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Stopping Maintenance Fee Payments

DeniseM

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They will turn you over to a collection agency - they will start hounding you for payments, take legal action against you, and eventually foreclose.

It makes more sense to be proactive and explore ways to give it away.

Please consider giving your timeshare away to a private individual who would like to own it.

Why?
-You can give it away yourself for nearly no cost.
-You can control the transfer process to make sure it is truly transferred out of your name.
-You won't have to deal with companies that may or may not be Legit.
-You can transfer it to a private individual who will be happy to have it for their own use.
-You will have the satisfaction of knowing that you ended your ownership legally and ethically.

There are two places on TUG where you can give away your TS's for free (no charge for the Ads.) There are other cheap and free sites on the internet, as well.

TUG Marketplace - the only cost is your TUG membership - $15 (List it for $1 and it will automatically go in the Bargain Basement Ads.)

Bargain Deals - Totally FREE! - just write a simple post with all the pertinent info. In your post, include the following info.:
-resort name
-unit size
-season owned
-maintenance fee
-current reservations​

To make it more attractive I would:

1) Pay the 2012 maintenance fees and don't ask for reimbursement.

2) Pay for the title transfer (you can get a simple title transfer with no escrow or title search for about $100.) Many people have used Tugger TTT (Alan) at Time Travel Traders for this service in the past, but he is retired and is referring most business to Lisa Short for this service - 1.706.969.8906 readylegal@gmail.com Lisa has been receiving good reviews on TUG.

3) Reserve a popular holiday week in 2012 for the new owner

4) Instead of paying a fee to a rescue company - consider offering a cash incentive to the new owner.​

Good luck!
 

Ridewithme38

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Has anyone tried stopping their maintenance fee payments? Besides losing the unit and credit rating downgrades did anything happen?

A foreclosure is a BIT more then a credit downgrade, its akin to credit suicide, for the next 5-10 years you will be in a complete freeze where you will NOT be able to credit or a loan or a new job anywhere....Hell i've been friends with girls who wouldn't even date a guy till they've run his credit score...

A foreclosure is the equivalent to spending 5-10 years in prison...in fact, you'll wish it was that easy when the credit companies are done with you
 

FractionalTraveler

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Do you speak about these items with experience, has this personally happened to you or is this speculation?

The reason I ask is because, I have two friends who have been through this process and claim that their credit score was temporarily affected by 50-75 points. Also, they claim that this was really not an issue in getting a loan for a new home. All they did was to document in a letter to the creditor explaining that the real estate that was foreclosed was a timeshare and all of a sudden, the issues were resolved.

Apparently, the banks blew off the issue when they found out timeshares were involved.

I would just like to hear from people who have actually been through this process and get their feedback without speculation.
 

ronparise

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From experience I can tell you foreclosure is not the end of the world

One of my clients refinanced their home during the boom, took the proceeds and bought a second home with the cash. The market crashed, he defaulted on the first home which was foreclosed. and he is living happily ever after in the second home.

Mortgage companies are now making loans to folks that went through foreclosure just a few years ago

There are consequences for not paying your maintenance fees so consider them and weigh them against the benefits...

Of course if you can, simply transfer the obligation to someone else.
 
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