My timeshare is paid in full, but I just don't want it anymore

kcn wrote:

<snip>I have thought about just having husband quitclaim it to me then I just let it go. But didn't want it to backfire on him.

I would not recommend doing this without at least first obtaining the opinion and guidance of licensed, competent legal counsel.

I am NOT offering you legal advice or any input offered as a substitute for obtaining legal advice from a licensed professional, but my concern is that this could be considered a willful act of fraud if your only intent and objective in executing it would be to evade an existing legal, contractual obligation. Food for thought, anyhow…

Oh no, I Absolutely do not want to take on a legal battle also. I won't do that. Thanks for advice!!!!!!!!

Hi SP, It has been a few years after your last post. Wondering what you did and how it went. I am in exact same boat. Thank you in advance.

We were bullied into buy Bluegreen. Only purchased 8 months ago, it’s complete garbage and we don’t want it. I don’t mind my credit score being damaged to just get rid of this. But I don’t want to lose my home. Can Bluegreen come after my home if I stop paying the mortgage and let it go into foreclosure?

robina237 wrote:

But I don’t want to lose my home. Can Bluegreen come after my home if I stop paying the mortgage and let it go into foreclosure?

Highly unlikely. Bluegreen would have to go through a lot of hoops to get a judgment against you and your house. It's probably not worth it for them to do so.

Our timeshare or what we thought was out timeshare is a non-deeded right to use vacation membership. We do not own anything. We fulfilled our loan obligation back in 2012. We have been paying increasing annual maintenance fees each year for something we don't own or use anymore. I had asked the company to simply take it back and cut our losses. Their response was simple. They don't offer deed buy backs. We do not have a deed for this vacation property and have never received any notice about a deed for this property. I told them that I just want to be done with it and walk away. Their response was you need to honor your contractual obligations. If you stop paying annual maintenance fees we will be forced to foreclosure on the property and it will severely impact your credit rating. Am I missing something? How can they foreclose on a non-deeded vacation property that I owe nothing for aside from annual maintenance fees. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

richardc1411 wrote:

Our timeshare or what we thought was out timeshare is a non-deeded right to use vacation membership. We do not own anything. We fulfilled our loan obligation back in 2012. We have been paying increasing annual maintenance fees each year for something we don't own or use anymore. I had asked the company to simply take it back and cut our losses. Their response was simple. They don't offer deed buy backs. We do not have a deed for this vacation property and have never received any notice about a deed for this property. I told them that I just want to be done with it and walk away. Their response was you need to honor your contractual obligations. If you stop paying annual maintenance fees we will be forced to foreclosure on the property and it will severely impact your credit rating. Am I missing something? How can they foreclose on a non-deeded vacation property that I owe nothing for aside from annual maintenance fees. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Your question is very astute and entirely appropriate --- and no, you definitely are not "missing something".

The RTU contract that you have is essentially nothing more than a "club membership". You own nothing, hence there is no deed. Because there is no deed and no ownership of anything, there is nothing on which to "foreclose", so that particular empty threat is both baseless and deceitful. All they can do if you stop paying annual fees is to terminate your "membership" --- so what?

You have not indicated whether your RTU is in the U.S. or in Mexico. In either case, there is very little likelihood that you would ever experience a credit score "hit". Since there is no loan default involved, it is highly unlikley that they would ever even bother to report the account to the credit agencies at all. If this "vacation club" is in the U.S., you might temporarily encounter some collection calls and / or letters, which can (and should) just be summarily ignored; they will give up soon enough. If this RTU is in Mexico, you would likley never even see any collection efforts at all.

Don't let those people scare you with empty threats and false claims. They are correct that you have a "contractual obligation", but that contract is for nothing more than a "membership". When you stop paying annual fees and thereby cease to "honor" your end of the contract, your "membership rights" will be terminated. Again I ask, so what? It's very little different than a gym membership. If you stop paying, you can't use that gym anymore. Once again -- so what?

Don't be intimidated by hungry hyenas who would prefer that you remain a "cash cow", continuing to pay annual fees for a "membership" that you no longer need, no longer want and don't even use. It's "no skin off their nose" whatsoever if you just walk away.

Bluegreen owner here. A clean transfer is preferred over a "default" or abandonment, if at all possible.

Sale options: --List the property that you own on the RedWeek Marketplace, and perhaps you will find a buyer for it there. --Or on eBay.

Note: Bluegreen has (in the past year) been more aggressive about exercising its "right of first refusal" in sales of its properties outside their direct sales channels (or Pinnacle Vacations, their captive resale subsidiary). So if you have a deal, Bluegreen may exercise its right and purchase the property back if they think they can make money on the deal. Have a look at the verbiage that goes along with the "terms and conditions" on recent eBay posts for "Bluegreen points for sale".

Sorry that this timeshare didn't work out for you; good luck in its resolution.

As a senior, why worry about perfect credit, unless it's pride? Mine keeps changing from just below 800 to above 800. Who cares?

My timeshare is paid in full, but I am physically unable to independently access the rooms using a wheelchair or mobility scooter. Even the handicap-accessible rooms are restricted because it is impossible to use the key card and have enough clearance at the doorway to open the door and gain access. Which department do I contact to cancel my membership? Any advice is welcome.

karens2082 wrote:

My timeshare is paid in full...Which department do I contact to cancel my membership? Any advice is welcome.

First of all, we have to know, do you own deeded property or is it just a travel club membership such a Mexican right-to-use?

