What Happens if I Stop Paying My Timeshare?
This question comes up a lot on timeshare forums and blogs, and it can be complicated depending on the exact procedures outlined in your particular contract. There are a few main points that stay the same regardless of whether you have a deeded timeshare or right-to-use, and whether or not you have paid off the entire amount of the timeshare. The following is a description of the steps that will take place if you decide to throw in the towel and allow your timeshare to go into default, leading to timeshare foreclosure.
Timeshare is treated equal to real estate in the eyes of the law, and it follows the same rules and regulations as a homeowners deed. Your timeshare can foreclose in the same way as your home if you stop making payments – and this does not just mean payments on the principal balance, it also includes yearly maintenance fees. After your first missed payment, whether it be a monthly payment on the principal balance or your maintenance fees, you will start receiving calls from your timeshare resort’s collection company attempting to collect a payment. You will also receive information by mail detailing the amount due, including any applicable late fees, and their intentions on reporting your delinquency to the IRS.
The harassing telephone calls and letters will continue if you choose to not pay the balance due on your timeshare, and after anywhere from 6-24 months (this is dependent on the procedure of your resort company) your timeshare company will begin foreclosure proceedings on your timeshare. Timeshare companies will try to avoid this at all costs because a foreclosure means they have to take the property back and pay legal fees for the proper paperwork to be processed. I have heard instances of resorts offering to lower the amount due on the principal, changing contacts to make maintenance fees due only every 2 years, adding extra perks into your vacation package such as extended stays, rental cars, airfare, and sometimes even offering to forgive the amount owed if the two parties can reach a suitable agreement for payments to continue.
If your timeshare does go all the way through the foreclosure proceedings you will be notified by mail that your deeded timeshare will be part of a trustee’s sale or public auction. At the given date, time and place your timeshare will be sold at a sheriff’s auction to the highest bidder. The auction is public record and the transaction can be recorded and reported to the IRS and credit bureaus, effectively ruining your credit for the next 7 years. This strike on your credit score can make it difficult to finance a car, obtain a loan or even buy a home. Since timeshares rarely sell at auction for the amount owed on the deed, the timeshare resort company has the option to take legal action and sue you for the remaining balance owed. Read more on timeshare foreclosure and credit scores in the post – Timeshare Foreclosures and Your Credit Score
Timeshares can be hard to wiggle out of, but most anything is better than letting the property foreclose and take a major hit on your credit score – especially if you are anticipating a major purchase in the near future. Timeshare foreclosure should be your last resort if there is absolutely no way you can make the monthly or yearly payments. It is wise to contact your timeshare resort if you are having financial difficulties and anticipate missing a payment, some properties will even offer to take your timeshare back under some circumstances; some resorts will also offer a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. You will also want to check out possibly donating your timeshare if the principal amount is paid off in full – this is not an option if you still owe money on a loan.
Helpful Timeshare Foreclosure Links:
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure for Timeshare - http://rcivip.com/2008/deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure-for-timeshare/
Timeshare Foreclosure and Your Credit Score – http://rcivip.com/2008/timeshare-foreclosures-and-your-credit-score/
Alternative Timeshare Sales Options – http://rcivip.com/2007/alternative-timeshare-sales-options/
April 8th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Is it any easier to terminate if the balance is paid in full? I bought a timeshare at Virginia Beach, VA in 1995, paid it off completely, but have never used it. I offered to give it back for free because I don’t want to pay maintenance fees for something I don’t use. When I called the resort they said they couldn’t take it and I have to keep paying the fees.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Hi Gary,
If your timeshare is paid off in full you can often give it to charity even if the resort will not take it back. Another option would be to “sell” the timeshare for an extremely low cost, even free, letting the buyer know that all they will be responsible for is paying the maintenance fees. I would suggest putting an ad up for the timeshare on your local Craigslist, eBay or in your local paper. Best of luck!
Useful links:
Charities that accept timeshare
Alternative Timeshare Sales Options
Selling a Timeshare
April 14th, 2008 at 7:33 am
My father is retired and my mother died. He cannot use the timeshare anyomore and the company keeps charging additional maintenance fees ( last year it was 2000.00 for one week) He had not paid the fees the last couple years hopin ghthey will take it back because they won’t take it back the other way. He has not paid it and wants to give it back but they say they can’t take it. He added my name on it for survivorship, but I don’t want it either and I don’t want to be stuck with his problem. Is there anything we can do. We want to give it back and save them collection costs but they don’t want it back.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Hi Sharon,
Unfortunately I do not have any other advice for you than what I have mentioned to Gary above. You may want to try giving the timeshare away to someone else via taking out an ad on Craigslist or eBay. Also do some research on donating the timeshare to charity – there is a link in my reply to Gary on how to do this. I suppose the last and final resort would be to actually go ahead and foreclose on the property, which may actually not be that bad for your father if he has his house, car, etc. paid off; i.e. he may be in a position where it would be ok to take a hit on his credit. Let us know what you decide and if you need any help. Best regards.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Thanks, he does not have a house anymore. He moved in senior housing and needs all his money for his rent now. (Social Security and pension are not enough) The timeshare was taken over a few years ago and the “new” people keep adding extra administrative costs so that it costs about $2000.00 a wk for maintenance fees. NO one will buy a deal like that because I have relatives that aren’t far from where it is and they tell me the new people are letting the place get trashed and cut back on all their services. NO one would want to buy it now with the new owners. I worry because before my mother died, she and my dad put my name on the deed for survivorship rights, but I don’t want it at all.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I know it may be hard to hear, but if you do not have any luck giving the timeshare away either to charity or otherwise, I would just let your dad foreclose on the property. The only thing a foreclosure is going to do is make it hard for him to take out a loan or purchase big ticket items, they are not going to seize any of his assets of deduct any money from his social security/pensions for the foreclosure. Again, I know it is not a pleasant solution, but I strongly urge you to think about it. Where is the property located?
April 18th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Florida, around Clearwater. He can’t fly anymore and has one of those scooter things to get around in. It is a shame they will spend the money to forclose when they can just have it without spending that money. No wonder they are in trouble.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I am trying to ask the timeshare lawyers to do a deed in lieu of instead of a foreclosure. what are the chances of them doing that? they cannot go after my home, right? how will they collect any legal fees owed to them? by calling me continuosly?
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Racheal,
I would say the chances of having a deed in lieu of foreclosure prepared for your timeshare really depends on where the resort is and whether or not you have paid off the entire principal balance of the timeshare. If you are not behind on payments, have paid the principal balance and have a desirable timeshare – whether it be a good location or excellent points program – then your chances are good that an agreement can be met with a deed in lieu of. If the former are not true, and you already have some delinquency recorded, it is not likely that your lender will allow you to stop payments with a deed in lieu of foreclosure.
The best thing you can do, if you are current with payments and have paid the balance in full is to stop paying your maintenance fee and wait until your Owners Association (or HOA) turns your account over to a third party collection firm. After the collection firm has used up all their typical methods (like threatening letters and phone calls), they will usually advise you that your home resort will accept a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
If you are successful in reaching an agreement with the lawyers, developers and any other party involved with your timeshare, you will need to make sure you get it in writing that this will not be recorded and reported to credit agencies in order to save your credit score. If the deed gets recorded inaccurately it will look like you were delinquent with payments and can sometimes look worse than actually foreclosing.
As for the lender being able to go after your home, or any other personal property in order to collect payment for a timeshare foreclosure, this will only happen if you have a lien on the timeshare.
A deed in lieu of foreclosure is a great way to remove yourself of all ties with the timeshare you no longer with to own. Please let us know how the process works out for you!
May 12th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Hi,
I want to know one information. I am owning a timeshare with west gate resorts and spa in Orlando. I still owe some 18k to them. And I paid them 3K till today. I want to know if I stop paying the remaining amount then you said the developer will do some kind of foreclosure. So what do you mean by that. Will the developer take some kind of police action or do I need to go to any kind of court about the legal proceedings. Please let me know.
May 13th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Hi Radha,
I would say that your resort is not likely to agree to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure based on the amount of money you still have left to pay on the principal balance of the timeshare. Most likely what will happen if you stop paying the remaining amount is that the property will go into foreclosure, at which point you would be expected to take part in legal proceedings related to the foreclosure of the timeshare property. Depending on whether or not you have any liens placed on the timeshare, the lender may have the option to seize any assets placed as a lien on the loan.
My first suggestion for you would be to contact your lender/timeshare developer and tell them that you are unable to continue payments and see what options you may have to release all ties with the resort. If the only option they present to you is to proceed with a foreclosure, seek legal counsel to keep your losses at a minimum. Please let us know how this process goes for you, I wish you all the best.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hi Mandie,
Thanks for your reply. I would like to tell you that I dont belong to USA. And I want to leave for my home country. Currently staying in USA, so can you please tell me if I want to leave US will it be any kind of problem. or If I want to come US again then will there be any problem.
Thanks for your mail.
Kalyan
May 19th, 2008 at 7:19 am
Hi, just a quick question.
A friend of my wife has a timshare that has been completely paid off and they no longer use it anymore since they have a few others and she wants to transfer it over to us for free.
What is the least expensive way to transfer this deed? We live in VA. Do we have to get a deed company involved or lawyers? Thanks for any help you can provide.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
In Virginia an attorney must be involved in the transfer of timeshare property. The cheapest way to go about transferring a timeshare deed with attorney involvement is to have the document prepared by an outside title transfer service and then turn it over to the attorney for review. Be aware that there will also be fees for closing costs in addition to attorney fees and the deed preparation. Having these documents prepared using an online service will save you money, here are a few websites that offer time share deed preparation services, these may be of assistance to you in your situation:
Transfer My Timeshare
Timeshare Title, Inc.
Bach Porch
Please let us know how this works out for you! All the best.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
My loan payments & membership fees are automatically deducted from my accounts. How do I stop these payments if I plan to foreclose?
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Radha, have you done anything about your timeshare? Am in a similar situation. I am losing my job soon and would have to go back to my homecountry. Would appreciate any update on what to do. I don’t care about credit rating anymore since I won’t be staying in the US anyway but I don’t want to go to jail or anything like that. As far as I am concerned the resort can take the timeshare back and resell it and I will just consider the money I paid as loss.
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Hi Carol,
The easiest way to stop automatic payments is to contact your bank and let them know you are no longer going to be authorizing automatic payments to your timeshare company. Make sure you have the company’s exact name, as it shows up on your account statements, so they can easily make the change; this will, in effect, “block” them from access to your account. You can usually do this via the web (if you do online banking) by filling out a few forms, over the phone depending on your bank’s policies, or in person at your local branch. This is a lot easier and less painless than switching banks.
There is no need to let your timeshare company know that you have stopped payment, they will realize soon enough after the missed payment, and expect frequent, harassing, telephone calls to being within the first few weeks of a missed payment. Be sure to speak with them directly at some point though, as many timeshare companies will try to offer different options to owners in order to avoid the fees incurred by a vacation property foreclosure.
Good luck and be sure to check back and let us know how it goes!
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Hi Joey and Radha,
Please, please, please do not worry about being thrown in jail for not paying off a timeshare!!
Basically, the only legal recourse a lender has to collect a debt owed is to place a lien on your assets (which rarely happens in timeshare) and report your delinquency to the major credit reporting companies (which often happens).
In both of your cases, honesty is going to be your best policy, let your timeshare company/lender know that you will no longer be able to make payments on your vacation property, and that you will be proceeding with foreclosure preceedings. Oftentimes, if a lender or timeshare developer knows there is no way you are going to continue paying, they will offer other options to borrowers, such as a “deed in lieu of foreclosure”, which is mentioned above. These companies do not want to spend the extra money and effort in order to take your time share property back, so as long as you are straight forward, honest and make the process as simple as possible, you have nothing to worry about – other than a hit to your credit score, which obviously does not apply.
Please check back and let us know what you both have done, and do not be afraid to come back and visit the US because of an unpaid timeshare. Best of luck to you both!
June 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Please explain “Deed in lieu”, regarding foreclosure.
Thank you very much.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hi Chuck,
Please refer to this article – Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure for more information. If you still have questions, please post in that article.
Best,
Mandie
June 24th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
My husband and I bought our timeshare 11 years ago and we were convinced by the resort where we bought that continuous upgrading was the way to go. After upgrading several times, we have now got such an outstanding balance and large monthly payment and enormous maintenance fees that we cannot pay them. My husband had to retire early and is on Social Security disability and only draws that plus his national guard retirement each month. I have had to quit work because of a knee injury and therefore we are living solely on my husband’s income which is about 1/2 what it was when we upgraded our timeshare about 2 years ago. We are both in our early 60s. We don’t own our home, we have 2 automobiles which we still owe on through our bank and we have a small little fishing boat that is worth about $1500. We do have a clear title on it. We owe almost $21,000 on our timeshare and our yearly maintenance fees are over $1,000. We cannot continue to pay this amount as we are going in debt each month more and more. We had to have a garage sale last month just to make our monthly payments. We have the monthly amount taken out of our bank account each month which is $355.42 and each month we are usually short about $400. I am trying everything I know to keep us from going under. We don’t care about our credit listing, we don’t own our home as we rent and have been here for over 10 years, we don’t care about any money we might lose, we just want out. We can’t really afford a lawyer at the present time. In January 2009 I will be old enough to draw my social security and that will be around $500. My husband was injured in Kuwait during active duty in 2004 while serving a year for our country thus the reason he is on SS disabilty. Is there NO WAY to get out from under this? We have tried to find out from several resourses and we don’t know which way to turn. We are afraid of losing our vehicles, our boat and also we are concerned about IRS coming down on us for this or having them take money out of his already low income. We have not missed a payment and we are current on all our maintenance fees but the fees are due again in November 2008 and we don’t see ANY WAY that we can pay them. We have both seen our health deteriorate and we have both been very stressed out because of this situation. We should have known better than to get into such a situation but the timeshare resorts are so convincing and just don’t seem to know how to take a “NO” for an answer, and we didn’t really see the end result until it was too late. We are both almost totally unable to even use our timeshare anyway and it won’t be paid in full for another 8 years. That is providing we even live that long. We will both be close to 70 and will have sunk a ton of money into it at 12.9% interest. PLEASE ADVISE US as to what we can do. We are so desperate and so upset over this that we can think of nothing else. We don’t rest at night and we both are so worried about what can happen to us and our assets. We don’t have much but our few household items and we don’t really own anything of value other than our vehicles, boat and some tools that belong to my husband. Thank you so much for your advice and for any help you might give us or any suggestions you might have. Sincerely, Janet
June 25th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Due to financial hardship, I can not longer pay my timeshare. I received court papers (Morgage Foreclosure Complaint)from Florida recently. Do I need to file an answer with the court if I’m letting it foreclose?I do not live in Florida.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Hi,
As per your suggestion, I have removed auto debit for my timeshare and also I have changed the credit card number.
From this month onwards i have decided not to pay any thing for my timeshare.
But from Odie’s comment above, I want to know what kind of problem can these court papers cause to us.
Please answer asap.
June 25th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Odie and Radha,
The court papers serve to inform you of the steps being taken in the foreclosure process. From everything I have read and personal accounts, I do not believe any action needs to be taken to let the court know you intend to proceed with the foreclosure; your silence will indicate your compliance with the process. Be sure to hold on to any paperwork you receive and follow through with any requests/attempts to contact you regarding this matter.
Be sure to keep checking back and update us on your progress.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Hi Mandie, btw a great and very informative website.
You mentioned to Radha, Joey and Odie that if payments cannot be paid and your timeshare goes into foreclosure…
I live in South Africa, I bought timeshare whilst on holiday in Las Vegas (give you a hint: sounds like “grandpoo”
).
Q’s:
Does your credit rating absolutley only get affected within the borders of the USA?
Does the record definitely last only 7 years?
After the 7 years will the mark on your record be considered in future finance applications?
Will this effect my abillity to travel to the USA/or anywhere in the future (tourist VISA applications)
How long will the process of foreclosure take?
What are chances of me getting sued, and how long until I know I am in the clear?
My sincere condolences to all who are suckered into buying overpriced timeshare loaded with empty promises.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Hi Mandie,
I am really struggling to pay for my timeshare, living and working in South Africa, with the strong dollar and weak rand the payments are more and more each month, I really need to know the answers to the questions I posted above because I need to make an informed decision soon?
July 11th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Hi Mandie,
My husband and I owned a Timeshare in South Lake Tahoe, NV. The timeshare already paid in full back several years ago. The maintence fee is going up every year. Now is alomost $1000 yearly. We do not want to owned this timshare anymore. We want to give this away or donate it. I have contacted several non-profit organizations. They said they cannot take it due to the location or other reason. How does affect us if we stop paying the yearly maintence fee? Please help. Thank you!
Patricia
July 11th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Mitch,
Here are my responses to your questions, which should obviously not be treated as legal advice as I am only going from my own personal experiences and research I have done.
Does your credit rating absolutley only get affected within the borders of the USA? Yes, I have never heard of a FICO score existing in another country.
Does the record definitely last only 7 years? 7 years is the average number I have been given, but I can not say for sure this is an absolute.
After the 7 years will the mark on your record be considered in future finance applications? After 7 years it should be removed from your credit score, but I have been told by credit counselors that there are ways for financial institutions to “purge” information from more than 7 years if there is some concern about your financial stability. There are ways to pay to have these imperfections removed from your credit score.
Will this effect my abillity to travel to the USA/or anywhere in the future (tourist VISA applications). No, again, FICO credit scores are only applicable in the US.
How long will the process of foreclosure take? This depends on the state the foreclosure is taking place in and what their particular legal precedents call for; you will need to look up the information specific to that particular state.
What are chances of me getting sued, and how long until I know I am in the clear? Your chances of getting sued are quite low, but nonetheless, they do exist. This again depends state to state and per situation, I can not give you an exact time frame for being “in the clear” with regard to being sued for a remaining mortgage balance.
July 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Hi Patricia,
In the eyes of the law not paying a timeshare maintenance fee is the same as not making payments on a mortgage, and if you stop making your maintenance fee payments you will go into foreclosure with the timeshare property. My suggestion, since you have already paid off the property in full, would be to offer the property for free/$1 at auction using eBay, Craigslist or your local paper. For the right price (nothing) someone is bound to take it off your hands, even if a charity is not willing/able to do it at this point in time. Best of luck, let us know what you decide.
Best,
Mandie
July 14th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Mandie,
Thank you !
Patricia
July 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Mandie,
By the way, do you know anyone would take this time share? We are giving it out for free only whoever wants to take it will pay for all documents and process fee for transfer the title. Thank you again!
Patricia
July 19th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
HI Mandie, this is the 1st time i find some of the answers i have been looking for. My case is similar to Joey’s or Radha’s. I’m not a US resident and i dont live in the US. In may 2007 I made the mistake and signed up for a 3 bed deed in an Orlando TS during the breakfast showroom. So far i have been paying on schedule for a year and still have 9 years to go. However my ownership starts officially in 2009 so i havent paid any maintenance fees yet.
