One of the lessons of the credit crunch that might have come as a surprise to the average homeowner is the company you're writing your mortgage checks to probably doesn't own the loan. There's a difference between the loan servicer you interact with and the actual mortgage holder, possibly a investment group on Wall Street.

Think Wall Street wants no part of home loans anymore? Think again. As the Associated Press reports:

Dozens of hedge funds, private equity groups and other investors have plunged into the beaten-down mortgage market in recent months, buying tens of thousands of distressed loans and foreclosed properties around the country. They hope to profit from the woes of banks and other investors holding mortgages that have plummeted in value as home values sink and defaults soar.

They are buying them from Wall Street investment banks eager to rid themselves of bad assets. Merrill Lynch & Co., for example, said this week that it would sell mortgage-linked investments once valued at $30.6 billion for just $6.7 billion to Lone Star Funds, a distressed-debt investor in Dallas.

If you have a mortgage, do you know who owns it? Has that ownership changed lately?