Before You Pay Another Timeshare Fee, Understand Your Options

Stopping payments without understanding the consequences can carry real credit and legal risk. It is not a step we recommend before knowing the full picture of your ownership, any outstanding balance, your financial hardship, and what your contract permits. It's also important to take steps to mitigate the damage before stopping any payment. This is one of the first things we review.

An outstanding loan changes what options may be available, how long things take, and what risks come with each path. It is not automatically a dead end, but it needs to be part of the review rather than set aside.

You do not need to gather everything before reaching out. If we get further in the review, the most useful documents are your original purchase contract, any deed or ownership certificate, recent maintenance fee statements, and loan paperwork if there is a balance remaining. We will tell you specifically what to pull if we need it.

If you are still paying fees or financing on a timeshare you no longer want or cannot use, getting a clear picture of your ownership costs nothing. If the ever increasing fees or your financial situation has changed and you have a hardship, it is a reasonable step before paying more toward it or committing to any particular path.

The initial review is relatively quick, as we are experts at this. What follows, if anything, depends on the direction. Some paths move faster than others. Direct resort programs can sometimes resolve more quickly than third-party processes. We try to give you a realistic read on timing based on what we actually find based on your specific situation.

Some owners do pursue direct resort options without outside help, and in certain cases that is reasonable. Whether it is realistic for your ownership depends on what your resort offers and where your account stands. We can help you understand that before you invest time going that route.

The question you need to ask yourself is, are you going to litigate this? Litigation takes years, and requires tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in legal fees. Timeshare companies are huge. They have buildings full of lawyers to fight litigation, as it's a very adversarial process. More often than not, a good faith mutual negotiation is a better path as it is faster and much less expensive. Litigation is always a final option if things don't go your way, but may not be where you start. Kansl's process does include attorney oversight, but not legal representation.

Resale is possible in some situations, but the market is limited for most timeshare types and locations. In many cases it's a multi-state real estate transaction requiring licensed professionals, Title professionals, and more. Whether resale makes sense for your ownership is something we look at as part of the review. Kansl has developed a network of Timeshare secondary market buyers, and we can evaluate the desirability of your timeshare and possibly find a buyer. It's important to understand many benefits you enjoy may not transfer in a 3rd party sale to a new owner.

Some paths carry credit implications, particularly those involving loan default or formal disputes with the resort. That is one reason we review the full picture before recommending any direction. We will never tell you to default on your loan as that is a decision only you can make based on your hardship or the misrepresentations made when buying. We aim to explain those risks plainly so you can decide with accurate information. We also help you mitigate any credit damage.