Notification services 888-872-7181

Got a letter about not having to pay maintenance fees on timeshare. I assume this is a scam. How does it work??

marion90 wrote:

Got a letter about not having to pay maintenance fees on timeshare. I assume this is a scam. How does it work??

There could be a number of methods.

1) The company simply negotiates with the resort to take your unit back. That's something you can do yourself assuming that you want to get rid of your timeshare unit.

2) The company gets you to sign a Power of Attorney authorizing it to do whatever it wants. It then lists the unit for sale on E-Bay (or elsewhere) advertising the unit for a starting bid of $1 and offering to pay the closing costs and maintenance fees for the new buyer. Once a new buyer is found, you no longer own and do not have to pay maintenance fees.

3) This is what is commonly referred to as a Viking Ship company where the company takes ownership and you are no longer the owner and, hence, no longer responsible for maintenance fees. The catch though is that the unit is transferred into a shell corporation and it no longer pays the maintenance fees. It lets the unit go into foreclosure forcing the resort's Homeowners' Association to absorb the maintenance fees. Unethical and likely illegal.

4) They take your money and run.