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Re: NEED TO RETURN TIMESHARE (by Carvan A.):

Lancec, you indicate "resorts have been known to send out collection agencies". You and others should be aware that collection agencies can only call you - that is, they are not sent out. You can request that all calls "cease" by sending a registered request to the collection agency. (google FDCPA). Their failure to stop calling after receiving a notice makes them subject to monetary penalties assessed by the Federal Trade Commission, a Federal agency.

You also say "there have been reports of garnishing of wages, seizing and auctioning off some of the owner's other assets, etc." I don't know where you read or heard these reports but actually no garnishment of wages or seizure of assets can occur following a foreclosure until the debt (deficiency between the value of the timeshare and amount received by the resort at the subsequent resale) has been reduced to a judgment. A judgment is not automatic. It is a complicated process and and such legal action is seldom if ever taken by the resort. The expense of the legal action usually outweighs the recovery potential. The venue for the suit to reduce the debt to a judgment is typically in the county where the timeshare is located. You must be served a notice of the suit at your home county so you will know you are being sued. If the resort gets a jugment it must then abstract (record) the judgment in your home state. Many states protect wages from garnishment and in many states the homestead and many other assets are exempt from seizure. The bottom line is that despite the "reports" you have heard it rarely happens.

The foreclosure will certainly impact one's credit and should be avoided to the degree possible not only to protect one's credit but also out of consideration for the other owners who must pick up the slack when an owner stops paying.

I have never and never will advocate that someone who can pay just stop paying their maintenance fees but by the same token I think those who are uninformed not post misinformation about the consequences of a default on this thread without actual references to legal proceedings that can be verified. Give us citations to "the reports" you have heard.