How to walk away from timeshare maintenance fees

Dear Liz: We have owned a timeshare since 2007. It’s paid in full. We are not using it anymore and would like to stop paying the annual maintenance fees. Help! Selling or giving it away is not easy. Should we just stop paying the maintenance fees? At 71, how bad could the impact be?

Answer: Timeshare developers have different policies about pursuing unpaid maintenance fees. If the developer turns your account over to a collections agency, your credit could suffer for up to 7½ years.

Before you simply stop paying, consider first asking the developer to take back your timeshare. Only a few timeshare developers have formal programs to accept surrendered timeshares, but many will consider doing so as long as the timeshare is paid off. Ask to speak to the person who handles such surrenders or “deed backs.”

If the developer resists, you have a few other options. Sites such as the Timeshare Users Group and RedWeek have marketplaces where you can list your timeshare. You may have to offer to pay the maintenance fees for a year or two as an incentive to get someone to take the timeshare off your hands. Another alternative is to rent your timeshare, since you might be able to cover the maintenance fees that way.

If someone contacts you offering to help sell your timeshare, it’s probably a scam. You can find legitimate brokers who facilitate sales by contacting the Licensed Timeshare Resale Brokers Assn., but these professionals typically only handle sales at high-end resorts.

Dear Liz: We are recently retired and will own our home free and clear in about six months. Will not having regular mortgage payments dent our credit ratings? If so, what can be done as a good substitute?

Answer: Your credit scores may dip after you pay off your mortgage, particularly if you don’t have another installment loan such as a vehicle or personal loan. To get and keep the highest credit scores, you typically need both installment loans and revolving accounts, such as credit cards.

The good news: You don’t need the highest credit scores to get the best rates and terms from lenders. Using credit cards lightly but regularly can help you maintain good scores without taking on debt.

Dear Liz: You recently suggested a credit freeze. I agree that’s a good idea, and probably the only good way, to try to protect your credit.

But I’ve tried to periodically unfreeze my credit reports and that rarely goes well. The banks won’t tell you which credit bureau or bureaus they use to check your credit, so you have to temporarily thaw your reports at all three. This weekend, only one bureau worked well. At another, I was able to sign on but got a message the site was temporarily unable to access my information. The third didn’t recognize any of my possible usernames, so I tried my Social Security number and date of birth, which it also didn’t recognize. I’m SURE I don’t have those wrong, so I’d say part or all of their database is offline. More than likely I’ll be able to sort this out on a weekday when the bureaus staff their phones, but so far, I’ve worked on unfreezing my credit for two days and only one of the three services responded correctly.

Answer: Freezing and thawing your credit reports is certainly easier and faster than it used to be — plus, these services are now free by federal law. But as you’ve learned, you need to keep careful track of the credentials associated with your accounts at each credit bureau, including any login IDs, passwords and personal identification numbers.

You can write this information down and keep it in a secure location, but also consider using a password manager. These secure software programs allow you to create unique credentials for each site you visit. Given the prevalence of database breaches, it’s essential that you don’t reuse usernames and passwords. The programs also can help you change your passwords regularly, which is also important in keeping your information secure.

Liz Weston, Certified Financial Planner, is a personal finance columnist for NerdWallet. Questions may be sent to her at 3940 Laurel Canyon, No. 238, Studio City, CA 91604, or by using the “Contact” form at asklizweston.com.