Based on what i have read, if you are a non US resident, stop your payments and follow on the Foreclosure process is the best way to get rid of the TS.
I have 2 questions to add, though:
1. Currently i’m in the process of getting the residence for Canada. It’s been a year since I started the process and hopefully in less than a year from now i should get the answer. my question is: is there any chance that my residenceship process with Canada gets affected by the foreclosure? Can i get rejected because i stop the payments of a TS in the US??
2. Also about Mitch’s question on the Law suit, what is the worst case if you do get sued?? Does this apply for non US residents as well?
Thank you very much for he advice
July 19th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Hi Ken,
I know nothing about establishing Canadian residency, so you should consult an expert in this area, but that said, to my knowledge your credit score here in the US on has an effect on your dealings within in the US. Here in the states, having a foreclosure on your record is not grounds to refuse residency, and I would imagine the same applies to Canada, especially you did not purchase the timeshare there.
Second, if you do get sued by the timeshare lender, you can be sued for any number of things including amount owed and court fees. The amount will depend on the amount owed on the timeshare. There are a lot of legalities involved with yours and Radha’s cases that really do require someone with a bit more knowledge of the way international real estate works than myself, but I hope what little information I am able to provide is of some assistance to you.
Best of luck, be sure to check back in and let us know how it’s going:)
July 19th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Mandie,
Thanks for the advice! i’ll contact some lawyer friends to check how this suit could affect me if it happens.
Radha, please keep posting on how your process evolves..
thanks!
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Hi Mandie and Ken,
Thanks for updating your status.
I have been getting calls from TS persons but I am not lifting the phone. It has been 1 month now.
Since I have jumped into this well and decided not to pay back them I also left every thing on god, let us see what will happen. I will anyway keep posting the updates.
You guys also keep posting things..
Radha
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:29 am
Hi Mandie,
I want to ask one more thing. You mentioned that there might be involved some legalities involved. Can you briefly tell me what kind of legalities you are talking about.
Please let me know.
Radha
July 31st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Wow, this site is an eye opener.. Mandie, you’re a wealth of information (a Godsend to some of us!).. I’m 31 have a family, a canadian citizen now working as a physician in the states. I got involved with starwood vacations when i had just begun residency in 2005. At the time it sounded great. had a single bedroom for $7 K.. 2 years back got it upgraded to a 2 bedroom for $14 K at 10.9% interest…We own our unit after every 2 years for a week. when i finally calculated what the unit would cost me over 7 years, it came to over $20 K ( i was just shocked). I’m thinking of selling this unit or foreclosing it now before I pay the remaining $11 K. Selling is not going to be easy and its going to force me to continue payments of $170.00 a month. If I foreclose, would my profession as a physician allow me to do that? I mean, I can’t prove any financial hardship based on my income. The second thing is that since I’m on a visa working in the states, would a foreclosure affect that?(I know you’re not a lawyer but I’d appreciate your input)..Thanks.(Radha, have safe trip to India!)
August 5th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Hi everyone,
Thanks Rhada for updating your status here… its very useful to know how you are doing so please keep posting. As for me, i’m still getting more specialized advice since my situation is a bit different because of the residence process i’m in the middle of. Currently i have a lawyer good friend of mine investigating how a potential foreclosure could affect me.
Again, Mandie thanks for opening this door.
Keny
August 5th, 2008 at 11:30 am
There really should be recourse for the people who were sucked up….my maintenance is now north of 900 per year…the resort leaves much to be desired…it use to be a world class…according to II…now i heard you wouldn’t want to stay there….can’t sell it…and can’t give it away with out paying the maintenance….I’ve been wanting to just let them foreclose……you know…knock your socks off…do us a favor…
you would think if our trading is not as good…and there are are law suits against the management company…and we always have to pay the difference to make up $ in maintenance you wouldthink they could be sued for breach of contract. We should all bank together a lobby…. BLUEBEARDS…ST THOMAS…
August 11th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Obviously, this time share thing (getting people obligated over years and years to expenses they cannot manage) is a huge problem. On the one hand.. the purchasers made bad financial decisions. However, there seems to be a lot of duplicity on the part of timeshare sellers (high pressure sales tactics, high interest rates, etc).
Is there any organized effort that you are aware of to find a legal argument for suing the timeshare as a means of disposing of the timeshare. Would suing them for fraudulent practices, for instance, concern them enough to accept the timeshare back in lieu of payments? This just seems like an area that is ripe for a class action suit.. and or legal reforms.
Do you know of any such current actions being taken?
August 12th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hi mandie, i just recently bought a ts and was given 2 months to pay the deposit, i’veonly paid $200 and have now found out it was a big big mistake to buy ts. as i havent started making repayments can i walk away dont mind loosing my $200 dollars. pls advice me
August 31st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Hi All,
I have returned from my vacation, and mean while I have received few notices from my TS company. But I am still ignoring them.
Two times they sent me a notice stating they will report to Collection agency. And next they sent some Original Owners Policy of Title Insurance. I sincerely don’t know what does it mean, if any body can explain it would be useful for all.
Anyway I will be keep on posting. You also keep on posting information.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Hi, I’ve just received a call from a Resort Management rep who told me I was going to be sued for not paying my maint.fees. I have not paid the fees for 2 yrs because they doubled in cost. I tried giving the weeks away as well as selling and that did no good. I notified the HOA that I no longer wanted the weeks before I stopped payment and they said too bad. Can I be sued? What can I do? Thanks…
September 10th, 2008 at 9:42 am
i missed payments for 4 months already and timeshre won’t help me, it is now with 3rd party collection agents and keeps calling and sending me letters. i still owe 8k but has already padi 200/month for 5 years. your advice please! i don’t want to continue anymore and can’t afford to make any payments. thanks
September 13th, 2008 at 4:50 am
I purchase a time share with Hilton Grand Vacation and got behind on my payments (6 months @ $250mthly) and maintainance fees. I spoke to the company and they said I could pay the past due payments around $1,300 and make arrangements on the maintainance fees. When I called back 2 weeks later the amount went from $1,300 to $2,000 and he said it went to foreclosure and the extra $700 was attorney fees. I was instructed to call the attorney and when I asked about the amount to pay, they said I had to pay $1,300 in attorney fees for filing the foreclosure. I believe this is excessive and when I spoke to Hilton again, the same employee I spoke who is the forclosure specilist said he did not tell me the attorny fees were $700. We do not mind paying fees because of our actions, but it seems they are taking advantage of the situation. Please advise your thoughts
September 25th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Hello Mandie, your information has been a god send to my wife and I. We own a time share and were somehow dupped into extending it a while back. The maint. fees have become outragous and we can no longer afford it. We have tried to sell with no luck. If I understand you correctly, if we just quit paying our maint fees they will just take it back without our home or other assets being in jepordy. We desperately want to get rid of this and especially dont want it going over to our children where they are obligated to pay the fees.
PLEASE let me know if this is correct or there is some other way to get rid of this timeshare.
September 25th, 2008 at 6:49 am
By the way our timeshare is paid in full, all we are having to pay now is the maint. fees, what have gotten out of control. Whenever we try to reach a real person to discuss this matter all we get is the run-around.
Thanks again,
Rich
September 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hi Derrick,
It does sound like you are being drug around by the timeshare company – I would spend a little extra money and hire a lawyer if they are threatening to sue and/or file any type of foreclosure listings. I would definitely seek legal council.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Hi Richard,
In your case, since the timeshare is already paid off, I would like to refer you to the #2 comment posted on this thread regarding ways to get rid of timeshare. A timeshare company can still pursue a foreclosure even if the principal amount is paid in full (although it does make it less likely, some resorts still will proceed with foreclosure), and since you only pay maintenance fees you are in a good position to be able to avoid foreclosure (not to mention a major hit to your credit score). I would try to get rid of your unwanted timeshare anyway you can – whether it be ’selling’ it to someone for $1, or donating to a charity willing to take on the property; do everything you can to transfer the title before considering foreclosure as an option.
Have you contacted your resort and found out what their protocol is for taking property back that has already been paid off? Have you been delinquent on any payments yet? Please let me know, and post any discourse you may have had with them about giving the property back, it will help a lot of others on this board going through the same thing.
Keep us updated,
Mandie
September 25th, 2008 at 11:13 am
We have tried to contact the resort but either keep getting the run around or are unable to be able to talk to someone that can handle the transaction, either they are away at the moment, etc and we never get a call back. We were thinking that we may have to make a trip to the place we purchased the timeshare and see if we would be able to do any good then, however, thats a long trip and money is close now. We only get correspondence from them when they want money, and the maint. fees rose 25% for next year. I may try putting it on cragislist and see if that gets any response. We even paid Century 21 Timeshare listing over 500.00 to sell it a few years ago and never got a response.
Thanks for all your help
Rich
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hi guys, I have a question. My wife and I purchased a timeshare Last year in 2007. We thought we were getting a really great deal and so we purchased. We really did not know what we were getting into. We have been paying on the timeshare since and we haven’t fallen behind. Now, the maintenance fees came in and are not what we thought it was supposed to be. I have called the resort to see if they would take it back. I told them that i know i will loose out on all the money paid on it but it’s an expensive lesson learned. They said they couldn’t do that. They mentioned putting the amount on a credit card or so. That’s just moving my payment somewhere else and i still have to pay all the little fees. We were talking about foreclosing on the timeshare but did not know how long that would ruin our credit. Would be as bad as if someone that filed bankruptcy or not? Also, from reading on here i wanted to see if you think if i called the resort itself and mentioned that since i can’t afford the place i might have to foreclose on it do you think they would budge then? Please give us some advice b/c we do not know what to do and we can’t keep paying the monthly payment on the timeshare.
Jay
October 4th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Jay, we have some friends who just quit paying their timeshare monthly mortgage, and in the end, the timeshare took it back with no affect on their credit………they really don’t care because they are just going to turn around and re-sell it, so they didn’t lose a dime on it. Our friends sister did the same thing, that’s why they decided to do it. We have a timeshare as well, but we use it, and are looking into buying another, but we will buy a used one, not new, and save a ton of money………
October 4th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Gary, I live in VA Beach and may be interested in taking your timeshare off of your hands, do you still have it, and if so, what are the details. Thanks in advance……
October 5th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
HUSBAND AND I ARE PLANNING STOPPING PAYMENTS ON TIMESHARE TIMES HAVE GOTTEN HARD NOW IT’S LOCATED IN MYRTLE BEACH IF ANY ONE IS INTERESTED. GOING TO CALL THEM TOMORROW
October 5th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Kathy, the friends you mentioned, who “just quit paying their Timeshare Mortgage” and the company took it back; are you able to name the Company? I am pretty much in the same boat.
October 5th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
no, I am not sure of the name of the company, but their timeshar was in orlando. I can find out in a day or so and come back and post, I am sure that his sister’s timeshare was not the same company. They got the calls, for a little bit, than an offer to make a lump sum payment, they said they could not afford it anymore and eventually they got the paperwork in the mail for the “foreclosure” and it has not affected either one’s credit. We had debated on doing the same, but since we can still afford ours and do use it, it is only 90 minutes away from us so my husband can still go to work from there if need be, we decided to keep it, and the next one we buy will be a “secondhand one” instead of directly from the resort to save a ton of money, we want 2 so each of our sons will get one.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
My now retired parents stopped paying on their timeshare bec they can’t afford it and was told it will foreclose. Can the company go after the home? I don’t understand “lien on the timeshare” answer above. Sorry and thanks in advance for your reply.
October 8th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I purchased a time share from Shell. I bought it in the US but live in canada. I have decided not to pay anything more for it. They have called lots but I just ignore them. If they foreclose does anyone know if it affects canadian credit rating…I checked after 4 months of non payments and there is nothing on my credit report from date of purchase or for the 4 months of ignoring them totally.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Hi Mandie, I am in desperate need of advice. My husband and I currently own 2 timeshares in the US(paid in full and need to get rid of). On a recent trip to Mazatlan, Mexico (Mayan group-Seagarden)we purchased a new timeshare and in return they would keep the (2) that we already own. According to the aggresive saleslady we were going to recieve a call from some timeshare company which would then takeover my previous timeshares. Today I found out we are the owners of 3 timeshares, the horror I felt to learn it is a scam, it was never written on paper, so it’s her word against ours. If we choose to default on the payments, how will this affect our credit? They are affiliated with HSI, can they still come after us? We took a loan with Bank of America to use it as a down payment,and that we are going to payoff.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Hi,
I’m getting pretty scared now. I paid off my timeshare years ago. I then paid years of maintenance fees. I never used the timeshare. They took extra money from me once to sell it but they never did. I stopped making payments probably more that a year ago. Lots of calls from collection agencies. I just ignored the calls. Today I got a letter from a law firm stating they have been contacted by the “Such and Such” Financial Services (the collection agency that has been calling me). They mention adding additional legal fees, court costs and expenses. They give me the total due of unpaid maintenance fees. I would be happy to pay if it meant the end of this and I don’t have to pay maintenance fees for the rest of my life. They say I have 30 days to respond. They say if I notify them to dispute the debt that they will assume the debt is valid. They will then obtain verification of the debt or a copy of the judgement and mail a copy to me. If I request they will provide me with the name of the original creditor (like I don’t know who that is!) if different from current creditor ( I assume this is the collection agency).
They say I have 30 days to respond.
I live across the country from where this law firm is located.
Will they really sue me? Will I have to fly out to the original state of purchace??
Should I contact them? I read somewhere that I should avoid talking to collectors because it just starts the (I forget the term) period of time they can harass you all over again.
Please, what do you advise I do??!!
Carole
October 10th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
don’t buy timeshares, they are a fraud.
October 12th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I have recently communicated with these guys via mail (I told them I demand to communicate via mail and not telephone) they have to oblige because that is the law!!!!
)) (no more irritating phone calls!!)
They have said they will let me out of the contract if I pay them a few thousand dollars – let me guess, another scam!!! right!!!!
I think I will ask them via mail, to send me all the details in writing , stating that if I pay them ‘x’ amount of dollars they will take back this time share, state I am not liable for any maintenance fees going forward and that all my interest and resposibilities are free and clear from this time share. I would expect this to be signed by an officer of the vacation club, any lenders and the collection firm..
Before I pay a dime I will have my lawyer review it.
I think it is interesting that they offered this with all the other folks out there not being able to toss away this albatross!! Maybe they realize they can’t do anything to a Canadian and are just trying to get a little bit more from me……any thoughts on that???
October 12th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I bought a timeshare from Wyndham, I already paid it in full. My question is should I stop paying the maintenance fee after buying a house or before.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Mandie,
Everybody keeps talking about foreclosures. I’ve never been offered that. They just have a law firm threatening to sue me now for nonpayment. It’s for $1500. Would they really bother??!!!!
Attorney fees, court fees, etc……will they really do that? I thought with the amount I “owed”, I really wouldn’t be worth the bother to them..
Do you think I should get a lawyer Mandie? or just wait it out…..maybe they are at the end of the statue of limitations and just threatening me as much as they can until it runs out??????????
Kevin,
I paid my timeshare in full and paid my maintenance fees until I bought a house. Then I stopped making payments. I figured I didn’t need credit for anything anymore and I would rather have a bad credit rating than continued ownership of this parasitic time share.
But the above explains where I am right now so it is something to consider…..
Carole
October 14th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Hi Everyone,
After reading through all the posts it really seems to me that the longer you have been paying on/using a timeshare the more trouble your going to have getting out of it if you just stop paying. My wife and I recently fell for the timeshare sales pitch and signed up in Vegas R_C_I, after doing research and only making two payments and the downpayment, I am seriously considering stopping the payments. 1. We don’t own anything of value. 2. We only use cell phones (easy to change numbers). 3. We never want to buy a home and usually only buy used cars for cash. Now I do have great credit and my wife has aweful credit. I was wondering if I could sell my half of the timeshare to my wife outright and get my name off the deed. Then stop the payments, her credit is bad because she declared bankrupt once before. My thinking is that the TS company might see this as a lost cause and not pursue it. Anyone out there see this as logical or since I signed the original contract will they still try to come after me too. Thanks for any replies.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Hi Everyone~ So glad I found this site. My husband and I purchased a timeshare back in the late 70’s and paid $5000 cash for a week in March under their promise that we could bank our week and vacation wherever and whenever we wanted. The following year, we tried to go to Florida after banking our week. We gave them 5 different dates and none were available. We never used the timeshare although we did pay the maintenance fees for approximately 5 years or so. We tried selling it with no luck and finally I wrote to the company and told them that we no longer wanted the timeshare and that we were giving our week back to them to re-sell or do whatever they wanted with it.
We had not heard anything from them since and actually thought they were no longer in business because the building was small and old. Well, last week we received a notice in the mail from a collection agency in California stating that we owed $31,481.40!!! This is the second notice we have received and we have not replied to it. I cannot believe that we are receiving this after 20+ years of not hearing a word. I wonder if another company now owns the timeshare and has decided to try and collect from the owners who have not paid their maintenance fees. I am pretty sure… if I recall after all these years, that I actually sent the deed back to the timeshare company turning over the ownership to them. I am concerned over this, however, I regularly check our credit report and it does not appear to show up now. When we bought the timeshare, we were in our early 20’s and the idea of paying $5,000 for a week in March (middle of winter in MD) and being able to vacation anytime and anywhere we wanted seemed like a dream… WHICH IT WAS!
October 19th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
are there any good thing about owning a timeshare
October 19th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
MY GOD!! this site has opened my eyes, just back from vegas, and yes, signed up for grandview,,,,,,were not told about the 5day period at all, it does say on the paper work, but there is that much to read. i have emailed and faxed letters telling them we want out, cant afford at, they said we were told twice about the 5day, but we were not,,,she said she will talk to her manager, after offering us, the one week, every two years that others have mentioned,,,
this was daft i no now,,,but they really did talk you into it,,,,
i dnt no what to do,husband wants to cancel credit card and they said the ts people can still demand the payment?
help
October 20th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Judy,
No.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Thanks Kathy for the help on the timeshare! I will do that and get back with you guys on how it went. Good luck to everyone!
Jay
October 27th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Hey, I feel for all of you out there. Denise, we set up our account on a bank draft. So that sucks cuz no matter what happens they will get their money. I asked for advised. Kathy helped me out a bit. I will be calling the timeshare people to see what we can work out or if we can change the method of payment. the one thing is that i am reading on here about people getting sued for not paying maintenance fees. Well, my deal is that i just got my maintenance bill in and am worried that they might want to hit me later with a huge bill. I will let you know what happens once i talk to them. If anyone knows of a better thing to do please let me know.
October 28th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I’m interested to know where each of you own. I own with Wyndham and would love to just hand over my deed. Kathy said she would ask her friends where they owned but never got back with us. Also, what happened with Radha? I too use direct withdrawal to pay my “mortgage” and maint. fees. I have contemplated many times to cancel direct withdrawal but will take a 1% hit to my interest rate. I pay over $700 a month in “mortgage” and maint. fees and still owe $35k to Wyndham. Can anyone tell their story of a foreclosure or deed in lieu as a Wyndham owner??
