders would receive a special certificate equivalent to the remainder of the balance owed that they could redeem if the home were eventually sold at a higher price.