If you own a timeshare and are struggling to keep up with the maintenance fees every year, not to mention the occasional special assessments, you might wonder what would happen if you just stopped paying the maintenance fee and allowed your timeshare to get foreclosed on. If your timeshare is actually paid for, this may seem like an easy way out. But if you are thinking that the resort's HOA (homeowners association) will just let you slide on the maintenance payments and repossess the timeshare, no harm no foul, that is very far from the truth about what will happen. There are big consequences to allowing a timeshare foreclosure. So you want to avoid it if at all possible. You don't want to take that kind of hit on your credit report, especially if you are already in financially difficulties. Damage to your credit usually only makes things worse. Timeshare foreclosure can hurt your credit. How delinquency and foreclosure can hurt you. If you decide to simply stop paying your maintenance fees (or your loan if you still have one), you will end up taking a pretty big hit to your credit rating. In addition to that though, you may find yourself on the receiving end of aggressive collection agency phone calls and letters and eventually either the HOA or the timeshare developer may decide to both foreclose on your timeshare and seek a judgment against you. So in the long run, you may not even get out of paying what you owe.

This advice here is primarily for owners who have already paid for their timeshare. If you no longer can keep up with your annual maintenance fees or special assessments, your best option is to get rid of the timeshare. This may take some time and may cost you a bit more money in the short term, but once you can transfer the ownership to someone else, you can breathe a sigh of relief. First things first though, pay what you currently owe. If you are delinquent with your maintenance fees right now, try and get the money together to pay it. You don't want to risk a ding on your credit report for late payments or non-payment. If you own a desirable resort and your week is highly sought after as well, you shouldn't have any problem selling the timeshare as long as you set a reasonable price. You can check completed auctions on Resorts Rescued to get an idea of what your week is actually worth. Just keep in mind that the best way to sell your week or points sooner rather than later is to set the right price. This will usually be MUCH lower than what you paid for it -- as much as 35% less, depending on your resort and the brand. So walk into this with your eyes open and set a fair price upfront and you will be out from under your maintenance fees that much more quickly. Start with an offer that asks the buyer to pay only closing costs. If that doesn't work, then you can offer to pay closing costs, but I would wait on that. If you are current with this year's maintenance fees, you probably have a bit of time to play with. Your goal is to get your timeshare sold before next year's bill comes due. If you still owe big bucks on your timeshare, you have a lot fewer options. Most of the time, your unit won't be worth what you owe on the loan. In this situation, you may want to approach the developer's association about deeding back your timeshare to them. In most cases, they won't even consider this option, but if the property is still in development and/or the construction phase and they are actively selling it, you might have a little more bargaining room to maneuver. At any rate, you should at least talk to Resorts Rescued before you make any decisions about defaulting on your loan. Because of the times we are in, many people are experiencing the exact same difficulties you are and so you may find some companies are willing to help you avoiding foreclosure because it saves them money and hassle as well. Timeshare foreclosures are a big hassle for the developers as well.