October 29th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
What happened with Joey and Radha’s situation? What did they do – stop making payments and if so what did their lender do? My husband and I were “sucked” into a timeshare in Myrtle Beach two years ago. I am paying monthly payments of $250 and we still owe $12,700. We built an investment home that has been on the market for two years. The current sale price is below the cost we owe to the bank. I want out of this timeshare because trying to keep our head above water on this investment home is more important to us. We aren’t going to get out of it (timeshare) what we were promised, no one told me if I deposit a week that I would lose it if not deposited correctly or we didn’t use it within two years. All these stories are the same and it just makes me sick to my stomach. I did talk to the Westgate Resorts and they are not willing to help me. They are only out for themselves.
November 5th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Hi Dave,
Did you manage to find out if being a Canadian your credit can be spoiled if you stop paying your TS debt in the US????
thanks for sharing.
PS: Radha, would be great to read from you!!!
November 7th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Hi I bought TS by Wyndham in June 2006. still owe $10.900.. If i stop making payments to TS will this effect my credit? i checked my credit reports and the mortgage for TS is not on it. basicly what im asking is Will this screw up my credit??? what is the worst thing they can do if i stop making payments??? will this effect my mortgage for the house? thanks.
November 11th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Keny, nope they do not report in Canada. I’m good!! They actually offered to buy me out. They sent me a note stating if I paid them x dollars I would be totally free and clear from this contract, suprisingly the amount is the exact amount in arrears.
I used the thing once, after getting denied many times, for one week. They have just over $10,000 of my hard earned cash already….They aren’t getting another dime from me!!
The good news is they never even put an expiry time on their offer so if things ever change I have an email from them stating their offer :O) I see this as a great ace in the hole!!
November 11th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Hi,
I am curious – is a timeshare foreclosure as detrimental to your credit as a home foreclosure?
Thanks,
Bethany
November 12th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
We recently went through bankruptcy and included our timeshare to be forfeited. The timeshare company said that they rejected this and therefore we still owe the maintenance fee. We have not paid the fee and do not intend to. I am interested in the “deed in lieu” of foreclosure. The property has actually been paid off for many years but we never use it. The maintenance fee is reasonable, but for the past several years we have been late in paying. After we lost our jobs and home, it seems like a mute point now. A collection agency is now involved and tacting on an additional $300 to the regular fee. I sent a letter to them already regarding the bankruptcy, but the only response I have is…you owe the money. So do you think we should just send a certified letter stating that we cannot pay this maintenance fee, the property was included in a recent bankruptcy and we wish to proceed with the “deed in lieu of” foreclosure. Anyone????
November 12th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Hey guys, I wrote earlier in this thread and have been reading and considering ever since. I have “GRANDVIEW disease” which I contracted on holiday in Vegas 2007, I am not a US citizen and reside overseas, I stopped paying my timeshare about 101 days ago, I have been contacted a few times via email. I have now been threatened with foreclosure and credit reporting (the credit score only effects within US boundaries – I HOPE, can anyone confirm??)
Anyway, I have not seen one post here which states that they actually had been sued, credit scores had been affected, SO I SAY “LETS STOP PAYING THE B@ST@RD5″.
Timeshare Organizations like this are the scum of the earth.
November 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I have a red week, at a Gold Crown resort, Pueblo Bonito Rose’ in Cabo San Lucas fixed time week 11 (Spring Break) It is a Presidential Suite, sleeps 6-8 and it is yours for the asking. Pay the Maintenance fees of $965.08 due 1/2/09 and this beautiful time share is yours for the next 20 years (out of 30). Contact me at rrhelm@wildblue.net if interested. Nothing is owed on this property, and Maintenance fees are up to date through the end of this year.
November 14th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I too got suckered, but by my sister first. We bought in Florida while on vacation. We were supposed to split and I haven’t seen a dime from her. I am a single mom with 2 kids. THe economy got so bad and my ex stopped paying support. So my real mortgage isn’t getting paid, but the timeshare sure is cause they take it right my account. I too have wondered about stopping payments. Don’t know what to do.
IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN BUYING IT!!!! WEEK 14, ORANGE LAKE RESORT PANAMA CITY FLORIDA. IT IS AN EVERYOTHER YEAR-BUT IT’S THE POINTS SYSTEM WHERE YOU CAN BORROW FOR THE OPPOSITE YEAR. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE I NEED TO SElL THIS
November 15th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Hi everyone! It seems like there are several people in my shoes. I too got suckered…brainwashed..or whatever into buying a timeshare with SilverLeaf Resorts. It’s a “beachclub presidential suite with blah blah blah blah” It’s supposed to be the cream of the crop and guess what….every time I have tried to use it, “sorry, we are booked” So, five months ago I said, “Screw it, I’m not paying these stinking animals anymore!” So, I have received a bunch of letters, phone calls, and even a notice demanding the balance in full. I actuall talked to a manager today and we were negotiating on a downgrade but the offer was terrible. So I told him, “I’m not sure yet on what I would like to do. That is, take your offer or take the foreclosure.” So he said, “Well, I will decide for you and we are going to expediate the foreclosure with you.” I hung up.
Here is my concern: can they come after my assets? Based on my understanding I have a deeded timeshare that was financed by some bank somewhere that was guaranteed by the resort company. Long story short, if I default the resort company has to pay up. So, can the resort company come after me? The only collateral I signed away was the actual timeshare? This is particularly a problem b/c I have several assets that are paid for. Any thoughts? Thanks a million!!!
November 19th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I had a Westgate villas resort… I used timeshare rescue to get out… i tried everything and even paid over $1000 to list… might be the only option now a days…regards
November 19th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Hi Dave,
Good to hear from you!
What’s your plan? are you going to stop paying or take the offer?
Thanks for sharing
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Good afternoon,
Like the majority of folks on this list I’m looking for a major way out of 4 timeshare contracts. In short, my father passed about 18 months ago. He has the following paid in full principle contracts: 2 with Grupo Mayan in Mexico, 1 in Costa Rica with Villas Sol, and one here in the states in Wisconson. As the personal rep of the estate, I have everything completed to “close” the estate with the exception of these #@#! timeshares. The good news is that the principal is paid in full on all of these. The bad news is I owe about $6000 in back and current maintenance fee’s. One of the Grupo Mayan contracts has been cx’d with the second one about to be cx’d as well. I do have the ability to re-instate these contracts if I act within the next couple of months. My questions are as follows:
1) If I allow the contracts to expire (again the principal is paid in full)what will happen? I’m not concerned about credit rating as I don’t think they can effect my credit rating as a personal rep. Will they go after past/future fee’s? The question here, do I let the cancelation process play itself out? I don’t have any assurances that this will indeed, close the door on the specific contract from an estate point of view?
2) I can pay the back fee’s and get everything current, and continue to try and sell as they are currently listed on Time Shares Direct. The problem here is that this could drag out for years!!
Once I get rid of the 3 foreign timeshares, I would be more than happy to take ownership of the timeshare in Wisconsion into my name just in order to get it out of the estate. However, putting 4 of these in my name is out of the question. I’m just inviting more trouble, furthermore, I don’t have the ability to take 8 weeks off a year not to mention the costs. I’m just looking to make these go away. Any suggestions? Sorry for the loooong message!!
December 8th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
does anyone have info on this timeshare rescue or know how it works
December 17th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Sue,
I’ve been in the “unloading” of timeshares for the past year and a half. I’ve gone from completely clueless to wishing I could “mind-floss” this entire process. To answer your question: I have not been in contact with timeshare rescue. But like the countless other companies I’ve worked with, I will speculate with confidence on what their business model is. They either:
a) For a fee (could be close to a $1000)they will advertise your TS on a web site. The problem is the TS could be unsold for quite some time. In this scenario they are just an advertising tool and/or the middle man. This would be identical to Timeshares only.
or
b) They will purchase your Timeshare from you outright. Generally speaking, this type of company will really low ball you on the price and I’m guessing you would have to pay a fee for them to low ball you. They are basicly a title company and will turn around for much, much higher. I’m also guessing that they’ll do some background work to determine if your contract is desirable enough for them to take on. I suspect that they would have some very creative language in their contract. If you go this route, not to state the obvious, but make sure you get in writing that once the title/deed is transferred, your free from any additional financial commitment. (Research complaints and/or lawsuits against these guys and make sure they’re clean, which I doubt. Forgive me for taking the glass is half empty approach, but this timeshare business has got to be one of the dirtiest business’s on all levels that I’ve ever seen!!)
Lastly, there are websites where you can donate the timeshare for a tax credit. I might suggest this option if timeshare rescue is a nightmare and assuming your contract isn’t worth thousands and thousands of dollars. Note: Timeshare donation companies will also need a couple of days to consider your TS desirable and take a few months to unload. Normally I wouldn’t suggest this, but considering that people can’t even give away timeshares, and if you need to get out and that’s the bottom line, might be worth looking at.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Does anyone know the ramifications of not paying for a timeshare that was signed and purchased in Mexico? I spoke to an attorney that says there may be limitations of what they can do as far as collections, foreclosure etc….is anyone familiar with this? The payments are current but I am no longer able to pay it.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Hi all,
Like everyone else, I’m in the same boat right now. I think I’m going to try just to stop making payments. I owe about $11k and with expenses on the rise, my monthly debt has exceeded the income, so I’m going to try and stop it, but of course, we just purchased a condo and I’m worried about what they would do about putting a lien on the condo. Is there a chance they could seize that asset? It’s really the only asset I have right now, but there’s no equity built into it because we’ve just purchased it 3 months ago.
Mandie, since you’re the expert, I’d love to hear back from you!
Cheers, J
January 1st, 2009 at 8:26 pm
We also got suckered into buying a Silverleaf timeshare in Fox River Resort IL and when we thought were making an “upgrade” actually ended up buying another deed in Texas to get Diamond Status. We were outright lied to as to how much our monthly payment will be. And now, nine months later of trying to make the monthly payments, we were told of how irresponsible and stupid we had been to buy it in the first place by one of the collection rep. We are currently two months behind the ts in Illinois and is seriously considering foreclosure. We can no longer afford the monthly in light of the economic hardship we are all experiencing. The jerk-rep though was trying to scare us off that in Illinois just because we foreclose it didn’t mean the loan will go away. Can you please advice us on this? Besides isn’t misrepresentation ground enough to void that contract under some kind of Timeshare Act law?
January 6th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I am a 66 year old senior citizen, living on social security and a part time job income and paying on my time share puts me in a serious bind, choosing between paying my mortgage payment, groceries, etc or this time share payment. Cannot pay the fees this year and have contacted my credit union to stop the auto draft on the time share payments. Not worried about my credit, I have everything I need. Just want to know if they can come after my house that is not paid for or my car that is paid for. Dont want these jokers to get anymore from me. Please help me with an answer as to if my home and car are safe if i stop paying on my time share.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I, like many of you other hard-working folks, was suckered into buying a one bedroom at Tahiti Village in Las Vegas. They lied through their teeth and told me that I could easily refinance at a much lower rate. They are “lending” me the money at 16% apr!! When I heard the 16%, I told them no way. I am not paying that amount and then they told me the lie about easily refinancing the property. I had no idea. When i got home and did my own research, I found that timeshares are worthless, therefore, no company is willing to let you refinance. I did not know that since I am a newbie…but I am sure they knew that. I used my stimulus check to help pay the downpayment of over $3000 and I made about 3 months worth of payments before i was fed up and decided to stop paying. They lied to me and I cannot get it refinanced. They have been calling and emailing me. I told them to take it back. I told them I am not afraid of getting my credit ruined since it already sucks. I also told them that I am judgment proof and that I own NOTHING, I rent and I dont even own a car. I told them to save their time and efforts and just take the darn thing back…they already took aboput $4000 from me for free. But, they keep calling. Now they are threatening foreclosure. I can’t wait! I welcome it! It will finally mean that I will be done with this forever! I don’t care if I never buy my own home…as long as I don’t have to deal with them anymore!
January 7th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Hi everyone. I hope that me and my husband had an intensive research about time share first before signing up. Now, we are so stressed out because like some of you we are non US residents and we are about to exit US and go back to our country to process our visa in June. We are holding a J (working visa) and hopefully have it changed to H. We cannot afford to pay the monthly and the maintenance anymore because we have more important bills to pay first. We purchased a property in Gatlinburg (Westgate) last July 2008 and paid up to December. We already paid them 2k including the downpayment. It was really a very nice and very deceiving presentation. What they have said are not true like we can sell it right away, it’s a good investment, etc…they even know that we might be in this situation right now (undergoing visa process) and it will be easy to sell it. We trusted their words and when we go over our documents after 25 days, we realized that what they have said are not the ones on the paper. So we started calling them and informed them that it was unfair in our part because they said they will help us sell it and they did not even mention about the 20 day cooling off period. So, they promised to call us back and we’ve waited for months and not heard anything from them. It was hard because they keep on passing us to different people and never really helped us. Now we are finding ways on how to get rid of it…we will keep you posted if this one will work. =)
January 7th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
By the way, thanks Mandie for sharing your wealth of knowledge. May God bless you a thousandfold.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I own 2 weeks at Sand Pebble, Treasure Island, Florida – weeks 33 and 34, peak school holiday weeks. I need to get rid of them, as my husband cannot travel, due to ill health. We live in Scotland. I am happy to give them away, for free, and for someone just to take on the maintenance fees – 633 Dollars per week. The transfer would cost about 200 Dollars. The other option I have is to walk away from them, but I am concerned about the consequences. We live overseas and no money is owing on them, until the fees are due at the end of this month. Would they pursue me through the courts in Scotland – if anyone can help, or would like the weeks, please let me know.
Julia
January 13th, 2009 at 1:05 am
Hi,
22 months ago we signed up for a ts at the occidental grand flamenco xcaret, mexico – or so we were led to believe. We made it perfectly clear to the sales rep that we were only interested in that particular resort. We couldn’t afford the package thay were offering so the sales team said they would see what thay could do. The head salesman went off, returning 5 minutes later saying that they would be able to offer us every other year at the resort instead of annually. Like fools we signed. 18 months later we tried to book at our resort only to be told that we didn’t have that resort and in actual fact were owners of a ts 5 miles down the road in Playa del Carmen at a resort we had never even heard of – let alone seen. At no time was it pointed out that we were signing for something different to what we thought we were purchasing. If this information had been disclosed at the time we would certainly not have signed. We even asked if it was at the resort we were staying at and were told it was. Not one of the sales team pointed out that it was a completely different location. This must surely be fraud on their part? I do not want this ts as it is not what we paid for. please let me know my best course of action, if we have to default on it then so be it.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Good luck to all who are at their wits end and would just like to have a foreclosure. Like many of you my husband and I were swindled in to buying a timeshare from ILX resorts in September of 2004. We also turned down the first offer because as newlyweds with a new family we knew we could not afford something as frivilous as a vacation timeshare. We were then offered a (can you believe this?) repo! We were told that we would have instant equity and as soon as we got home we could refinance or even sell at instant profit. We soon realized what a mess we had gotten ourselves into and quit making payments in May 2005. We accepted the fact that we would have to deal with a foreclosure on our credit. We tried to give the timeshare back to no avail. The company that financed the timeshare continually ruins our credit by reporting to the CRA’s that we quit making payments and got up to 180 days late and then all of a sudden they report we make about six payments or so and then fall back 180 days again. I believe this is an attempt by them to be able to continue past the seven years and to make matters worse it shows up to be a mortgage. I have started investigations on this company by all of the CRA’s and the FTC for false credit reporting since we have had no activity on this account since our last payment in May 2005. The last report shows us to be 120 days late in Oct. and Nov. 2007 and then the account is shown to be closed and sent to a collection agency. Here we are in January 2009 and still no sign of foreclosure and also the maintenance fees are a totally seperate delinquent account. It looks like there should be some means to an end. This is a predatory lending industry that should be shut down by the government. Any advice on what we can possibly do to just get rid of this nightmare would be greatly appreciated, but it looks like you are pretty well stuck for life once you sign the dotted line. I’m just glad we got out before we gave them to much of our money.
January 14th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I came on the website to find out what would happen if the timeshare went into foreclosure. It’s amazing to find out so many people are dealing with the same issue. I have two timeshares and one just sends me letters stating my balance but the other one constantly calls me. Right now I am seriously considering letting it foreclose. Due to my financial situation now, I am more worried about day-to-day living as opposed to worrying about a timeshare. I was told that if it went into foreclosure I would be sued by the bank. I truly hate to lose one of them because I have already invested quite a bit of money into it.
Also, some people were saying they just stopped paying and nothing happened. I am sure that was because those timeshares were not deeded. I had one some years ago that was not deeded and we just stopped paying it. We received calls and letters for a few months but nothing was ever done about it and it never showed up on our credit reports. Actually, when we purchased it the salesperson told us that if we stopped paying there wasn’t anything they could do about it. Deeded timeshares are supposedly different because it’s as though you have a mortgage.
I was trying to find a comment that would be more specific in letting me know what would definitely happen if I stopped payments. Has anyone actually had their timeshare go into foreclosure and if so what happened????
January 15th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Wondering if in light of the economy are the companies going to be more ruthless in coming after money owed to them for ts.? just curious… i too like so many others cannot afford my ts any longer.
Also, have checked my credit recently for refi of my house and there is no reference to ts on credit report… we’re still current on pmts and fees, but i thought if you had a ‘mortgage’ that would be a debt owed and would show on a credit report…
any thought?
btw… very informative site- Marc
January 18th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
i believe its a mortgage only when you default, i have owned for 5 yrs. have always paid, had hoped it would enhance credit but its not listed, and when we bought home two yrs. ago lender couldnt find it. we too are considering stop payment but worry in these time they will agressivly pursue. i have definately re-evaluated the american dream concept in 2009. thank you mandy and others for helpful advice, kim
January 20th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Hi, I cannot pay for my timeshare anymore, it is in virginia beach, i pay 375 a year and i have a fixed week: week 49 which falls aroung the second week of Dec. If you would like to take it it is free for this year since i already paid the fees for 2009, also for an extra charge you can become a member of rci and travel where ever you want. I will pay for all the fees involved in the transfer, you will not pay a penny until Jan of 2010. email me if interested at gracee12003@yahoo.com
January 21st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
the last payment i did to my TS was a few months ago. Yesterday i received the 1st notification about my past due. lets see how it goes.
btw, i havent payed the maintenance fees either, which turn out to be quit higher than the ones stated in the documents i signed. do you know if this could be a reason to sue those liars??? i was never told the maintence fees would increase.
thanks,
January 25th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I am so glad to find out that I am not alone. The TS market is a big, big, scam. I too was scammed into buying a TS in Vegas. I have great credit, but I am giving up as well. I am just not going to pay. My yearly maintenance fee continues to increase each year.
I wonder if these scamm artists can garnish wages or IRS refunds?
