Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

Q&A

Q&A: How to escape a timeshare

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Dear Liz: How do I walk away from a timeshare? It’s paid off but we have yearly maintenance fees that are now $3,600 each year. This will be prohibitive in retirement, and it’s quite a burden now. The developer won’t let us give it back, and we can’t sell it because the resale companies are sharks that demand money upfront. Can they ruin our credit if we stop paying? Is there any way to protect ourselves?

Answer: If you stop paying your annual maintenance fees, your account can be turned over to a collection agency. That will trash your credit, and you could be sued.

Many people who buy timeshares don’t realize they’re making a lifetime commitment, said Brian Rogers, owner and operator of Timeshare Users Group. Even after any loans to buy the timeshare are paid off, owners owe maintenance fees on the property. Maintenance fees typically rise over time and may be supplemented by special assessments to repair or upgrade resorts as they age.

The good news is that you may be able to get out from under these fees by selling your timeshare, and you don’t have to use a resale company that charges an upfront fee. In fact, you shouldn’t, since those arrangements are frequently scams, Rogers said.

The amount you’re paying indicates that you own a timeshare at an upscale resort. (The average maintenance fee is closer to $800 a year, Rogers said.) If that’s the case, your timeshare may have some value, even if it’s only a tiny fraction of what you paid. Owners at less desirable resorts often find they can sell their timeshares for only $1, and may have to pay others to take the timeshares off their hands.

You can list your timeshare for sale at no or low cost on EBay, Craigslist, RedWeek or Timeshare Users Group, among other sites. To get some idea of what it’s worth, enter the name of the resort into EBay’s search engine and click on the “completed sales” box on the lower left side of the page. Timeshare Users Group and RedWeek offer additional advice on selling timeshares.

You also could consider renting out your timeshare, using those same sites. Many owners discover they can offset or even completely cover their maintenance fees through such rentals, Rogers said.

Q&A: How to fund a Roth IRA

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Dear Liz: I have quite a bit invested in stocks in a regular brokerage account. I’ve held them for many years, and to sell them would mean huge capital gains taxes. I’d like to move some of these into a Roth IRA, so that I can avoid paying taxes on their appreciation and dividends, since I plan to hold these for quite some time. Is it possible to move these stocks into a Roth IRA without selling and repurchasing?

Answer: Nope. Uncle Sam typically gets his due, with one major exception.

Roths have to be funded with cash, and direct contributions are limited to $5,500 per person per year, plus a $1,000 catch-up contribution for those 50 and over. Your contributions would be further limited once your modified adjusted gross income exceeds $181,000 for married couples and $114,000 for singles, said Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for tax research firm CCH Tax & Accounting North America. A big-enough capital gain, on top of your regular income, could push you over those limits.

If you want to avoid paying capital gains, just hold the investments until your death. Your heirs will get the investments at their market value and can sell them immediately without owing any capital gains. There may be other taxes involved, however. If your estate is worth more than $5 million, it may owe estate taxes, and a few states levy inheritance taxes on heirs.

Q&A: How to correct social security errors

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Dear Liz: I am 64. I recently reviewed my Social Security summary online and saw that it does not have an accurate listing of my income, so the projections of my benefits aren’t accurate either. How do I correct these errors?

Answer: There are a number of ways the Social Security database could be wrong. An employer could have reported your earnings incorrectly or not at all. Or your earnings could have been reported using the wrong name or an incorrect Social Security number. If you married or divorced and changed your name, but failed to notify Social Security, that also could lead to errors in your record.

You can call the Social Security help line at (800) 772-1213 to start the process of correcting your records. It would be best if you have proof of your earnings, such as W-2 forms, tax returns or pay stubs from the years in question. If you don’t have such proof, the Social Security Administration asks that you provide as much information as possible about where you worked, the name of your employer(s), the dates you worked and how much you earned.

Your experience shows why it’s important to periodically review your Social Security records to make sure they’re accurate. This year the Social Security Administration will resume sending paper statements to certain workers (those aged 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60), but in the meantime you can check your records online by signing up at http://www.ssa.gov/mystatement/.

Q&A: When to file bankruptcy

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Dear Liz: I’m a 33-year-old mother who lost my full-time job during the recession in 2009. I may have my “stuff” together again, but am considering filing bankruptcy. Each month I’m spending almost half (yes half!) of my income on debt payments to credit cards, loans and medical bills. Each month after all my bills are paid and groceries are bought, I have zero dollars left over to save. Even after losing my job, I made sure to always make those payments, so my credit is decent. Last I checked my credit score was hovering right around 700. I really have no reason to have good credit at this time, as I don’t have any need for a large purchase. Should I file or pay back my debts? Is filing for bankruptcy a good idea if it allows me to build a savings account and start putting money back into a 401(k)?

Answer: A bankruptcy filing would devastate your credit scores, and that may create more problems than you think. Credit information is used by insurers to determine premiums, by landlords to evaluate applicants and by wireless carriers and utilities to set deposit requirements.

At the same time, it makes little sense to continue to struggle against a mound of debt if you’re not making a dent in the pile. If it would take you five years or more to repay what you owe, you should at least consider filing for bankruptcy. Why five years? Because that’s how long you’d be required to make payments under a Chapter 13 repayment plan.

Most people, however, qualify for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy, which is typically preferable since it’s faster (three to four months, versus five years) and erases credit card and medical bills. An experienced bankruptcy attorney can advise you and help you understand the ramifications of filing.

If lower interest rates might help you pay off your debt within five years, you also should consider an appointment with a credit counselor associated with the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (www.nfcc.org). These nonprofits can set you up with debt management plans that may offer lower rates on your credit card debt.

Most people feel an obligation to pay what they owe, but that often leads to fruitless struggles against impossible debts. Bankruptcy laws allow individuals a fresh start so that they can take care of themselves and their families. Among your many financial obligations is the one to support yourself in retirement, and every year you delay saving will make it that much harder to accumulate a reasonable nest egg.

Q&A: Purchasing the right credit report

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Dear Liz: I got my credit reports from http://www.annualcreditreport.com as you recommended in a recent column, but had to go through some hoops to get my actual credit score, which is the main thing I wanted. One of the bureaus required me to subscribe to its newsletter, which cost $29.95 a month after a seven-day free trial. I guess they hope people won’t cancel within seven days, but I did, without any trouble.

Answer: Confusion about the difference between credit reports and credit scores often leads people to sign up for unnecessary, costly products. (You were signing up for credit monitoring, by the way, not a newsletter.) You can get free credit scores from a variety of sites, including Credit.com, Credit Karma and Quizzle, without having to buy a product. The scores you get from these sites aren’t the scores that lenders typically use, but neither is the score the credit bureau provided you. If you want to see scores lenders usually use, you’ll need to buy those for $20 apiece from MyFico.com.

Q&A: Bankruptcy and credit reports

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Dear Liz: In February 2015, it will be seven years since my bankruptcy. I have worked hard to rebuild my credit, and my credit score is 735. What do I need to do to make sure my bankruptcy drops off at the seven-year mark?

Answer: By federal law, most negative marks must be removed from credit reports after seven years — but bankruptcy is one of the exceptions. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is the most common, can stay on your reports for up to 10 years from the date you filed. Chapter 13 bankruptcies are typically dropped after seven years. In either case, you shouldn’t need to do anything. Credit bureaus should delete the information automatically. If they don’t, contact the bureaus and request the deletion, but that usually isn’t necessary.

If you have to live with bankruptcy on your reports for a few more years, you shouldn’t be discouraged. It seems you’ve done a good job rebuilding your credit, and your scores should continue to rise as long as you handle credit responsibly.