Is R. Kelly Facing Foreclosure by Choice?

Will Grammy-winner R. Kelly become the poster boy for celebrity strategic defaulters?

Kelly is facing a $2.9 million foreclosure on his suburban Chicago mansion, reports The Associated Press. He apparently hasn't made a mortgage payment for more than a year and owes $2.9 million plus unpaid interest. And yet his spokesman, Allan Mayer, insisted to the news service that his client "isn't in financial trouble."

So what's up with that? Perhaps the singer is joining the ranks of those who make a conscious business decision to walk away from a loan because the property is no longer a good investment. If that's the case, he may be the first public figure to thumb his nose at the bank.

In the past dozen months (despite lenders hoping you'll believe otherwise) it's become way more socially acceptable to become a strategic defaulter -- someone who walks away on a mortgage obligation simply because the property is no longer worth what they owe on it, not because they can't afford the payments. The guy you meet at the cocktail party who tells you that he mailed the keys to the bank on his home "rather than throw good money after bad" is congratulated on his business acumen and his courage to stare down the Big Bank. Fear of a bad credit rating? Puh-lease. Good credit may just have become a luxury many can no longer afford -- or care about.