January 25th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
And here I thought I was all alone as well. My hubby and I purchased our timeshare only 2 years ago. We were living in the east coast at the time and the timeshare is located in Virginia. It was a good idea when we were living there. Its not anymore since we are now living in Montana due to him being in the service (joined after our timeshare purchase). Our TS is now a great burden and we want anyway to get rid of it. Unfortunately I don’t know what options we have because we just recently purchased it and still owe a significant amount. I am trying hard not to lean towards foreclosure b/c of other reasons besides the obvious. I’m really lost and angry and confused. Can anyone offer any help what-so-ever.. and yes I do realize that this is a hard (and expensive) lesson learned!!
January 26th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I agree with you on that Mishi, we have learned our lesson the hard and expensive way. Me and my husband mailed a legal notification to West Gate Resorts through the help of the OWNERS ADVOCATE. They are helping us cancel our timeshare contract and at the same time, file a complaint for all the false hopes and promises that they have told us during the presentation. If the case will not be resolved, they will completely refund our payment. Anyone who is familiar how The Owners Advocate works? All I know is that they are credited by the Better Business Bureau and they have helped people to get rid of their timeshares. We are planning to go back to our country this summer and we really need a lot of money and we cannot afford to pay anymore so we stop our monthly payment since January and never paid our maintenance since we just got our ts last august 2008. We never get a chance to use it.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
MITCH
I agree. just stop paying them.
So help me, I won’t pay those people another dime.
January 29th, 2009 at 6:11 am
Pink,
would you consider disclose what are the fees you are paying to the Owners Advocate?
i would try contacting them but with all the scammers out there who sell promises on helping to get rid of your TS for a “small-in-advance” fee, i have my doubts…
thanks,
January 31st, 2009 at 12:37 am
can someone please help me… i need advice or opinions. i lost my job and cant pay for a vacation resort unit that i just bought into in december 2008. i gave money for closing costs, and they gave me papers showing i still owe down payments, and also monthly payments starting in januray 2009. before the balance of my down payments and my monthly payments were even due, i lost my job, and now cant pay for this resort unit. i called the resort and told them, so many different people that i cant pay anything. they keep calling me everyday, in which not bothering me, i keep telling them, i’m still without a job, barily taking care of my special needs child and having yard sales every day just to eat meals and buy diapers. i told resort of all of this, they still keep asking me can i pay anything at all on the down payments. they said they need all down payments to be paid before my paperwork (deed) can be filed with the courthouse. i keep telling them im sorry that i purchased resort and signed papers but i didnt know i would lose job, and now having really hard time. cant get any help no where. family has brought household items and some baby food. im thankful for that. but this resort stuff is haunting me everyday and im stressed out as it is with no job now. i been looking for a job every since i lost mine, no luck but pray one will come soon before they start foreclosure on my house i live in everyday. can someone please give me advice or opinion…. will i get sued? im so scared. my family and old house i have now is what matters most to me, but people telling me im going to be sued and resort time share place will take away my vehicles, because the resort people asked me to write all my vehicle information down on paperwork and they are old vehicles but they are paid for, and now im afraid they will put lien on my vehicles. and im really afraid they will sue me. i ask resort company if i could just voluntarily surrender the time share unit back to them since i have no job, and they said no. i ask them is there anything they can do to help me. they said we will work with you on the monthly payments but first you have to finish paying the down payments $461 monthly for 3 months, and $227 for monthly payments we will work out later. so far im late on 1 down payment and 1 monthly payment, but fixing to owe for februarys down payment and monthly payment. ive been begging them please cancel contract or something. i now understand i cant. they said its legal binding contract and im breeching it if i dont pay anymore money and they said it will start legal processing. i know there’s no help or hope for me in this situation, but any advice or opinions welcome. please everyone pray for me to get a job soon. time share stuff scary, but losing my family, worse. in love, -Jamie
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:08 am
Hi everyone,
Just to make a quick comment on Ken’s comment. Yes they can and will raise the fees regardless of what they tell you. In fact that was part of my reasons to ditch the timeshare. Besides not being able to pay the “mortgage” this year they also raised the rates by like $50 this year because of these updates and are continuing to raise them by 10% over the next 5 years! So, with fees being like $360 now, by 2014, they’d be at $580! A ridiculous price to pay, especially when no one even gets a 10% cost of living increase.
So, I’ve just started to stop payments and haven’t heard a peep out of them. I’m hoping that they’ll be bogged down by the shear volume of people foreclosing.
Also, if they can’t make their bills they’ll go bankrupt. There actually are strength in numbers, so I feel like if everyone started foreclosing, they wouldn’t be able to keep open.
On a personal level, I’ve fought so hard with the timeshare that I have because they’ve lied to me and ignore whatever I say and treat me with such poor service that I absolutely refuse to pay them anymore. Hopefully they’ll go under soon and I can be rid of this nightmare!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
This is somewhat maintenance fees related, and I have not found anything else similar online. My old Timeshare just sent me a General Warranty Deed for a unit I have not owned since December, 2005. I am assuming that they have not been able to collect any maint. fees from the new owner, so have quietly “Granted, Sold and Conveyed” it to me and recorded it at the county all without my knowledge/consent. How can it be legal? How do I fight this? This is a new low even for a timeshare company.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Jamie,
good on you mate!
that’s the best thing is for everyone to just default on those b@sterds and they go under – belly high.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:06 am
Have any of you who are in trouble considered a BK FILING on the time share a Chapter 13 or a full 7 to remove all the problems I mean if your going to waste 7 years on your credit why not make it worth the wait? after 2 years in BK you can re-establish your selves with new credit as with a chapter 7 it last 8 years to re-file and 10 years on the record but the Fico only uses 7 years…. Plus you should all know you are entitled to make a 50 word statement to be placed on all 3 credit agencies as to why you filed a BK… or even why you let a Time share go in the first place…
February 8th, 2009 at 7:04 am
one more thing the reason I wrote here was this::: I to am in a time share I bought at west gate lakes in orlando in july of 08 I was told several times how easy it was to make money off of the referrals and sell my free weeks and if I wanted to rent my odd year time share out NO PROBLEM plus how the Maintenance fee was 599 and taxes were 112 so i would pay a odd year fee of 711 and here is the new year 2009 and that bill showed up as 752 so I called and was given some excuse as to the rise for upgrades even as the real estate markets have tank and the property taxes have come down there rose why???? no answer from the rep… next I remember asking the girl “a brenda” which this was being recorded at closing that if the wife and I decided to cancel this after we went home from our vacation what’s the time frame … and was told that once we sign its ours being a “DEEDED PROPERTY” so that if we were not 100 hundred percent sure now was the time… we had the kids crying for sea world i had my discount and free tickets for doing the morning show the deal looked easy to refinance once home RIGHT!!! so I signed!!! One paper after another real quick to get us out of there and (ITS MY FAULT FOR NOT READING PAGE AFTER PAGE BUT I FIGURED I WOULD THAT NIGHT IN THE HOTEL WHICH I DIDN’T TIL I GOT HOME 10 DAYS LATER) and when we got home and called the bank to refinance this 17.99% deal for 10 years at 243.12 a month with the $2000 I put down owning now 13500 the condo was 15k plus 501 closing costs it was a nice looking deal at the time all done real fast your thinking a $243 payment is nothing RIGHT???? WRONG!!!! because now the trouble starts: no refinance bank laughed I was a fool for getting into it, in seven months only 300 bucks has come off the principle and no way to sell it or the free weeks it like a time bomb right… then the economy and lost wages hits and now the future is bleak (I was banking on pre-paying for future vacation like so many but not now) so I will be probably doing a chapter 7 but I feel for those out there like me BUT we should have read the fine print because I got into it with the mgter of finance there over the fact that it stated 10 days from contract signing and it was the day after that 10th day I wanted out and there was nothing he could do after the 10th day and I told him about the recorded closing and was told she said no way out yet florida law had it 10 days in small print on the last page and how slick they are in not letting people KNOW THE FACTS AT CLOSING!!!!!! but like I said who saw the economy and lost job coming and the deal and pitch was so easy to fall for… YET I should have read the fine small print!!!! so if you default you can make it all go away with a BK filing and write a statement as to the reason your filing a BK and people look at that when later in life they judge you for CREDIT!!!!!
February 11th, 2009 at 10:31 am
My husband and I have also retained the owners advocate to help us cancel our timeshare contract. If they really can get the contract cancelled they will be worth every penny of the $999 fee that they charge. I have just received my final documents which they are sending to the timeshare company and giving them 15 days to respond. They said most cases are resolved in that time period, but they will continue to fight the company if they do not agree to cancel the contract because of how they fraudulently sold it. I researched this company upside down and inside out trying to find anything bad about them that I could and came up with absolutely nothing. If they do deliver on their promise then I will most definately yell it from every mountaintop I can find, I will be the best free publicity they ever dreamed of getting. It has been nothing but absolute hell since the day we signed that contract in 2004 and it is unbelievable the things these timeshare companies have and continue to get away with. I will definately let everyone know the results of our case, good luck to everyone.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:14 am
We too have a timeshare at Westgate Lakes in Orlando. We took it out back in 2003, and have been paying more than $200 a month for the damned thing plus $800 every other year in maintenance fees. We live in the UK and are UK citizens, and have found that it is much cheaper for us to stay in a hotel, than stay there! We are thinking about just stopping the payments, as we’ve been trying to sell it for the last 4 years without success. Its a financial noose around our necks and we just want rid of it. If we stop paying, apart from foreclosure, is there any other action they could take against us, bearing in mind we dont actually live in the US?? Thanks
February 17th, 2009 at 10:55 am
to crystal: Who is this owner’s advocate?
February 18th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Hi,
Has anyone that owns a TS with Whyndam seen their maintenance fees increase dramatically over the last couple of years?
Are the maintenance fees somewhat connected to the amount of points you owe?
Thanks
February 20th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
How about combining two contracts into one contract with a purchase of more points added in and a hefty amount financed through Wyndham. The maintenance fees are killers monthly. We approaced Wyndham about downsizing to fewer points and they refused. We like Wyndham but don’t know who to talk to to downsize our points yet stay with the timeshare program. ANy suggestions? Isn’t there a national timeshare owners’ advocate group? If not, I’ll help start one. Maybe we can find some legal loopholes. PLEASE RESPOND
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Crystal – We used The Owner’s Advocate last summer and they got our contract cancelled and 100% refunded. It took roughly 6 weeks for the money to be returned to us. They did everything they said they would and were very professional.
Bob – The company is located in Santa Barbara and they are members of the Better Business Bureau. They help people get their timeshare contracts cancelled.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
MB- How do I contact the owners advocate you used?
February 24th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I have read all of these and wow!!! I have really been had by my timeshare. Is there anyone familiar with bluegreen or anyone other than me having problems with this company?
February 26th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Ken – The phone number is (866) 644-7776.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
does anyone know or ever herd of a timeshare company that would be willing for you to pay a lump sum to settle your time share for less. Basically my mom passed away when i was a kid and i get my first lump sum settlement amd we own timeshare through bluegreen. We like our timeshare and alway use it. or find a way to use it..if you own your own buisness did you know you can give your time share away to your employees as a bounus and claim it on taxes..i havent done it but know ppl who do.
Basically we owe 12,300 on our timeshare of which we have already paid about 8k in interest over the last five years, we purchased this one for 17k and before we upgraded to this package we had a lesser one for like 10k and payed on that for three years. I want to pay this off. its the first thing to go. i also have to cars with better intrest rates. i owe about 14k to those..and well if i can get bluegreen. to like erase or work with my on excepting my 9-10k lump sum and calling my account closed and paid in full or even settled…idc. then that would free me up enough money to pay off a car and all my credit cards..
We have never been late on payments, we arent in like financial hardship, although we will be if we kept paying there price…lol basically im thinking i might have to bluff them into thinking im gonna forclose..or default..ect. whats the worse they can do? say no…oh well then ill pay em off in full and NEVER NEVER buy anymore points again…i have enougha nd am happy with what i have.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
oh here is an interesting place called the time share dump…these ppl sometimes take your timeshare along with payments and mainance fees all you pay is the transfer and title fees to put it in there names…which to me is better then paying all that interest..
http://timeshare.qcommerce.com/default.htm#tdump
February 26th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Tina i own through bluegreen also…i have had some issues but not many. my biggest was my family and i stayed at christmas mountain over thanksgiving and we had these big nasty stink bugs all over our villa and the juccuzi didnt work. i called and they came out and somewhat fixed the juccuzi which stoped working and giving hot water like before it even reached the jets..so basically the first three nights we couldnt use it..we killed like 10 of those bugs and they are called stink bugs for a reason…they look like big cocroach beatles…ewww black and nasty..my kids were scared to sleep alone. so basically you go to sleep and find one staring at you or look at you in the morn from your sink…ewww. so we calle them over they sprayed a bug..guess they didnge belive us. so the next mornign we went to complain to the manager and she was in the back forever and acually never did come out to talk to us. Some guy talked with us..to make a long story short…half way in our trip there compromise was for us to pack up all our stuff..(remember this is thanksgiving) with our kids ages 3 and 5 and get it all in the car go to the villa up the block and unload and put everything away, just to in two days put everything back in the car. No extra nights stay/ no points back/ no nothing to compromise for the trouble we had. they said the bugs were noraml around that time of year. iv been there alot..i mean alot. no bugs have i ever seen till then the next villa had two bugs. that villa was infested with bugs. anyway that is why we will never upgrade or buy more points through them cause of the way they treated us. you would think that someone who pays for a 20,000 timeshare would get treated with a little more decensy..hell i know a hotel would have gave me my money back or a nights stay for free. anyway..what is your problems..if it has to do with getting what you want when you want it i may be able to help..i work the system pretty good.
February 27th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Mine is a pretty long story, to make it short. We bought around 4-5 years ago and everything went ok, we had trouble making reservations, was advised to upgrade to “have more options”. I did, well still no options and like a dummy upgraded again. Still cant get the reservation I want. Hubby out of work, I am making monthly pmts of 750. Was told my maint fees would only increase maybe 100-200. No try 600-700. The account is frozen even though I am now paying 1000 month to pay maint fees also. I am struggling, worrying about my family, trying to work 2 jobs and am paying all that money and cant even send my family anywhere. I have asked for help and they talk to me like the idiot I am for getting involved with them. I told them I was going to have to stop paying and they basically said whatever. I have done this to myself but only because I was told one lie after another. I also read on another website that if you default they can garnish wages. Is this true? I am really losing sleep over this and not sure what to do. I cant even afford to see a lawyer at this point, I feel like it is only a matter of weeks that I can continue before I have to start thinking about more basic needs and a timeshare that cannot be used is not a basic need. I just wish my thick head would have realized that years ago. You know for all the money we pay I would have demanded the manager come out with some answers. Even the people on the phone are rude. Any answers would be greatly appreciated.
March 1st, 2009 at 8:00 am
Timeshare is not mine but part of my mother’s estate. Timeshare purchase paid in full, if the estate stops paying maintenance fees does this affect my personal credit as the executrix?
March 4th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Hi, has anybody been able to run a due diligence on the Owners Advocate? i called them last time and was attended by a very nice young lady who after explaining the basic process said that to start i only needed to pay 1000 which i dont have. she even sent me a so called “contract” where the OA ensure that i will get rid of the TS otherwise they will give me my money back. This contract is not signed by anybody of course.
thanks,
March 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am
can someone tell me what a “BK filing” is. Thanks…
March 5th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
DH and I are 2x TS owners (yeah, we were that stupid). Now of course we have had some emergency expenses come up *along with* news about our upcoming layoff (yes, both of us). One is through Shell and the other is through Grandview (Las Vegas). Shell is paid in full and Grandview is not; we are US residents. Does anyone know will either of these guys take these d@mned things back?
Thanks!
March 11th, 2009 at 6:29 am
I have just notified Grandview that I will not be able to make payments anymore and was hoping they can take it back. Blunt reply back was: no, i have to sell it.
I have already contacted my bank to try and stop payments, but alas, because it is a cc, the payments can only be cancelled by the person requesting payments!! So, I am more than willing to keep my cc at its limit so as to prevent further payments taken untill such time that they stop trying to.
I have asked to speak to someone in the TS finance department so that I can warn them of my intentions. I am fortunately not a US citizen, nor do I live in the US, so couldnt care less what they do to my US credit score (not that I have one!)
Has anyone ever gone through the whole process of not paying, foreclosure…..etc??? Very curious to what they will do, bearing in mind there is so many of us that want to get out!
March 11th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Ive just stopped payments on my Westgate timeshare. I’d advise you to cancel your card, that way they cant take any money from you. Its good that you are not a US citizen, as they cant touch you. I’m in the same position being a UK cictizen. The fact is, is that the loan is secured on the timeshare, so they will probably send you threatening letters for a bit, lots of phone calls, but just ignore them. Eventually they will get fed up, and take the timeshare back, as that is all they can do.
March 11th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Well I still dont know what im going to do. I am hoping that when i call bluegreen and tell them that im going to forclose the will listen and work with me. I really have to get them to drop the amount i owe on my loan so i can get ride of other debt. I owe 12k on the loan if they would drop to like 9k or 10k for a lumpsum payment i would pay off them right away, then pay off the cars. But i dont know if they would. My husband thing we should screw around with them, but i dont want extra late fees and our interest rate to go up, apprenently in our contract if we miss a payment they will put our already rediculous rate up to 13% daily accoring intrest. He things we should call them, tell them we are having issues making our payments on things and we havent missed a payment through them yet because they take it electronically, but we will miss a payment throught them soon. Basically say hey look, my wife fell into a small inheritance and we like using the timeshare and want to keep it but we cant if you arent willing to work with us to settle on a lower amount owed. basically if they say not then, well say “you telling us you would rather us forclose then take a gaurenteed 10k right now..or whatever the amount, I dont want to pay the full price, its rediculas when i see double what i own selling for only 7k and payed almost 20k for it. Stupid economy.
March 11th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I tried talking to bluegreen about my hard times, being the only one working right now. They were not interested at all, told me that it is my responsibility, that we signed the papers and they do not care if I default or file bankruptcy, that they will not help me at all. Basically they said it is all my problem, none theirs. I wish I only owed them that much. They have been nothing but rude and uninterested in my situation. Absolutely nothing like the sales pitch. You would think as much as I pay every month, and the fact that I have paid faithfully for years that they could be a little decent to me on the phone. Guess that is too much to ask. What is this about not being able to stop the payments from my checking acct? Oh what I wouldnt give to have had a brain before I signed those papers. Guess that is what I get for being so selfish and wanting my family to have nice vacations. What a joke, with my high payments I cant even afford to buy groceries.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Hi All,
I have left US since 6 months. I called up the Timeshare people to know about my Interest I paid to get Tax Returns. They told me the figure of some 1000+ USD. I filed and I got returns with no questions. But timeshare also told the case is with the collection agency. I dont know what are they doing as I have removed all my phones and every details that a collection agency could know. Eventhough I have my Credit card still in a good stand.
I suggest strongly to all those who does not belong to US and want to leave the country then the best part is dont pay timeshare any thing even though you get calls from any body. No police nothing. No body can do any thing to you even though you will be staying in US.
You may get some documents, dont care about them and if possible chage to a good house if possible before doing the steps below.
Follow these steps if you wont care for Credit History.
Step 1 : Remove all your automated payments.