If it's in Mexico, then you likely just "own" a membership or right-to-use. If that's the case, then most people "cancel" their membership by just stopping payments. You might get a bunch of annoying collection calls and letters but those usually cease after a while.

If you own deeded property, then your best bet would be to contact the resort's Homeowners' Association and explain your situation. Ask if the HOA will take your unit back. The HOA might ask you to pay transfer costs and maybe even the next maintenance fee.

The one thing to not do is to contact any company or law firm that claims it can "cancel [your] membership". These are usually scams.

Hello, My siblings and I (4 total) inherited a timeshare at Lagonita Lodge in Big Bear, California. It is deeded ownership, we each hold 1/4 share title as tenants in common. Our ownership in the property is 1/51 undivided interest. We have a 1 bedroom, partial lake view unit with one week per year during PRIME SEASON (January thru December and June thru August). Since inheriting in 2009, we have not used it, but continue to pay the fees, property tax, etc. We are exploring options. One of our family-members may want to take on full ownership (we'd transfer title into their name only) However, are curious if we can sell it, and what that process would be. Concerned about getting caught up in a timeshare exit strategy scam. Also curious if the costs to sell to an outside party would exceed the value. We don't know how to determine current value. Would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. CP

How much are you asking for?

where is your unit?

We own a deeded one-week timeshare at West 57th by Hilton in NYC. It is paid off and dues are current through the end of 2023. Due to my husband's age and poor health we can't use it any longer. I asked about deed back the last time we used it and was told that someone named "Seth" (no last name) would contact us from HGVC to get the process started, but we haven't been contacted. I'm willing to walk away if that's what it takes, and take the credit score hit. But I'd rather not do it that way. I don't know where to start: with the HOA or some other department in HGVC?

Contact the Attorney General of your home state. GET THEM ON THE CASE. There is no law that says a company can force you to pay ongoing annual dues without an option to quit the contract, if your loan is paid up. That is a scam and frankly likely illegal.

The BIGGEST fear Timeshare developers have is a CRIMINAL PROBE. WHICH BECOMES PUBLIC. CALL THE AG.

Does the credit "ding" only last 7 years??? I had a negative credit report added 14 years after I walked away from my timeshare.

I am joining this conversation late, and will add to the story about what is currently happening to me. I bought a deeded timeshare (Lake Tansi, Tennessee) a LONG time ago (early 1980s; probably 1981 or 1982). Paid it off in the 1980s. Don't think I used it at all after 1992. Could not give the thing away. Lost probably $300 in one of those "pay up front" scams to get me out of my timeshare. I was concerned about a bad credit rating affecting my ability to keep my security clearance so I paid the annual dues until I no longer needed a security clearance in 2007. I know I paid the 2006 fees but don't remember whether or not I paid the 2007 fees or not and decided to accept the possible 7-year hit on my credit report. Around 2021 I started getting threatening phone calls and letters from a debt collector (Meridian Financial). I checked my TransUnion credit rating around July 2023 and noticed that they added a negative credit report entry saying that I failed to pay around $400 in 2021 for my timeshare (14 years after I walked away from that timeshare). I challenged the report with TransUnion saying that that debt was not valid. TransUnion supposedly investigated and found that debt report to be accurate.

Not sure exactly where I will go with this problem next.

I believe that the 7 years period begins upon the filing of a negative report (i.e., NOT from the original date of default). It sounds to me like your resort debt was sold off to a collection agency (which gets a percentage of whatever they can harass you into paying). It is likely that this new, hungry collection agency initiated the more recent bad debt report. I'm not sure what you can really do about this if the debt is valid. The debt is obviously for unpaid annual maintenance fees on the ownership that, by your own account, was never successfully transferred to a new owner. If the resort never foreclosed on your ownership after you stopped paying your fees, then the debt may very well still be entirely valid (and growing), but if a foreclosure occurred, that debt is gone and ancient history now. It might be worth a call to the resort to inquire further, if only to ensure that the newly appeared collection agency is even a legitimate entity in the first place.

Certainly not a welcome development for you all these years later; I wish you luck.

We have had a week (annual use) at Sands of Kahana (deeded property) for 30 years. It has been great, but we do not want it anymore and do not use it. All maintenance fees taxes have been paid. We listed it a year ago on red week and have had no success selling it for one dollar! Just one out! Any advice?

beckys41 wrote:

We have had a week (annual use) at Sands of Kahana (deeded property) for 30 years. It has been great, but we do not want it anymore and do not use it. All maintenance fees taxes have been paid. We listed it a year ago on red week and have had no success selling it for one dollar! Just one out! Any advice?

Have you tried Timeshare Users Group (aka "TUG"; tugbbs.com). It has a section there called Free Timeshares where you can list for free that you want to give your unit away. You can also continue listing it here on RedWeek. But since you said that you "have had no success selling it for one dollar", you might want to give more incentive such as offering to pay the closing and transfer costs and perhaps even the next year's maintenance fee.

You can also try writing to the resort's Homeowners' Association asking if they will take the unit back. They might require you to pay the transfer fee and maybe even the next maintenance fee.

Your last resort would be to just stop paying any more maintenance fees and let the unit go into foreclosure. You would probably face a bunch of annoying collection calls and letters. You might possibly face a hit to your credit rating and score, but you would be free from ownership.

However, above all, do not go seeking the services of these companies that claim they can "cancel" your timeshare or exit you from it. These are usually scams.