Current info on walking away from a timeshare

susanp56 wrote:

What if you don't owe a mortgage (paid off) but are just not wanting to pay the outrageous maintenance fees (on a Mexican timeshare) anymore? Can't we just "give it back"?

No, if you signed a legal contract to buy a timeshare in Mexico then you are legally responsible for all future fees including maintenance fees. The vast majority of resorts do not take deeds back in the USA. I've never heard of any in Mexico that take deeds back.

susanp56 wrote:

What if you don't owe a mortgage (paid off) but are just not wanting to pay the outrageous maintenance fees (on a Mexican timeshare) anymore? Can't we just "give it back"?

The best thing you can do is join the exchange company your resort is affiliated with and exchange it for another location yearly. That way you'll still get benefits from your ownership.

Your scenario does not work for everyone. My husband has a terminal illness and can no longer travel. So, keeping the timeshare is no longer an option. It is free and clear but with the above mentioned scenario and enormous medical bills we can no longer pay the maintenance fees.

K. Duffie

katharinad2 wrote:

Your scenario does not work for everyone. My husband has a terminal illness and can no longer travel. So, keeping the timeshare is no longer an option. It is free and clear but with the above mentioned scenario and enormous medical bills we can no longer pay the maintenance fees.

K. Duffie

The only viable option you may have is to contact some of the Charity type outfits that are selling time shares on eBay. You may be able to get out from under the time share, but expect to not get anything other than free - or to maybe even pay a slight fee. But at least you will be free of the annual dues.

Good Luck.

Contact your home resort and explain your circumstances. Make sure you get in contact with someone who handles the financial aspects. They may take back your property through a deed back. I did that with two timeshares this year. I just had to be current with all my fees and assessments and I paid the next years taxes and a small fee to process the paperwork. I had two major surgeries within 18 months and I told them I was getting rid of my timeshares with or without their help. They took back both properties and I'm now burden free. They take each person on a case to case basis. You may just have to document your situation. Good Luck

We don't have a deed, only a "right to use" certificate. Do you have any information on what they may do to collect dilinquent maintenance fees? Thanks. Also, is there any place I can get other information on people who have dealt with this problem?

did you have a Mexican or U.S. timeshare?

katharinad2 wrote:

Your scenario does not work for everyone. My husband has a terminal illness and can no longer travel. So, keeping the timeshare is no longer an option. It is free and clear but with the above mentioned scenario and enormous medical bills we can no longer pay the maintenance fees.

K. Duffie

I sympathize deeply with your current situation, but if you signed a legal contract to purchase a 'right to use' timeshare then you'll have to abide by the contract. You can try to talk to the finance manager at the resort about your predicament (with proof) and maybe they'll let you out of your contract but don't be surprised if they say they can't.

deleted by jayjay

stevem532 wrote:

The only viable option you may have is to contact some of the Charity type outfits that are selling time shares on eBay. You may be able to get out from under the time share, but expect to not get anything other than free - or to maybe even pay a slight fee. But at least you will be free of the annual dues.

Good Luck.

And then there are bogus charities that charge a large fee ($500 + $400 closing) that never try to sell the timeshare at all that they (supposedly) take .... they say they don't pay maintenance fees and don't care if the timeshare goes into foreclosure leaving other owners at the resort taking up the slack for the deadbeat scammers.

rickm325 wrote:

Will you guys accept The Point at Poipu Timeshare? If so do the 2012 maintenance fees and special assessment have to be paid or is the only fee the $500? You guys guarantee transfer of ownership? Approx. how much of a write off is it? Thanks

Article below from CNN Money:

How do I ditch a timeshare? March 20, 2012: 6:00 AM ET

"I'm an owner of a timeshare unit at a 5-star resort in Hawaii. I'm paying a high maintenance fee, but not using it every year. I try to rent it, but it doesn't always work. Is there a better option of getting rid of it other than donating it to charity, or selling it at a deep discount (meaning selling it for $5,000 with a purchase price of $50,000)? — C.K., Edmonds, Wash."

Not only is there not a better option out there, but the two options you listed aren't really viable options to begin with. "You can't donate a timeshare to charity," says Ric Edelman, a financial adviser and author of Rescue Your Money. "They're worthless, and charities don't want them any more than you do." The problem is that you're trying to donate something with an annual cost—the hefty maintenance fee—and charities don't want to be stuck with the yearly expense. Plus, even if you do find a charity willing to take it, it's not going to do a thing for you come tax time. "You're not entitled to a tax deduction because the IRS is holding that these things have no value worthy of donation," Edelman says.

That leaves you with the only other option, which is to get rid of it for whatever price you can, and frankly, if you can get $5,000 for yours, you should really consider it. In fact, if you can get someone to take it for free, you should consider that as well. "The person willing to take it from you for nothing understands that they're going to have to make the maintenance payments on an annual basis," Edelman says.

There are a variety of websites that try to put timeshare buyers and sellers together, but you have to watch out for scams—never pay anything up front. You might also consider swapping the week for a week someplace else—there are a number of websites that will help you do that, also. "At least you can preserve the vacation element of the product, since you can't unload it," Edelman says. And just so you know, if you sell it at a loss, you're not entitled to any kind of capital loss deduction, since the IRS values your timeshare at $0. -- Kate Ashford

How the timeshare charity scams triggers an audit .... you have to pay the back fees plus interest:

How this scam triggers an IRS audit.