Step 2 : Request your bank to provide a new replacement card with a new card number.
Step 3 : Take a new phone connection and if its landline then pay extra few 30 USD(for comcast) to get a new number.
Step 4 : stay happy.
Step 5: If you cant do any of the above and if not applicable to you then dont even care about any calls from any agency. They are bull shit people and do only the job of threating people in soft words. For example: They wont say We will make you pay money, But rather they will politly say Sir if you wont pay the due then it will be esclated and it could be more serious and I am afraid you wont able to face that situation.
Its PIG shit.
Anyway if you leave the country then you wont have to worry as no collection agency will do these research where we are and follow us. As US laws wont apply to any other country.
REST IS ALL YOUR WISH HOW YOU WANT TO DO.
March 13th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Radha and all non-US
just cancel this crap. cancel credit card paymt.
cancel your phone number, whatever.
don’t let those b@sturds take another penny from you.
they are slime
March 13th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Yep Radha, your 100% correct, it has taken me 6 years of paying for the damned thing to realise it!! I feel liberated now Ive cancelled the payment, and now I know they cannot and will not get anymore money out of me, If they even dare call me, they will be told in the most unpolite fashion to F*** Off, and stick their timeshare where the sun dont shine!!!
March 14th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Radha, thank you so much for your information, I am also a NON US Resident and purchased a timeshare in October. With the slide of our exchange rate, this timeshare has become very expensive and so we are unable to pay since January. We have been getting the harrassing calls, and the polite threats of being sued and that our credit rating will be affected (who cares I dont live in the US). I am just worried that they might sue us for money once it has gone into foreclosure. What do you think?
March 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
They wont sue, you dont live in the US, so they cant sue anyway, its a load of rubbish to get you to pay, stick to your guns, and just ignore the calls and letters. thats what Im doing
March 17th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Hi All,
Thanks for reading my post and thanks for this site. A one stop for all persons like us.
I want to tell timesharehater and everybody that NO BODY can sue you unless you do a crime. And being not able to repay the loan is not at all a crime, as the timeshare is with them. So they can’t do any thing to you even if you are in US except threatening you.
And where do you live Mr/Ms timesharehater, if possible change your phone numbers to avoid the nonsense calls. And this time give your phone number very carefully. never post your phone number on the internet
Doing this may effect your credit , but due to the market crash, it will be common so you may get fresh loans next time when you like, but of course may the interest rate go high. Anyway leave it.
Just Do what ever I told, only if you dare to. As at any point of time if you get loose and let the fear enter your heart then don’t follow my steps. This is recommended for NON US people, and just an advise for US guys. If credit history wont matter then anybody can do it.
March 19th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Hello everyone,
Me and my husband were duped into purchasing a Shell Vacations Timeshare and we paid over 14000 for it. I am currently walking away from my home that we cannot afford anymore due to its interest only loan and losing over $150000 in equity. Would it really matter to just stop paying on the timeshare? It would save us over 200 bucks a month which we will need because credit cards will be out of the question for the next couple of years… Why would the IRS tax non payment of timeshares when they cant do that for homes that people walk away from? Also, Can they sue you in Arizona, since its a no fault state?
March 20th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Whoa there!
Let’s set the record straight Radha, DO NOT advise US citizens to take this decision lightly. Yes I am a US citizen and have stopped making payments, but I have spoken with a lawyer beforehand and will share with everyone the repercussions of defaulting on a loan.
First and foremost, you will ruin your credit for 7 years. If you don’t feel like you’d need to get a loan for a car, house, cable or electricity or credit cards than go ahead. This is the least of your worries.
Because timeshares in the US are deeded you will basically be defaulting on a mortgage, which means that they will take your timeshare to auction once they have taken it from you. Most timeshares won’t sell at auction, but if they do sell for less than what you’ve paid, you will owe them the difference. This means that if you bought it for $20,000 and they sold it for $2,000 they can still recuperate the difference of $18,000 from you. They have every right and very well may come after you for the balance. Depending on what you own they may take you to court for your car or house. If you don’t own any assets they can garnish your wages. Also, heads up, the money that they cannot recuperate from the auction will be reported to the IRS and you will have to pay taxes on it.
My personal situation includes a co-owned home. I was concerned that they would come after my home, but because it’s jointly owned and the timeshare is in my name only, they can’t come after that and I own no other assets, yes not even a car. But what I’m banking on (no pun intended) is that they’ll have too many people defaulting to be able to come after us for the money owed. Court costs a lot of money and without assets to go after they most likely will make the decision to not pursue people, especially those that they will be difficult to collect.
So, for all US citizens unfortunately we may wind up paying for our mistakes in the end, but you have to make that difficult decision and live with what may happen.
Best of luck to us all.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
We are almost through paying Silverleaf Resorts. We missed 2 payments and they threatened foreclosure. We made arrangements but they reported the bad credit to the credit agency but refuse to report all of the on time payments. We are in the process of wanting to buy a house and this shows up on our credit report. What can be done to get the positive information reported? Even when it is paid off they say they will take another six months to provide the deed and report that it is paid off.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:39 am
To Tracy – Have you managed to get out of paying? I want to get out and am a non US citizen/resident.
March 26th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Yep, stopped the payments last month. Strangely though, I havent had any calls or letters yet, but Im expecting them. Ive just had enough of wasting my money on something that is worthless. I’d recommend you to do the same, as there is nothing they can do to make you pay, and it wont affect your credit history either, as you are not a US resident
March 27th, 2009 at 7:14 am
Is there not anyone who enjoy having their TS and see it as a good way to vacation? All this reading about stopping payments, high maintenance fees really make me scared. Just bought one with points in Dec. To me it sounds good to be able to go to different places in the world. How can the US government allow TS if they are all scams and putting people into hardship? Where do you all have your TSs?
March 27th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Wait till you start getting hit with the maintenance fees! It costs me less money to book a full holiday every year, than it does to pay for this blood sucking timeshare. Example, I paid £160 per month, which is £1920 per year. I booked a 3 week holiday for weeks, with flights and accommodation, for £1500!!
March 27th, 2009 at 8:45 am
hey i want to know more about crystal and her situation with the owners advocate..we just signed with him to try and get us out of a timeshare in virginia beach…gold key are bums…we have called and left many messages to talk to someone about this..but no call backs…only call backs we are getting is wanting us to pay our maintance fee and the last months payment which i stopped payment on…ive been reading on here..some sya it doesnt even show up on your credit score…is this true….if so why am i so worried about this…its been a hardship on us…first we were suckered and lied to by the sells team…and nothing has been true about it…we were told we wouldnt be paying a closing fee..well we did…told it was easy to change weeks…but not so much…im frustrated and irritated about this whole deal..hoping and praying to get out of this whole mess…and next time i see a timesahre seller ill run not walk the other way screaming…..any info would be greatly appreciated….
March 27th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I dont know much about the owners advocate, but after having paid numerous resale companies hundreds of pounds over the last few years, the idea of shelling out more money, as i believe they charge quite a substantial amount of money, to something which isnt 100% guaranteed to get you out of the timeshare, I’d much rather save my money, cut my losses with Westgate, and go on my nice 3 week holiday timeshare free!!
And dumb blond, if you are still within the period that you can cancel your agreement, cancel it. My timeshare was a deeded (not points, points are worse!!) timeshare with Westgate Resorts, and every time I wanted to to book my week, they tried to charge me extortionate amounts of money to do so, even though I was an “owner” The maintenance went up by more than 50% in 2 years, and you are stuck with these damn maintenace fees for the rest of your life, even after you have actually paid the damn thing off!!
Timeshares are a scam, and a complete waste of money. Save your money and go and stay somewhere nice for a fraction of the cost
March 28th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
My husband and I were in Vegas this week and signed up to by a TS and upon leaving realized that we made a huge mistake. We sent off a revocation form three days after the purchase to hopefully cancel it. Has anyone had any luck with the revocing a sale of TS? I cancelled my credit card so that they cannot take anymore of our money. We live in Canada, it was our first time in Vegas and feel that when you are on vacation everything seems better than it really is and what they said and what is in the contract seem to be very similar but very different. I feel like I never want to go back to Vegas after what has happened and hopefully we can get out of this deal and not have to go through what all of you have gone through! Hoping for the best!
April 1st, 2009 at 10:12 am
bk filng is bankrupct… now what is this crap about IRS SCARING???
if you owe 15k paid it to 13k and defaulted the 13k and they sell it for a grand to a buddy how are you paying taxes on 12 grand???? its all non-cash paper losses… the deed was never transfered until a full payment was made!!!! this IRS CRAP IS JUST THAT CRAP!!!!
THEY REPORT THERE PAPER LOSS TO THERE GAIN YOU JUST CAN’T REPORT A LOSS ON YOURS I CALLED THE IRS AND ASKED!
April 1st, 2009 at 10:25 am
ONE MORE THING: you people talk about credit reports have any of you pulled a report they don’t show your paying so what gives them ther right to show a default? plus they never ran my credit at time of sale or qualified me? So you better check on that loop hole…. look if i loan you a paper amount but never really took cash out to give you and lets say you use my house and I were to give you a room to use for a fee and you bailed on me how can I call a credit report agency and file a claim of default unless I’m a paying member and report monthly payments or defaults!!! thinking about it that way!!!! I looked at my reports and the time share isn’t even reporting my payments!
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:37 am
They dont show up on my credit report, but thats probably because I live in the UK. From what I understand, if your payments dont show up on your credit report, they cant report defaulted payments, but if you were to foreclose on the timeshare, without completing the WDIF (Warranty Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure), then I believe they can report the foreclosure. None of this affects anyone who lived outside the US, like myself, as none of it would show up on my credit report here.
To be honest I think having dodgy credit for a while is worth not having to pay these bloodsucking timeshare companies any more hard earned money!
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:52 am
I am a UK citizen. I own at Tempas Palms (1week) & Orange Lake (2 weeks). I want to get rid off my week at Tempas. If I just stop paying my mortgage finance and maintenance fee can Tempas foreclose on my weeks at Orange lake which I am still paying for?
Also can I be stopped from entering USA to use my weeks at Orange Lake resort?
I have no problems so far with Orange Lake but have only managed to stay once at Tempus and have lost numerous weeks because I have not recieved the maintence bill until too late to deposit my week with Internal International as I own in week 6.
Also as my husband has recently passed away my & daughters do not want the TS weeks to be left to them (both resorts are deeded)it appears to me that I am just wasting good money after bad.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 am
so what are you saying john?? that if you default on the ts then does it show up on credit report….
April 4th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Anyone being an executor of an estate,
I was an executor of my aunt’s estate and the lawyer somehow did not pay the Social Security check back to the government. After being notified of this 3 years later, I checked the paperwork, and yes, it was not paid by the lawyer. I paid the $800.00 and alas, the Social Security office put a 120 day late strike on my credit report. I have tried disputing this and they changed it as paid in full, all except Equifax. I too have a t/s in Thunder Mountain Condos in Steamboat Springs. I have not paid the maintenance fees which were due by October of 2008 and just got a letter from a collection company. Mine is paid in full, just the maintenance fees due every year. I have offered to give it away, pay all the transferring fees and can not find a sucker to take me up on the deal. Will a warranty deed in lieu of foreclosure work for me. It is a deeded timeshare. Anyone want this beast.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Hi, I have 2 timeshare units in puerto vallarta, fully paid and up-to-date with maintenance fees payments up to and including 2009. I was in Orlando last week and I was offered a timeshare and I was promised in writing that if I purchased ts from them, they will assure me that the two time share interests that I own will be taken out of my name by the end of 2009 and before the 2010 maintenance billing. How would they take my name out? What is the guarantee that the Puerto vallarta resort will not go after me?
April 5th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hi Mandie, this is a very helpful and informative site. I have 2 timeshare units in puerto vallarta, fully paid and up-to-date with maintenance fees payments up to and including 2009. I was in Orlando last week and I was offered a timeshare and I was promised in writing that if I purchased ts from them, they will assure me that the two time share interests that I own will be taken out of my name by the end of 2009 and before the 2010 maintenance billing. How would they take my name out? What is the guarantee that the Puerto vallarta resort will not go after me?
By the way, I still have a few days to cancel the ts in Orlando as it is stated in the contract that I have 10 calendar days to cancel it. Will I be able to get my downpayment back of $ 1500 if I cancel?
April 8th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Couple of comments. Yes I have had luck rescinding the purchase of a timeshare and everything was returned on a sale in Florida.
As far as credit reports. When we bought our home, they ran the report and the TS did not show up, but if you default on one they will report it. I think that they don’t have to report the sale because if you finance it’s usually done through a private company as opposed to a national lender, so they don’t report it on there.
Note to John: You’re math is wrong. If you owe 15k and have paid 13k the balance on the deed is 2k, so if they sell it for 1k than the remainder of the contract that will be owed is 1k, which they will write off and then report to the IRS as the balance of the foreclosure and yes you will have to pay taxes on that. In any foreclosure the sale of the home is still treated as a sale and will be taxed by the IRS.
I strongly encourage anyone on this chain to DO YOUR RESEARCH! It’s always encouraging to read other writers’ trials and tribulations, but at the end of the day, it’s your responsibility and you must do your own research before making these types of decisions because it will be you and no other person on here that must live with the consequences.
Yes it’s a scam, but it’s still a legal purchase and in a country where lawyers rule and we are victims of unintended consequence.
Cheers,
J
April 15th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Would love to hear from other non-US citizens with regards to their progress and consequences of non-payment so far. I received my first call the other day (3 weeks after missing first payment). I then re-sent email explaining personal circumstances and got a (quite friendly) reply that there is nothing to be done and if non-payment continues that they will go through the various collections steps and eventually foreclosure as it is a deeded property.
In my letter I have said that when TS was sold to me it was stated (not in writing of course) that TS was good investment and will keep value, which of course is false. No comment/reply were made to this statement though.
Anyway, thanks for everyone’s comments and advice so far.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:40 am
Dont get into dialogue with them. Ignore all of the calls and letters. I havent had any correspondance yet, and Ive missed 2 payments, but I expect I will start getting letters soon. If you get into dialogue with them, you run the risk of them convincing you to pay less, or them giving you a smaller unit for a lower price, just ignore them. They will eventually get bored, and after sbout 6-8 months, you should receive the Warranty Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure, which you need to sign and send back to them, this effectively gives them back the timeshare, and you will be free of it. We were promised the earth by Westgate, which was all bullsh*t, and have been trying to sell ours for 4 years, but they are a con, and in no way are they an investment! Ive found it much much cheaper to book my holidays separately, for a lot less than what I was paying them!
Just hang in there, you will eventually be free of it!
April 21st, 2009 at 10:36 am
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for the advice! Do you really think they will eventually send the Deed in Lieu? Would they not rather go through the full foreclosure process and pass me onto the credit collection agencies? I’m not looking forward to the harassing calls and letters!
And yes, will hang in there, refuse to pay any more money to these crooks!
April 22nd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I bought a timeshare from a friend in 2006. It is in Cancun Mexico. She had paid it off in full, but there is a maintenance fee of around $500 yearly. The contract that she signed was for 30 years in 1992, and is full of small print. I had bought it to use for trading, however it is near impossible to trade. I would like to just walk away and forfeit the money I paid her. Now I read on your website that I am liable for paying the maintenance fees for another 13 years–is this true? As far as I know the deed was never transferred–I don’t even know if there is a “deed” as it is a Mexican company, but I did sign a letter stating that I would assume all rights and obligations of her membership. I do not want to risk my credit rating over this…but I have no use for it at this point. HELP.
April 24th, 2009 at 7:09 am
Herman, It would cost them far too much money to try and pass it on to a collections agency. Most of these timeshare companies use their own inhouse collections dept, and make it look like its an external agency, when in fact its not. As you dont live in the US, the chances of them trying to collect are virtually zero, apart from the letters and phone calls! It is more cost effective for them to issue the deed in lieu, take it back and re-sell, which is what the majority of them do, so just sit back and wait, and enjoy the extra money your not giving away to those con merchants!
April 24th, 2009 at 10:19 am
How about defaulting the M/Fs on my fully paid timeshare? The timeshare I owned is under a secured promissory note. Can I still do a deed in lieu of foreclosure? Or is there a different type of timeshare foreclosure for this type of ownership?
April 24th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I also have a fully paid Wyndham Points timeshare which seems to be good resort according to reviews but I cannot keep it due to loss of job and I have it up to date as of April 2009, there is no loan owed on it, it was purchased resale. I am happy to give it up with closing costs and resort transfer paid by buyer.
Otherwise I want to know what will happen if I stopped paying the Maintenance fees on it even though it’s paid off, will Wyndham go after assests and savings and car or is that a lie? I’m in the US and the timeshare is in state of Florida. If anyone knows, please let me know and if anyone is interested in purchasing more Wyndham Points for a steal also get back to me. The whole place is new and has a whirlpool tub in unit with new fixtures.
April 25th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Hi Lana, could you tell me how much is the annual maintenance fee and How many points that your timeshare entitled for? Where is the timeshare home base? Thanks.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Hi Chm,
please email me directly at ilanatay@gmail.com
The home resort is in Ft Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and is 35 miles from Miami. It’s literally right on the beach and ownership comes with RCI membership (savings of $90 a year) so if you were to bank the points, you can get 4 weeks vacation with it. Then you could go anywhere there’s a Wyndham or other resort if you know how to do the searches but I can suggest where to find the info. I pay the fees monthly and it runs $52
Let me know if you need to know more.
April 26th, 2009 at 8:17 am
I can’t believe how stupid I was to get suckered into the whole TS scheme. I bought one in Orlando, FL. You feeling good while your on vacation. I didn’t know abouth these extra fees I got hit with a huge 725 fee separate from the mothly fees. Come Jan I stopped paying, spoke with the TS company to see if they would take it back…all they want it is their money. I am 3 months behind and they have sent it to their legal department and that it will soon go into foreclosure. I don’t give a damn,this is one of the biggest scam industries. I don’t know what I was thinking. I have a bunch of friends with bad credit and they seem to be managing. With this bad economy does anyone know if these companies won’t sue and claim your asset?
April 26th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
So what happened? I am hearing from other timeshare owners, that the foreclosure dings credit and so on.. but I am unclear as to what else happens. I’m interested myself, though I get a lot of different answers. Is the loan paid off? I heard from research that if it isn’t they could go after assets, but again, I don’t know firsthand or what they do now.
According to the credit report, it will be bad for future purchases, car, job.. a woman who is advising me not to do it says it dings it pretty bad.
April 27th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Rhada, good to hear from you after a long time…
Tracy, i was also into WG at Orlando. Im not a US citizen/resident and quit my payments in nov 08. After 3 months without hearing a word from them i started receiving letters about the due amounts.. then a letter with a “warning” about them sending the case to a collection agency and after that i have received a couple of letters from this so called collection agency being the latest letter a very short and polite one saying something like “we do have more options than what you may think. Contact us”…
the name of this agency ICA (International Collections Agency).
the only thing i have done is sending them an email stating the only option i can carry on with is having WestGate taking the property back. Let’s see what they reply…
April 28th, 2009 at 5:07 am
ICA is actually part of Westgate, dont get into dialogue with them, just ignore everything they send you, you will eventually get your WDILF
April 29th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Well, my wife and I were sucked into TAHITI VILLAGE in Las Vegas last may. That’s TAHITI VILLAGE- hopefully googlebots pick up on this so more people find this thread. TAHITI VILLAGE is a scam. After paying about 4k in “mortgage” fees and maintenance for a resort that I’ll never stay at, I am finished. Expensive lesson, but a good lesson to learn. I have not made a payment since December 2008. Right now, we receive about 20 calls per day from them, I responded with 20 emails with a form letter I drafted outlining their breach of contract. (Says no rentals at TAHITI VILLAGE, but anybody can go on Expedia and rent a room there) I now have 2 days to pay or my mortgage will be defaulted. Go ahead. I am a Canadian citizen and at this point, having read this and other blogs on timeshare, I will never pay another cent.
I have researched US Judgements enforced in Canada for those interested. IF they foreclose and sell at a reduced rate on the open market then try to obtain a judgement for the difference, the judgement is only enforceable in the US. Under Canadian law, they would have to apply via Court of Queens Bench to have the judgement enforceable. ALOT of work for money that they know they’ll never get. I am now 4 months in arrears and nothing is on my Credit report from both Equifax and Trans Union.
DON’T PAY THOSE PIECES OF SHIT ANOTHER DIME. Vegas was built by the mob- how do you think it happened? By scams just like timeshare.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I own a timeshare at Tahiti Village in Los Vegas. Got this with my ex 1 year ago when we were common law. We are both on the deed and have paid up to 10% of the $22,499 balance. Unfortunately we cannot afford the TS anymore for various reasons, mostly recession related. My question is can the timeshare screw up our credit if we default (walk away)? The thing is we are both Canadian with all the financial backing tied up in America. Can they come across the border to get money?
May 6th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Well, it appears that my tactics are getting to Consolidated Resorts / Tahiti Village. Joseph La FAMINA, their Account Manager, Mortgage Recovery sent me 51 replies this morning to my email all within 3 minutes!!!! He called both mine and my wife’s parents and started harassing them as well, they told him to pound sand. No reputable company would behave in such a manner, this is obviously a desperation move because somebody’s not getting their commission from me.
Dave- I outlined the answer to your question in my last post. Yes they can attempt to successfully get a judgement against you. In Nevada, there are 2 types of foreclosures. The sale of deed foreclosure (which is what we are both into) where they sell the deed and then would have to sue for the money they don’t get. They have to advise you (in a way that will satisfy the court) of the proceeding including the foreclosure sale as well as the new amount owed before they can do anything. At this point you would have an option to respond and dispute. IF a judgement is levied against you it is enforceable in the jurisdiction of the judgement. Canada is not in the US jurisdiction. They would further have to apply to QB court in Canada to have the ability to enforce in Canada. Upon a judge reviewing the facts in Canada, if they allowed the judgement to be enforced in Canada, then they would have to hire somebody to locate you and properly serve you. A lot of time and money that would be better spent on hooking another unsuspecting victim into their web of lies and collecting more money for a time share you’ll never be able to use and costs more than any trip. The internet is a great educational resource. As far as the credit issue, they would by law report to the US Credit Bureaus. Canada has their own, it’s all governed by law and they can’t just go and put derogatories on your credit in Canada. They have never reported. Go pull a credit report (Equifax.ca) and see.
They won’t take it to court because then they would have to answer to the disputes and breaches of contract that they are in the wrong. If the harassment and scare tactics don’t work, they’ll cut their losses and move on. Frankly, I don’t care if they go the whole way with me and try to ruin me. I have now learned to live within my means and that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
May 12th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I have been 6 months late in payments. I was laid off and now have a new job making less money. I just bought a house and am having trouble with those payments. Last week, I was served papers from River Run timeshares taking me to court for $9000.00 (the balance). I now seem to think, after speeking to there attorney, that they want the money without giving me back the timeshare. I am very frustrated. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 16th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
How about suing the timeshare company? How long do you think it takes and financially, the cost w/lawyer’s fee in case it drags into long court proceedings. Worst case scenario,if we don’t win the case the court will order us to pay the balance and moreover we have to deal w/ compounded unpaid lawyers fee. The dilemma is whether to ignore and face being served,foreclosure or apply Bankruptcy. I checked The Owners Advocate, seems they can help cancel your ownership but it depends in each unique case.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I’ve been getting more and more frequent emails (and a couple of voicemails) for my unpaid debt as it is now 65 days late. It is difficult not getting worried about it but still holding on to the hope that the fact that I am in the UK will deter them from pursuing this matter too far!
I am in two minds as to whether I should remind them about the lies they sold me and request a deed in lieu or whether I should just wait it out and ignore their communication completely untill something gives.
Any updates from those that are a bit further in the process than me would be much appreciated!
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:55 am
Anybody had any experience with defaulting on Celebrity? I’ve got a TS that I’ve been unable to sell/donate/giveaway that is paid up but their exorbitant annual maint/taxes (half of which are to assist them in recovering unpaid debt!) are killing me being unemployed. Anybody with experience with stiffing Celebrity?
May 29th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Purchased a Occidental timeshare in Mexico and have stopped paying on the loan because much of what we were told in the high pressured sales pitch were lies. It has been over a year since we stopped paying and I am getting phone calls and letters from a “so-called” collection agency for payment in full which I have ignored. We did not give them our social security numbers at time of purchase so they do not have. What can I expect next with this Mexican standoff? Without SSN’s, can they still report this to the US credit bureaus?
May 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
If your parents have a time share paid in full, except for the yearly maintenance fees obviously, how can they legally enforce the children to continue to pay when your parents are deceased? I refuse to pay anything on my mothers timeshare after she passes and its passed on to my sister and myself. My mother has been trying to sell it for years now with no takers. What do you guys suggest I can do regarding that sad day someday when my mom passes, and then the subsquent headache of this thing. I hate timeshares, have never succumbed to the sales pitches, don’t even go to them, and will NEVER pay a dime on them. There has to be a way kids can refuse taking over these things.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:14 pm
My timeshare foreclosed in 2006 but on my credit report it states that the foreclosue was in 2008 and I owe a balance of $2500.I recently went to apply for a mortgage and the loan officer is requesting that balance to be paid off. I contacted a representative at the timeshare who informed me whats owed is $13000. My question is how can that be when the timeshare only was $8900 when it foreclosed and I never recieved any information on being sued or a remaining balance and is there anyway I can get that past due balance and the incorrect information removed from my credit report.
June 6th, 2009 at 7:59 am
I finally got a legal notice from my timeshare stating that it will go in to foreclosure and that we will liable for all reasonable attorney costs, transfer tax etc. I am a non-us resident from the Caribbean, I couldnt make the monthly payments so i definately can not make those legal fees. Can they sue me for the expenses if I cant afford to pay them?
June 9th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Isn’t it amazing how they pressure you into buying these albatrosses. What if we advertised to the public in and around these different resorts to people not to buy timeshares that they are scams. Buying something that you will never get rid of and it will only suck the life out of you. I wonder would they consider taking our units back if we advertised what owing a resort is really like. Let’s get together and buy some advertising space and let the world know what these resorts do to you. I bet they would be willing to take back your unit if you don’t advertise. We don’t have to use the name of the resort specifically. I got duped by Westgate resorts. If they can use pressure tactics in selling these timeshare, we the “owners” should use pressure tactics in getting the resorts to take them back because we can’t sell them or give them away. Also they should not tarnish or hurt the creditworthiness that we have worked long and hard for to get established!!!!
June 9th, 2009 at 11:36 am
This is not your typical timeshare blog. My husband and I bought a timeshare in New Hampshire in the early 80’s with a fixed week and a mandatory annual maintenance fee. We thought we would mostly trade it through RCI, but found we couldn’t go where we wanted, when we wanted, couldn’t fully rent it, and wanted to JUST GET RID OF IT! However, we couldn’t do that either as no one seems to want to buy these as most of them are at a small mediocre resort that you probably only want to visit once or twice, and you are stuck paying a maintenance fee but not getting the vacation you are looking for. However, in 2003 through a friend we got a deal for a week at a fantastic five star resort in Playa del Carmen, MX called The Grand Mayan. This place was spectacular and it wasn’t evenly completely constructed yet! On the ocean, golf courses, spas, largest continuous pool in N America, etc Went to the timeshare presentation and bought in because (1)they took my old timeshare and gave me credit (2)no maintenance fees unless you use the week (and the fee was less than I had been paying at my tiny resort in New Hampshire), (3) weeks are floating not fixed, (4) can always get in when we want, and most importantly (5) they have several equally magnficent resorts in MX to visit (Acapulco, Los Cabos, Nuevo Vallarta, Rivera Maya,etc) and they are building in Hawaii and Argentina so I could see us going here every year. WE LOVE THIS PLACE, we go every year, and have upgraded a few times since 2003. They have a rental arrangement with Wyndham whereby if owners won’t be using all of their weeks, you can rent them on the various Wyndham owned websites such as Expedia, Orbitz, etc. I have read all sorts of blogs about their sales tactics being extremely high pressure, but oddly enough we have never personally experienced that. They have followed through on every promise they have made, and made good on some verbal misunderstandings that they were not contractually obligated to. However, my feeling on sales presentations is “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” and forego the gifts. Bottom line is if you own at a resort that you LOVE and will visit regularly, offers maximum flexibility in terms of locations, timing, and level of accomodations, give you maximum value when you do want to exchange, doesn’t require a maintenance fee unless you use it, and you can rent it when you want, timeshares can offer some real value. But you will only realize the value from using/renting them -definitely not from reselling them.
June 14th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
My husband and I are having financial difficulty keeping our obligation to keep paying our unpaid timeshare at David Walley’s Resort and Spa.We wrote the resort and the funding resort
telling them our situation, that we would put up our timeshare in voluntary foreclosure,because we can not keep paying it off.We are 60 days late and in counting.The resort told us,that they can not take their property back and the resort funding told us that
it is no option not to pay our monthly debt for the timeshare we told them that we can not keep up with the payment so we want to get rid of the property.We want voluntary foreclosure.
At present we still owe according to resort funding $8000.00
We received a phone call almost everyday and now the latest they said they submitted us to the collection agency.We need help badly,please can someone help us.I know that their our a lot of people/couple like us with this problem.
June 18th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
I own in Mexico, Raintree Vacation Club, and want to find out if it’s a membership then what may happen if it’s not paid – does it go on US credit report even though they have corporate offices in Texas?
June 20th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
HI
My girlfriend and I just got back from Vegas, got suckered into buying a time share at the grandview. We paid 10% down $1500.00 approx and first pyt is due july 19th, we live in canada. The contract was signed May 19th. Does anyone know if can get out of this contract, i have sent an email to Grandview and also the mortgage dept, no luck yet. What are they going to do if we live in Canada??? My girlfriend is off work on medical leave, and i am about to lose my job, there is no way i’m paying for this, my monthly expenses and mortgage here are more important.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:45 am
I seriously need some help!!!!! I bught a timeshare from Westgate in May 2006 and have up til Jan 09 kept up with payments, but now because of the recession me and my husband are having some serious finance problems. We live in England and we still owe $10,500 and some main.fees, we have tried to give the deed back to westgate but they won’t take it!!! We have been told that to get rid of it we just have to wait until it is foreclosed, we can barely even pay the mortgage on our own home and we are so worried about what will happen if the ts does foreclose, could we lose our house???????
Please if anyone can help me can you email hockeycrazy100@hotmail.co.uk
June 26th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
[...] you are facing timeshare foreclosure, or are looking for a way to get rid of an unwanted time share, a deed in-lieu of foreclosure can be [...]
July 1st, 2009 at 10:23 am
I have a timeshare in Tahiti Village that I don’t want. Experts tell me that it is better to have it paid in full anf to try to sell it at a huge loss. One company wants $3000 to take it off my hands. I still owe $11000 on the share. The wife and I want to stop paying but I fear that eventually, Consolidated resort, which is in Chaper 11, will take the time to sue me. I have assets and live in the US. None of the non US resident stuff applies to me. I really don’t see any good answers here on what happens to US Citizens. Also, has anyone reported a case where you couldn’t sell your home or resolve your estate because you had a judgement against you. I also can’t see enough owners getting together to file a class action claiming fraud. Is the misrepresentation of the true value of the property a fraud? Earlier in these comments someone suggested a collaboration of owners. I’d like to join such a group if it is formed. If we had 100 of owing $10000 each and all we wanted was Deeds In Lieu Of Forclosure without our credtit being hurt it might be worth legal fees to some ambitious Las Vegas lawyer. It is important that Consolidated be liquidated and that any homeowner’s group in Tahiti Village be fair to those people who simply want out. I can’t see how they can maintain this property with raising the fees to at least what they would collect had the properties been rented for a week. If anyone has any ideas on how to proceed with this idea they need to speak out. Hopefully, a homeowners association will be fairer than Consolidated. The trouble is that the HG has hired CMC to run the shares. They will get farther with honesty and fairness then they will with herassment and lawsuits. In the meantime, my plan is to stop paying on the thing and find a good attorney. His fee could be no worse than the $3000 this other agency wants.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:27 am
is there any difference between owning a membership verses a deed?
July 10th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
When my parents died, their timeshare deed was transferred to me and my two brothers. We have since had a falling out, and I would like to either get them off the deed or remove me from the deed. I was told by the timeshare company that all names on the deed need to sign to have either one of these options occur. The issue is my brothers will not sign over based on the request, nor will they split the points evenly and have 3 deeds drawn up with one name per deed. The reason for wanting a split of deeds or names removed is because my brothers are not contributing to their portion of the maintenance fees at all, yet they are able to use the timeshare. I do not want to not pay the fees because my credit will also be impacted if the fees are not paid. Any advice is greatly appreciated. thanks
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:28 am
Hi,
One thing I have not seen mentioned yet, is what happens if the original sale was based on fraud. Our salesman at Bluebeard’s Castle cast numerous lies in order to defraud us. They promised that they would take back the timeshare anytime, resell it at a profit for us, or rent it out for us. All 100% bald-faced lies. According to the law, any contract made under fraudulent circumstances, is automatically null and void.
Call me crazy. Yes a class action lawsuit would be a great idea. I saw someone suggest organizing. Count me in.
Ron
July 24th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Hello,
We bought a timeshare at the Massanutten resort in Virginia a few years ago. During that time, we were doing pretty well financially. Last year I was laid off from both of my jobs (talk about bad luck) and my husband’s hours were cut. At that time, we were in survival mode, just trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. We now owe about $5500 in back mortgage payments (haven’t made a payment in 13 months). Our situation has since improved a bit. My husband got another job so he is now working 2 jobs and I start a new job on Monday. You mentioned that some companies may forgive the amount owed as long as both parties reach a suitable agreement where payments can continue. Do you think that this could work in my situation? And how would I begin to make this happen? Do I simply call the resort and ask them or should I send a letter? I know that as of April, they had not began foreclosure proceedings. Not sure if this is still the case.
Thanks a lot in advance
July 28th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Hi
Can some one help. My wife and I bought a TS in Orlando Florida linked to RCI points in 2004, We are English and resident in the UK. We have finally paid off the mortgage for the TS but have never used the points and will not be able make use of the points in the for seeable future. We have not paid the maintenance fees for the previous 12 months this has been passed to a collection agency who have written and made phone calls to me, I have not told them I do not intended to pay. I have just recieved another bill for the the coming years maintenance bill. We just want to get rid of the TS and annual payments, the TS company will not assist us or take the property back, I have asked and tried to discuss on many occassions how we can give the proerty back to them but they do want to assist and make it clear they will not help.
How long will it take before they take foreclosure proceedings. If they do this will it only affect our credit rating in the USA and not the UK,will it affect us if we travel to the USA.
Can they ony take action to recover any outstanding maintenance fees/legal costs. Can they only recover these costs against the TS in Orlando.
Should we tell them we do not intend to make any further payments or wait for them to take action. Could I ask them if they will agree to deed in lieu of foreclosure.
Thanks in advance can some one help.
August 9th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Hello Everyone,
I’m a new member of this site and I’m specifically searching for Tahiti Village Timeshare owners. My friend and I were duped into purchasing timeshare April 2009. All the blogs I’ve read are the same because we were all systematically railroaded. So, sharing your story will always be the exact same experience that we’ve all had.
I seek to take things to another level with Consolidated Resorts and hope to pull folks together and take action. I’ve been searching websites to find individuals interested in a class action lawsuit and finally came across this one posted by Ronald Gelbart, July 2009. As the saying goes “Stronger In Numbers”.
I’ve never sued before. I’m hoping if there are enough responses, someone in the group can get us headed in the right direction.
Talk is cheap! Let’s get off our behinds and do something about it. If something becomes of this and if we get organized, I am here to do my part. Oh, and by the way, I am a US citizen.
August 25th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hey Trueblue,
I’m in; thanks for doing the research. I am also willing to get involved, it’s the only way to make change happen. I have sued before, and it feels good to win… Dammit!
This is a helpful site and it’s good to know we’re not all idiots, just folks that want to believe in the fairy tale. Makes it difficult to keep a positive outlook with rotten lying creatures like these shamelessly taking advantage of people.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Hi all,
I would really appreciate it if there is any other non-US citizens (with US timeshare) that is further along (or have completed) the route to foreclosure to share their experience with us. I know there was a couple of them earlier on this page but have not seen anything posted for quite a while! Not sure if that is a good or bad thing!
August 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Can anyone tell me if they have ever heard of Timeshare Rescue ever transferring a title or finalizing a title sale, or paying the mainteance, and any other fees that they promise in the contract?
September 13th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Hi Herman,
im a non us resident and “on my way” to foreclosure. I stopped payments in Nov-08. Last week i received a letter from the timeshare (westgate lakes @ orlando) informing that if i dont get up-to-date with the payments the foreclosure process will start.
i’ll be giving monthly updates here.
September 13th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Hi Ken,
Thanks for that. Would appreciate any updates!
I stopped payments in May and have just received my second ‘make payment or foreclosure will start’ letter. I have previously sent an email and letter to them with regards to ‘misrepresentation, false claims etc’ but no answer, so i’m ignoring their letters as well.