You may ask, ‘what triggers the IRS audit?’ It’s a good question, with a simple answer that the scam company will conveniently neglect to tell you. You see, when your timeshare is transferred to the charity, the charity doesn’t want to keep it for the same reasons you don’t want it; it comes with an annual liability (maintenance fees). When the transfer is done, the charity will immediately ‘sell’ it to a third party, usually to a holding company owned by (you guessed it) the scam company. For their part in the scheme the charity receives $100 for the ‘sale’ of the timeshare. Of course this is all part of the scam. Here’s the trigger. By law, the charity is required to file a report with the IRS on the actual amount they receive when they sell your timeshare. When the IRS automated systems see that you claimed a deduction on a timeshare that the charity sold for only $100..…bingo....can you say AUDIT?

Folks, this scam may be new to timeshares but it is not new to the IRS. This same scam started many years ago with cars, and then boats, and the scam continues to this day. We’ve all heard those radio commercials suggesting that you donate your beat-up, worthless car to a charity so that you can take a deduction far higher than the car is really worth (you don’t hear that part until you call and get the details). As we’ve said, the IRS is not stupid. They’ve been dealing with this scam for many years. That's why they now require the charities to disclose the actual amount they receive when they sell the car or boat. If you took a deduction that was substantially higher than the amount the charity sold it for, a red flag goes up and is likely to trigger the audit. This timeshare version is just the latest in a long line of similar scams. While the IRS may appreciate that you wouldn’t have committed this fraud had it not been suggested to you by the scam company, the fact is that you did indeed knowingly file a false deduction and unlawfully profited from the United States Government. You knew that your timeshare was virtually worthless. You knew that the ‘appraisal’ was not a real appraisal. You knew that claiming the deduction was wrong. The IRS calls it fraud.

I owned a week. I had a deed and it was easy to deed it back to the resort. Right to use and points are a different story. You don't own anything except an obligation to pay maintenance fees.

While your post about the IRS audit is quite scary to many I am sure - it has no bearing on my post. You are assuming that a person would try to take a false deduction for a charitable donation on their taxes. If they do that, they deserve to be audited.

I suggested they try to get a charity, such as those selling on eBay, to take the time share and list it. They would be giving the time share to the charity with a value of zero - so there is no deduction to take.

While there are certainly some scammers involved in this, I know that there are some real charities, as I have purchased two time shares through such auctions, and both were transferred to me quickly with no issues to speak of. In both cases I paid the closing costs and transfer fees, via an escrow account at a closing service that I had checked out thoroughly with both the BBB and on Red Week postings. The seller had to pay any back fees, and the mortgage was paid in full. The charity got a fee at closing, taken from the closing fee, which was about $500.

As I said, you can not expect to do any better than simply getting free of the time share and the ongoing annual fees - but isn't that what you are really after in the first place?

susanp56 wrote:

did you have a Mexican or U.S. timeshare?

katharinad2 - several years ago we 'sold' the interest in our free and clear timeshare for the cost of having the 'title and paperwork' done. We've had no one come back on us, the company is happy, the new owners may have used it and maybe not. I don't care. All I know is it's not our worry anymore. First we called to find out the cost to have papers done, then we advertised it for that amount in our local paper. Try it, it just might work for you to.

capri1 wrote:

katharinad2 - several years ago we 'sold' the interest in our free and clear timeshare for the cost of having the 'title and paperwork' done. We've had no one come back on us, the company is happy, the new owners may have used it and maybe not. I don't care. All I know is it's not our worry anymore. First we called to find out the cost to have papers done, then we advertised it for that amount in our local paper. Try it, it just might work for you to.

That's a great idea capri but the key words to your situation was 'several years ago' .... in this economy many timeshares are being given away with many owners paying closing costs (or by using a Quit Claim deed), however if someone is looking for a particular timeshare in a particular location and they can get if for free by simply agreeing to pay all future maintenance fees then it's a win-win situation for both previous owner and new owner.

ATTENTION POIPU POINT OWNERS!! Here is the announcement for which we have all been waiting! The lawsuit has been filed! It was filed Friday in Federal District Court in Hawaii. COPP will be mailing out a note with the lawsuit attached. It will also be going up on our website. I think that we will have DRI's attention now! What did Mr. C say? Yes, that's right, there are "10" unhappy customers. We'll see...

Sometimes it makes sense to default on timeshares. Not all companies will report to credit bureaus but the financing company handling the mortgage likely will. I have seen people default on timeshares and nothing happen and I have seen it wreck people's credit. It's a crap shoot and I don't have specific information on the resort you mentioned. Good luck.

travisd40 wrote:

Sometimes it makes sense to default on timeshares. Not all companies will report to credit bureaus but the financing company handling the mortgage likely will. I have seen people default on timeshares and nothing happen and I have seen it wreck people's credit. It's a crap shoot and I don't have specific information on the resort you mentioned. Good luck.

Travis, Could you tell me how you are involved in timeshares and how you knww about this information? I would really like to talk with someone with first-hand knowledge or who knows someone in our position. Thanks