September 19th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Why are people here so worried about timeshares coming after assets…. Look first off you never secured this time share with a House a Car or anything …. They got you to buy the Timeshares with there Financing and I bet None of your credit reports were pulled to qualify you… all you needed was a credit card or a check to put a down payment and sign a deed to purchase… So now you default… you all have told them your about to default “please take it back”… and they the Timeshare people don’t care or listen all they offer is heart ship papers to defer a few payments or they try to offer you a few months to catch up ect ect none of them have a program to sell at your cost the time share (WHY IS THAT????? to new people) who come to there shows and might have a need for these timeshares and have the money we all don’t have….and the answer is they bean counting (volume sales over ride the defaults) sure they send it to there personal collection scare you over and over but it will go away and why because its cheaper for them to just resell it…..(but some of you get scared from collections and pay yet even more money to think or try to make it go away) again bean counting if they can get 10 people to pay out of a hundred its better then nothing so that why they do it through scary collections or threats of law suits…. I bet if you all looked at the counties where the deeds are suppose to be filed or on file and asked if westgate recorded them in your name with westgate as a lean holder…… your not even listed and if you ask they will tell you it still under pre-contraction and will be recorded shortly or that they don’t record it until its pid if full yet at closing you had to hurry and get the payment in and papers signs so they could record in 30 days right???? so that there was the first FRAUD STATEMENT TO YOU ALL …. so how can they claim they must pay hugh fees to re-claim the deed and file hugh dollar forms to recoup a defaulted timeshare when the deed is in a file cabinet at the resort……. I just got into a hugh fight with WESTGATE RESORTS and why did I get into a fight is because I wanted to talk to a MANAGER who has decision making powers and all I got was the run around from one dept to another and finally the girl on the other end told me no manager will talk to me since it has been explained there is nothing they can do except send me a heart ship package,,,,, and then like magic she hung up on me and so I recalled and of course its in the system and that girl was snoty as hell at me yet I’m suppose to be a owner ect ect so I can see where this is heading so Today I cancel my credit card and they can kiss my A$$ I already have my house note 3 credit cards and car and I’m actually negative equity on my house due to market values in the toilet my car is 12 years old and I will never buy a new one so its junker’s for that department and as far as credit cards go I won’t be needing any more and will probably once one is paid in full cancel it to just have 2 cards for emergencys only…… Now I’m not behind yet but I will be soon, I can’t get financing on this TIMESHARE the banks laugh at me for getting this timeshare, there is no lending on home equities so I’m stuck at 17.99 percent on a 13k balance and told westgate to sell it at a show to someone for my balance but they won’t…… So now once default sets in there the stupidest group of business men why:::: because they would rather go into collections,,,,, court cost ect ect then take back and resell a unit when we or ME are willing to give it back In my view I already lost 5200 in fees monthly payments closing costs taxes and maintenance so its not like they haven’t made money off me so in my opinion sell the 13 k balance to someone who can afford it and be happy because I have been trying to sell it now for 10 months with no takers and they have shows daily so why they won’t help in a resell is beyond me…. Now here is where it becomes funny My unit is built but they are still months away from getting a “CO” certificate of occupancy meaning I been paying on a unit not ready for use TAXES AND MAINTENANCE now WHY what was being maintained??? and then if you look at your contracts you paid up front pro-rated taxes and still got hit with a yearly fee which is a SCAM FRAUD… plus now once you do default and you were willing to give it back and walk away you all think they will “SUE” and will have a Claim on your assets or WAGES HOW????? they will have to come to your state hire a Lawyer get a court date and then serve you papers to even go that route which then you can have your day in court….. every state has exemptions if they try to claim on a house or car if it even for some crazy way got that far….. do how much money they will have to spend to go that route???? they would have to be the dumbest group of people in the world then to just take it back in the first place….. and as far as credit goes…. write a statement on your reports and explain this default and trust me no one will blind a eye at it for whoever makes you a offer to sell something if there a way to do a deal they will… and timeshare defaults are not looked at if is was a REAL HOUSE as some claim here… sure it will be a default but once they see your statement it will be over looked…… But now if you have a joint contract I would have the partner removed Lie to them say its a divorce settlement or something they will send you a form sign it ect ect pay a 150 bucks and remove one of you off the contract so if you do default and credit is destoried and in the end your sued to death the other spouse has the credit and assets in her or his name to live on!!!!!! it will be you who takes the hit….. But it will cost them a Mint to go that route then to just take it back and have a collection agency buy your debt for a few pennies on the dollar and scare you into a deal and once they call get there name and number company name and contact a attorney after you tell them your recording this call and advising them not to call you again or you will sue the collection agency for harrassement and undue stress and health related issues they are putting you and your family through since you know the resort resold your unit or will resell you unit probably for a higher dollar then you owed. then Hang up on them unless they hung up on you!!!!!!
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 am
Has anyone had any luck with the class action law suit?? I’m very interested in being involved!
September 29th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Hi everyone just another Uk citizen who got suckered at Orange lake, Florida.
Have been paying mortgage for a year but enough is enough. It’ cheaper to pay for your
holidays! Too much fun and discounted disney tickets got to my head.
No more mortgage payments as I have cancelled autopayment.
Alot of Brits were buying last year. How have people like Tracy and Radha got on?
Can they sue outside of the USA?
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:19 am
We bought a time share in Maui a few years ago. Since then I come to my senses and stopped paying for it. We could never book anything we liked, typical problems with timeshares…etc..etc.
I did not pay for the past 7 months and yesterday I have received a litter including Deed in Lieu of Forclosure documents. Basicly Wyndham will take it back..???..Am I reading it right?
Anybody else know anything about that?
Kindest Regards,
October 5th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I bought a Westgate Timeshare and they promised to build a waterpark. SO far no Waterpark 2 years later. Isn’t this a misleading part of a contract. In the meantime we joined Festiva with the option they would buy our Westgate porperty. They could never get the information they needed form them so now Festiva has to give us all our money back and we are still stuck with Westgate and from what I hear you can never get in anywhere with them. My husband has lost his job and we can’t really afford any of this mess.
October 6th, 2009 at 6:15 am
My partner and I got swindled into buying a westgate timeshare in Las Vegas at the new planet Hollywood towers last December. We aren’t using it and really can’t afford the mortgage payments. Bad move on our parts! We are both on the deed and are considering stopping payments. I called Westgate last night and the girl was no help. I wasn’t expecting them to offer up any information on how to sell the timeshare but she couldn’t give me any info on what happens when you stop paying other than foreclosure. My partner is in the process of filing for bankruptcy and her attorney said her name will more than likely be removed from the account. I’m curious if anyone knows how this will affect me and my credit since I’m not filing. Any advice or info will be greatly appreciated!!
October 6th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Shannon, Feel free to contact me here is my email dsjunkie2005 @ yahoo.com. I talked to a lawyer today and he said maybe if we can get enough people together to complain about these timeshare scams, someone will close them down.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
My wife and I purchased timeshare from Westgate Town Center, Kissimmee, FL (Orlando area). We almost made it through their high pressure sales tactics, but allowed the final guy to “shame” me into purchasing this timeshare for my wife (what an idiot!). My initial purchase was for Value Season, even years (2 bedroom). The information they provided me, included the week we planned to use on an annual basis, week 22. However, the “developer” decided to remove this week from the “Value Season” which would make it VERY difficult for me to use this timeshare. It seems they can change the rules anytime they please. In any event, my last visit with them (may 2009), I let it be know that I was lied to. The next thing I knew I was talking to another associate who gave me an offer to upgrade my timeshare from Value Season to Annual (floating) for $4.6K more. My wife and I agreed to this, thinking this would suit us much better. Four months later, I was looking through this contact and noticed something that was never brought to our attention. The following statement was included on the contract:
THE DEVELOPER HAS LIMITED YOUR RESALE RIGHTS. ANY FUTURE PURCHASER (OTHER THAN A TRANSFER AS THE RESULT OF DEATH, DIVORCE OR TO AN IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER) WHO BUYS YOUR TIMESHARE INTEREST FROM YOU WILL HAVE SEVERLEY LIMITED OPPORTUNITY TO RESERVE OCCUPANCY IN THIS TIMESHARE PLAN.
After identifying this unexplained statement, I submitted an email to Westgate to expaon this statement, their response was:
Per your contract, you are deeded one week each year at your home resort. As a benefit of purchasing your timeshare from Westgate Resorts, you have the option of exchanging to other resorts within the Westgate family of resorts, as well as exchanging outside of the season you purchased. This benefit is not offered to resale buyers. Resale buyers are restricted to the same season of ownership which was originally purchased, are not allowed to upgrade to a different season, cannot developer exchange to another Westgate Resort, and cannot make a reservation sixty (60) days or more in advance of the requested check in date.
My questions are:
a. Why would they include this statement in the contract? Why wouldn’t they want us to sell this timeshare, which would ultimately ensure continued payment of maint & taxes each year?
b. Although I am not yet ready to sell this timeshare, but when/if that time comes, what do you think the chances of us finding anyone interested in purchasing this timeshare would be? Is there any chance of us successfully getting Westgate to remove this statement from our contract?
I feel that they tricked us again, which really makes me ticked off at myself for allowing this to happen. Why can’t Westgate conduct business in a more ethical and honest manner? I have been considering reporting this to Florida’s Attorney General… any thoughts on that idea/strategy?
Thanks for any input/recommendations/opinions/advice.
October 13th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Herman, everyone, here my monthly update: no calls, no letters, nothing.
will get back here in november.
October 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I bought my timeshare in August 2008, and Im having the same difficutlties as everyone else and would like to find a way to get rid of this problem. I still owe a large amount on this time share,but i like so many would like to get out of this new debt and don’t know how. I think that people who did this during a vaction and didn’t have the time to reconsider the consequences of my actions without having any knowlegde of their laws in that area should be forbin.
October 20th, 2009 at 9:55 am
My Tahiti Village Las Vegas time share is about a week away from foreclosure. The last person I talked to said that for $3000, I could get a deed in lieu of foreclosure and all of my financial obligation would go away. I still owe 16K on it (plus annual maintenance). With these people, I’m hesitant to pick up a phone and give them my credit card information with authorization to charge 3K. Advice??? I have to move quick. Thanks, Daniel
October 20th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hi everyone just missed my first payment and awaiting any repurcussions.
Its early days for me though!
October 21st, 2009 at 4:41 am
Daniel,
Always remember… if it’s not written — it never happened. I wouldn’t provide them anything unless they were willing to FEDEX me an updated contract for this timeshare, with their signature included on it and notarized.
That’s my two cents worth of advice.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Daniel, I too own at Tahiti village las Vegas and is considering stop making my payments; I still owe on the mortgage. Please let me know what the process was for you, what happened, did it effect your credit score, did they threaten to sue you etc.
Also, if anyone has this answer, my timeshare mortgage has never appeared on my credit report on either of the 3 main beureas. I have record of 4 credit reports over the years and it appears no where. I was wondering if I did stop making my payments and I forclosed on it, if they can even affect my credit score then?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Allie
Yes it effects your credit score. Over the last 11 months we have been trying to get out of our timeshare. Owners Advocate, told us they guaranteed they would get it cancelled. We received a notice, Owners Advocate said to do nothing that the contract had been cancelled. Come to find out the letter was the last demand before they foreclosed. It never mentioned anything about foreclosure. We recently ran a credit report, and it appears as foreclosure proceedings started. And yes it has negatively effect our Credit, we had prefect credit before this. Didn’t even understand what was happening.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Patty,
Can you tell me your experience with The Owners Advocate? Is it something you would recommend to your friends? I have been misled by my timeshare company and would like to do something about it. I’m not sure if I can trust anyone in the timeshare industry. Any feed back would be very appreciated.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Johnny 99, nice to see a fellow in arms against paying on their timeshare. I just received a phone call yesterday about missing my first payment. After hearing Dave Ramey’s take on the WHOLE timeshare game, I am tired of feeling like I have been taken advantage of. Come and take your stink’in timeshare, cause I don’t want it you slimeballs.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Hi Tony the phonecalls have started and there telling me they want
to work with me. The guy said that it will get worse for me when
a debt collection agency in Uk will approach me. He said that my
account was listed by credit refrence agencies in Uk.
I said that i checked and that Us accounts not listed in Uk
He then changed town and offered to refinance for another ten years!
I said i could not afford it and hung up!
I have taken it with a pinch of salt as he said all accounts were listed
worldwide. What a complete joker!
October 28th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I tried to get my spouse off the contract so if we forclose, it won’t affect his credit, but they told me that they can’t do it and won’t. I even told them I was divorced and he would be willing to sign any papers approving him to be removed and both the mortgage service company and the resort told me no way. Has anyone had any success in getting a name taken off the contract?
Also, does anyone know if I do get a settlement deal with my resort to avoid forclosure if that will affect my credit terribly since it won’t actually go through all the forclosure steps? Like that deal Daniel got above for Tahiti Village? Thanks!
October 30th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Purchased TS at Pueblo Bonito, Cabo MX Aug 30, 2009 – made down payment, balance due by Nov 29, 2009. Would like to stop process. Wasn’t told of 5 day cancellation window but that has passed anyway. May work with The Owner’s Advocate and have emailed PROFECO, the Mexican consumer protection agency. Has anyone here ever tried to get out from under a TS before purchase has been completed? And, can I just not pay balance?
October 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Dan / Patty
You posted about The Owners’ Advocate. I contacted them and just rec’d paperwork. Seems like a good deal, but then, so did the time share. What is your take on them? I can’t find anything negative and an online search turned up a positive reference to them in a time share article in some travel magazine. They have lots of testimonials, but those can be fabricated easily enough.
Do you have any information?
October 31st, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Patti
So Owners’ Advocate dropped the ball? Told you TS was cancelled when it was going into foreclosure? They guarantee money back if they can’t get a successful TS cancellation – will you get your fee back from them since, obviously, the contract wasn’t cancelled. Still considering losing my down payment and taking a hike – hate to toss more $$ at this through Owners’ Advocate if they aren’t going to follow through.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:29 pm
We bought a timeshare in Mexico in 1998 for around $10,000 and it is paid off. We traded with RCI a few times and hvae decided it’s too much hassle to get the weeks we want. We haven’t paid a maintenance fee in several years and owe around $1,000, according to a letter we just received. We live in Canada. If we don’t pay the fees, will this affect our credit since it’s not a Canadian company that we owe to(the resort is based in the US, Miamai I think)? I can handle the letters and calls from creditors, if that happens. But I am concerned about the credit score.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
It’s unfortunate but I see I’m not alone-I bought a Wyndham ts in 2007 in Orlando and should have left it at that (I could afford it) but no I let them fast talk me into the dreaded “upgrade” in August. Now my payment plus maintenance fee exceed one of my paychecks. I listened to the fast talking, slimy sales person tell me how she would help me to offset most of the cost through renting the points, and that she couldn’t be my rep unless I upgraded. Of course, after the sale I could not get a call in to her nor a callback. Feel like such a idiot. I’ve made 2 payments and am considering canceling my bank draft this month. The information all of you have given is very helpful..I’m at the realization that although my credit score is good and I valued it- I now have faced the fact that my sanity, financial stability and peace of mine is more important. I can rebuild it again. My only asset is my car and my home. The lawyer I spoke with on another matter told me that as long as my house was under homestead exemption it can’t be touched; as well as annuities, I thoroughly despise the word “timeshare” and “Wyndham”. I’ve been waiting on a class action suit myself- count me in!!! I am curious about the matter of them going after wages as someone stated earlier. I used to think it was a good thing to pass on to my kids-when the fees were only $32 a month but now they are $202. That’s not a burden one wants to pass on to people they love. We’re all in this boat- with no paddle or half of one LOL- good luck my brothers and sisters.
November 6th, 2009 at 10:14 am
JUST LIKE PRISONERS OF THESE SCAMMERS. File complaints to http://www.ftccomplaints.gov.
Give them the details how you purchased and company involved(seller and financer). If we grow in number, they will file class suit for us.
These cheatings should be stopped. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMEN and EVEN THE PRESIDENT OBAMA so THEY CAN LOOK INTO this TS industry AND THIS SCAMMING WILL BE ENDED. The Good will win againts the evil. Again NUMBER is POWER.
November 11th, 2009 at 11:35 am
FYI for those that are being foreclosed upon and the company is coming after you. If you are not located in the same state as them, they can either serve you papers through certified mail or personal service (someone comes to your door). The second option is very expensive, so most people send things through certified mail.
Lesson: Do not sign anything that is sent through certified mail. If they can’t serve you, they can’t pass judgement against you.
I know it sounds sleezy and I’ve actually been the recipient of this trick, but it works. Don’t accept anything that is sent through certified mail and don’t ever tell a stranger your name.
Best of luck!
Oh and in my case, I stopped paying in Dec last year and they’ve said they are turning my case over to an attorney twice with no one ever calling or writing me.
Also, they lied in the letter and said that they have made numerous attempts to work with me…what a load of bull! Is sending a threatening letter considered working with me? I hate timeshares…hopefully we can pass this info on to the next gen so that they can learn from our mistakes.
November 12th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
We paid off our Club de Soleil (Consolidated Resorts) this year. We have never been able to stay there for the past 15 years because there was never a vacancy. They always tell us we should have called a few months earlier. I figure if we cannot stay there, what’s the point of paying maintenance fee? They have been leaving messages on our answering machine. They called a few nights ago and asked me to pay and I said “No” and hung up.
I’m going to offer my unit to Timeshare Dump and see what happens with that. I’ll post again on the results and whatever else happens. I am a US citizen, too.
All these other options for getting rid of your timeshare – please Google the business before calling them. Even some of the charities will direct you to the scammers.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Hi everyone I’m in the Uk and just approaching my second unpaid month. Received a phone
call today asking for payment. Phonecalls being received every two weeks.Contacted debt advice line who said it was possible to chase this loan through UK courts.It would cost timeshare company alot of money to bring the case through the Uk courts.
November 15th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I too have problems with Silverleaf in Tyler, TX with their lies and everytime I call, no vacancies, call back. Then, they didn’t tell me that I was getting a raw deal. The so called week vacation is during the first week of school which they new we didn’t know what they were selling us. We just got suckered into something and trying to get out. I called the Owner’s Advocate and hope they can help us. Got voice mail but this is a Sunday. God knows and understand all and will work it all. I believe it and believe in him. He gives us knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I was also suckered into paying for a TS in Orlando. I paid off the mortgage, but was not happy with the limited availabilty for the week that I was supposed to own, and I am trying to get out of it. I have not payed the maintenace fees for the past five years, and a collection agency is trying to get me to pay the past dues plus fees and interests. No luck of having anyone foreclose on this “property”..
This web site has postings from a lot of people with a lot of questions and no answers or solutions are offered! Is there a place where the answers are posted?
November 20th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I signed for a timeshare in Aruba and now I think it was a bad idea. I’m still paying the downpayment and have not yet on the principle. They currently don’t report to credit Bur. How can I get out of this!!!!
November 24th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Wayne,
My wife and I were scammed by a salesman at the Celebrity Resort in Kissimmee, Florida in August,2008. He further enticed us to convert our week to 22,000 RCI points, lying us that this number of points may worth more than one week at our home resort and was more flexible to use for buying airplane tickets, etc. We have never used these points until recently by only finding that these points were worthless, they could only book two nights at my home resort. Basically, this means we pay $550 maint. + $150 RCI membership + 140 transaction fee =$840 for two nights each year. If we book two nights from resort’s website, it only costs us about $200. We have paid off my loan, but we will stop paying them any maint. fee to avoid further loss. We will seek for a deed in lieu of foreclosure. Of course, I will file a complain with BBB for their fraudulent sale tactics.
Timeshare Organizations like Celebrity are really the scum of the earth. These fraudulent businesses should be banned by the government.
I read in other sites, people start writing to their congress representatives, or even President Obama, for a ban of these businesses.
November 27th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hi Mandie, think your doing a great job helping people
, we have a timeshare in florida with orange lake resort orlando (have you heard of them?) we are struggling to pay the rest of the timeshare off and have spoken to them various times and said just take the property back we dont want any money back (so cutting our losses, i mean theyve got some of the money back and we havent used it so they havent lossed anything) but they refused coming out with things like taking us to court etc similar things to whats happening to everyone it seems. we live in the UK and will seek legal advice i think but just wanted your opinion on this, are they just trying to scare us by the whole court thing i know it will come down to it if we want to foreclose it, just not sure whether to stand strong and tell them we cant pay the money, take it back and resell it?
any experiences with orange lake resort would be great i know there were a couple above especially johnny99 as im a brit who bought last year lol.
Thanks for your time,
Dan
December 1st, 2009 at 6:48 pm
hello,i am in process of divorce and i would like to know what can i do if my husband decide to do not pay for the time share that we bought in florida 3 years ago. i am giving up my share,,, but if he stops to pay it will afect me?
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:15 pm
10 years ago my husband and I bought a week with Epic Timeshare and upon final payment received a deed for the property. That company went bankrupt and sold us to another company who made us members with an offer to become owners which we never accepted. When that company went bankrupt we were sold to another timeshare company. Each time we were sold to another company the maintenance fees doubled. At this time the maintenance fees are higher than we ever expected….although from reading the messages above not as bad as they could be. My husband and I are catagorized as members, not owners, and thus feel like we could cancel our membership anytime. What do you think about this membership vs. ownership situation? Could it be of some help legally to get us out of our timeshare commitment?
FYI, if anyone out there would like to have our time share it’s free. One week with any of the resort’s accommodations, no set week. Diamond Resort has a lot of locations to choose from. Please contact us at jmvpalz@ca.rr.com
December 5th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Hi… I am lucky to have browsed through this site. Like you, I am suffering every night thinking about what could possibly happen next. I first bought a TS last Dec 2005, moved it to a different location, and got more points. Unfortunately, i got sick, and found paying difficult. I stopped paying since August, and is now harrassed by calls at home, in my cell phone, and even at work. I have no defaults in my payments with mortgage n car except this one. I feel so “little” when i talk with the collection person. Reading through your sharing lifts my spirit.
December 6th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
My wife and I purchased a 1 week timeshare in Hawaii today through Wyndham Resorts. It looks like a good deal, we paid 25000 for a 1 week block with maintenance fees of about $600 a year. We plan on paying the 25000 out asap, however the $600 a year maintenance fee is not a garantee and I understand that that amount can go up over time and after reading above comments I wonder if there is anything good to be said about this company? I believe we have 7 days to opt out of this agreement. Any comments would be greatly apprieciated as we leave Wiakiki on Friday
December 7th, 2009 at 6:48 am
monthly update -although i skipped november-
finally got a letter from the TS offering me to sign the WDIL (warranty deed in lieu of foreclosure). basically after signing this and paying the processing fee (USD 250) im out of the nightmare. as a recap, im not a US citizen or resident, and bought or better said, was sucked into it on may 2007, stopped paying on nov 2008 and one year later, got this option to get out, which im gonna take.
has anybody had a bad experience with this WDIL signing process? am i being lied again by the TS people?
really appreciatte your comments
thanks,
December 8th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Has anyone ever opted out of the agreement in 7 days and if so, what type of charge did they have to pay if any?
December 10th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Note to Glen, YES, and DO OPT OUT! It may seem like a deal when you’re there, but seriously, if you think about it, it really is a scam. Even if you go back to Hawaii once a year for the next 25 years, you would pay a lot less to rent out a hotel for $1600, and don’t forget the timeshare maintenance fees will increase significantly over the next several years. So, next year you’ll pay $1,000 ($25,000/25 years) plus $660, then in 2011, you’ll pay $1720 per year and it will continue to increase. Heaven forbid there be a remodel or a hurricane that does damage to the resort, your maintenance fees will increase exponetially, like up 25-40%. The problem is that the board that makes the decisions on the fees is comprised of the resort staff, so there’s no independent or owner representative to have a say in things. It’s a SCAM, get out while you can!!!!
My hubby and I did buy an “upgrade” in Florida for the points, but the more we thought about we decided it was a stupid idea and we’d much rather travel the world than continue to go back to the same place over and over again, so we wrote the letter back to them and they cancelled the contract. No fees…in fact they cannot charge you fees since they haven’t yet recorded the deed.
Oh and speaking of traveling the world…don’t ever let one of those lying reps tell you that you can get destinations anywhere in the world. They are few and far between and subject to availability. So, if you book your vacation 2 years in advance and are lucky enough to have someone else bank early, you have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a destination. It never happens and RCI and Timeshares are just a giant scam that no one should participate in.
Use your head and invest your money more wisely into something that appreciates in value, not something that is worthless (you can’t sell these things, yes, even Hawaii) and will cause you to hemorrhage cash for the rest of your life.
December 11th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Hi Glen,
Yes, you can opt out with-in 30 days. I got my TS with Wyndham and i sent them back the brochures, and a letter to surrender the timeshare with-in a month. There was no problem. I didn’t have to pay anything.
December 13th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I tried Owner’s Advocate in November… they said they could help, offered a money back quarantee. I was to pay two installments of $550 each- one payment with the contract and the other in two week- The cashed the first one on November 12th, I sent them all the paperwork requested, copy of the Wyndham contract, notorized customer statement, stopped the bank debit. Then waiting for them to start the ball rolling I e-mailed them. And get this, the reply was that they were prohibited from communicating with me any further due to a pending lawsuit against them by Wyndham. This was November 17th- attached to the e-mail was a copy of the affidavit. Luckily for me they had not cashed the other $550 check- I placed a stop payment on it. Beware of Owners Advocate- It sounded like they would have been able to help until Wyndham filed the suit against them—-if that document was even legit. I don’t know any more. I’m getting the calls from Wyndham now and I don’t care because they can’t get blood from a turnip- Besides, they can’t hurt my credit much more. I’m trying to go through a short sale on a home I used to own and my credit score has already gone from 760 to 6 something.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Has anyone done any business with Florida Veterans assistance
December 14th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
1) What’s to stop someone from picking up all the timeshares at a location for nothing or even get the owners to pay to be rid of them and then own the whole place and turn it into a hotel or something?
2) Maybe one could even pick up a majority of the timeshares and then force whatever one wanted on the minority?
3) TS owners are *owners* after all, right? Isn’t that how the things are pitched? Couldn’t the TS *owners* band together and abolish the fees and sell the whole resort and divvy up the proceeds? SOMEONE must have the legal power/ability to unravel these nightmare schemes!
December 19th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Hi Trueblue
I also own a timeshare at Tahiti Village in Vegas. I bought the timeshare in 2007 after I was scammed into buying the timeshare. I called Tahiti Village to see if their is any options to get rid of my timeshare. They said theneir is nothing they can do. I am also down with getting an attorney. If anyone has any ideas please contact me at Hnybear68@yahoo.com
December 20th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Hi Everyone,
I have a week every other year with Westgate in Orlando, and after more than 7 years paying my mortgage and maintenance/fess, I decided to stop all payments this month (I’m sick and tired to give them my money), because I never used, I tried to sell it and didn’t work, I tried to rent it and didn’t work. I’m a non US citizen, so honestly don’t care about mi credit record in US, but I travel constantly to US or passing through US, so my only concern at this point is to have problems at immigration eventually, but anyway I won’t pay them one single penny for this timeshare. I was supposed to pay yesterday and I didn’t. I’ll keep posting monthly updates here to let you know what happen with my case.
December 20th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
hi erick we too have timeshare in westgate and have been conned by 2 companies who say they have buyers for our timeshare. i will be interested to hear what happens to you as i feel the same. i can never get an exchange through interval international and do not want to go to america for a few years to come. kim
December 23rd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Hi Kim,
Be careful with those companies offering you to sell the timeshare, since I already tried one and lost $700. Don’t pay them anything upfront, that’s my advice.
January 4th, 2010 at 8:14 am
Hey, this is such a great site!!! I’m a non US citizen and after reading all the posts finally got the courage to stop paying. I wanted to opt out from the first month but realized I only had 10 days in which i could get out legally, so after a year, I’m taking Radha’s advice.
Thanks Mandie!!!
January 4th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
anyone from australia or nz? we’re an australian couple who were sucked in with grandview in vegas. i cancelled my card before the first payment went through and we have been contacted via phone and email. our credit score in australia won’t be touched will it?
January 5th, 2010 at 8:29 am
I signed up with The Owners Advocate and paid the $1100 in October. Then The Owners Advocate sent me notice in November that Wyndham was suing them and they cant talk to me about my case anymore because there is a Preliminary Injuction and I should contact WYNDHAM. So I am out $1100 and no resolve. I also lost “a lot” with a company whom I paid to rent it for life.They said they could rent it for me and has not in almost 2 years. Not sure how to resolve with Wyndham. For now I stop paying. Anyone with this experience?
January 5th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Hi Lollie, I’m sorry to hear about your situation. This is common practice in the US for a company to countersue in order to get the first company off of their backs. I would either A) get your money back from them or B) demand to see the specifics of the case or at least a case number. You may just be getting taken by them. If they give you a city, State and case number, you can look it up to see if the case is legit; otherwise if they are just lying to you, you really have no chance of recuperating your money.
Let’s face it, at the end of the day these companies are just in the business to make money. They will try everything to scare you, so hold tight and don’t give in and it will go away. Yes it will affect your credit for 7 years, so be prepared for that, but the likelihood of going to court over this money is slim, especially if you don’t solely own assets in your name, or aren’t earning enough to make payments. Yes they can garnish your wages and try to come after you for your assests, but that costs a ton and in general is not worth their time.
January 5th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Dan,
We have purchased a TS with Orange Lake as well and behing payments for 5 months now plus the maintenance fee. Gotten numerous calls at home and work and they are telling us the same thing. I asked them about foreclosure and even taking it back and put it back in the market and they said that it will cost us more when we do the foreclosure and they can’t take it back as this is considered as mortgage. Apparently, they are willing to work with us on payments but unfortunately, we can’t afford it anymore. We are not in collections yet but they are treathening to forward it to them, btw I am residing in Canada. I will just wait and see. Ignore the letters and phonecalls and go from there.
Can someone tell me how much roughly would be the court fees? We owe $11k still.
Thank you, Lyn
January 13th, 2010 at 3:00 am
Hi folks,
It seems like most of the “victims” are foreigners… like me. Maybe, it is because we wanted to travel so much, and were amazed with their presentations and promises. Anyway, i stopped paying Aug 09, got numerous calls until Dec. To date, they haven’t called me at home, in my cell, or at work. I don’t know what they’re up to, so i’ll keep you all posted.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Hey everyone,
I literally sat and read every single comment during my eight hour work day. My fiance and I purchased TS from Wyndham in June 2007. I pay 250 every month and that is including maintnence fees. And I have a contract with them for a total of ten years. Three days ago I did the math and after seven years of possably ruining my credit I will have a total of 21,000 and hopefully my credit will be back to normal thats even if they mess with that because from what I read it does not even show up. So I went to the bank and stopped all payments. I called the finacial department and the man was really nice and advised me to stop payments and basically said the phone calls, and letters will start which will eventually leed to foreclosure, which is fine with me. Just hope they do it in the next year. Rather ruin my credit now then later while I am still young. But I will keep everyone updated beacuse I know some of you’s were thinking about canceling payments, however were afraid of the consequences.
January 15th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
I purchased a timeshare with Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort in Cabo San Lucas. I can no longer afford the monthly payments or maintenance fees. I NEVER gave them my social security number, so if I just stop payments will they still be able to report it to the credit bureas?
January 16th, 2010 at 2:26 am
January 16th, 2010 at 2:20 am
You can click on your name and/or comment to edit. ( 10 minutes and 18 seconds)
We are in the same boat, due to loss of income we are not able to make payment on a Grand Desert by Wyndham timeshare. We made our last payment in September, the phone call started soon after when we stopped the auto payment. There only payment solution way to make bi weekly payment. What difference does that make it is the same amount of money in one month. We asked about reducing payments, response was that they do not do that at this time. They also offered to give us a month off from making a payment but that was not going to help. Between payment and maintaince it cost $600 a month. at this time we are in collections . Any suggestions. We just want to give it back. We do not care about the money we have in it already, purchased in 2006. HELP!!
January 18th, 2010 at 9:09 am
Vernice. They sent you to collections this soon? My advice to you is to continue not making any payments and just ignore the phone calls and keep all the letters. You can not afford the monthly payments so there is nothing that can be done anyways don;t stress. They will not take it back (I tried) and I aslo tried to sell it. Whatever you do, DO NOT pay anyone to sell it for you because I got scammed into that as well, cost me a thousand dollars. And dont let them talk you into paying less because even when it is paid off you will always have maintnance fees for the rest of your life and you childrens life that will go up yearly. The worse that can happen in my opionion is that it will ruin your credit and you will not be able to get any major loans for the next 7 years, however I heard there is a way to fix the imperfections on yor credit report and if you so need a loan yo can try to talking to the lenders and if they see it is TS then maybe they will let it slide.
January 18th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Janet.. Thats weird that they allowed you to purchase the TS without your social. Im not really sure in that case, but if I was you and they did try to bring me to collections or even called you I would mention that. I would ask somebody that is more experienced. Cause if you think about it you cant even get a store credit card without having the persons social secuity.
January 18th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Can they put a lien on other property, we are paying a mortgage on our home.
January 19th, 2010 at 5:31 am
I don;t want to direct you the wrong way, but I would deffnatly talk to a lawyer and get some legal advice. I wanted to get a lawyer but none of them work with TS. But I;m sure they could answer that question for you. My opionion is I don’t think they would or could, especially if you are making all your morgage payments on time. But I would deffnatly call up a lawyer to get advice.
January 19th, 2010 at 5:33 am
And to everyone that stopped payments, make sure you check your bank statements. I stopped payments last week and just saw they took the money out anyways. I called the bank and they are reimbursing the money that was taken out. Good thing I kept all the paper work.
January 20th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Hi Everyone,
This is an update on my case, it has been one month already since I stopped payments for my TS in Orlando. I got since then, only one email as reminders that my account is past due.
I’ll post another update next month.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:43 am
hI!
i am also a TS owner Wyndham VA Kingsgate, I was just persuaded during the sales, previouly on one location and moved to another with more points, it was like a hypnotism, my husband wants it only on my name, I didnt have any idea that this TS will be a nightmare.
Now I am divorced and sick, still trying to pay and im still updated but many many time I want to back out ,its a waste of money especially now with a hard economy. I tried to call Wyndham to inquire if they have any plans for reconstruction of the plan ..and they said they cant answer me since Im still updated.
I also understand now that if we die our beneficiaries will still continue this nightmare, I dont want my children to inherit this TS its a forever debt for generations, We better stop this.
Erick,Stacy please let me know update me. This is my biggest mistake I dont have a home yet, that’s the reason I still try to have good credit, but somehow I have to stop dreaming for a house ..just not to pass this nightmare to my children,and grand childred other wise they will be the one to suffer in debt.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Melham, My best advise is to stop making the payments. I just had to close out my bank account because I put a stop payment no them and they still found a way to take their money for the bank. But my bank refunded me the money because I did put a stop payment on it. But I didnt want to go threw that every month so I just closed the account out. I do not have a home yet but saving for one in the next couple of years. The way I look at it is the faster you stop making the payments the faster your credit will be ruined (if it gets ruined) and then fixed. I was talking to some people and they said when you go to take a loan out for a house some banks will excuse TS from your credit report. As long as you pay eveyrhting else on time I think you should be ok. I also heard that you can pay to get it off your cedit report. Im hoping that TS will eventually go out of business, since they are ruining peopels lives.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
thanks Stacy, I pay thru auto pay on my account I called them if I stop the auto pay , they said just advise them and they will cancell the automatic pymnt, in what you are saying if I stop paying and my acct is not yet close they will still get into it? well I will start opening a new acct.
Ehenever I think about my monthly pymnt it stress me too much, but seems no soultion yet than us (owners) face the foreclose, we dont care if we foreclosed it right? its our credit that we mostly concern about, we (owners) dont care anymore the money we sent to them already as long as we GET OUT as soon as possible fom this.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
I have tried to sell it in Time Share Only but its been 2 yrs never had an offer I paid $600, and now there are a lot callers offering to sell/rent my time share even in the mids of the night as if they are in a hurry someone is interested in buying , they just want money…I didnt know anything about TS before all I knew is a good vacation and like a property, I should have researched first but its too late.
January 25th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Hi everyone, i need some help on how to stop the suto payment.
The payment comes out of my wifes bank and we can no longer afford it.
The funny thing is that we decided to stop paying just before christmas, so we went into the bank to cancel the payment.
The bank said that because it was a recurring payment on the debit card there was nothing they could do but ask the company to stop (which they obviously didn’t) however the expiry date on the card is 12/09 so how could they take a payment on 01/01/10.
How can they possibly do this and what is the best way of stopping the payment? I see that Radha and numerous others have done this already.
Many thanks
January 26th, 2010 at 6:59 am
Basically to stop payments on TS when it is automatically taken out of your account, go to the bank in person and have photo copies of the stop payments. I did this and a week later the TS people still found a way to get their money so I went back to the bank with the copies and my money was back in the account the next morning. Do not call the bank because they are not willing to help you. They told me I couldn’t get my money back that TS already took it and its to late. Keep copies of everything and always take care of bank issues in person. This incident put me in the negatives because every month $209 is taken for the mortgage payments and $47 is taken for the maintenance fees. Well I didn’t have enough money in the account not expecting TS to be able to get the money. The bank representative was nice enough to refund the negative fee of $70 as well. Just remember if you do not get your way for something that is not your fault always ask for the manager. But what I winded up doing because I didn’t want to risk going into the negatives next month is I closed the account out and opened up another account at the same bank with no fee (I go to TD Bank). And Melham I too went to Timeshares Only 2 years ago to try to sell my TS. I paid $999 to be exact, and they told me that it would most likely be sold within in 6 months, its been 2 years now. They have very poor communication, never received one phone call from them, and when I tried to call to get an update they would leave a message and never return my calls back. I have not heard of one good sell back place yet, and when you do hear of something they always want you to pay first. Just stay far away from those companies you don’t want to get more money ripped from your pockets. I don’t know how much you guys pay monthly but I pay around $250 a month and I have another 8 years of paying this TS off and that not including lifetime maintenance fees. If my credit is ruined in 7 years when it is back to normal I will have saved $21,000. Add a little more to that, that’s a down payment for a house, because I know you’re worried about that as well Melham. And a tip to everyone that is getting lots of phone calls on your cell phones from there. If you have a newer phone go to settings and tools then go to phone settings then security and you can block all phone numbers that are not in your contact list. So when they call it will go to voice mail and they usually don’t leave voice mails.
January 26th, 2010 at 7:13 am
Stacy, I spoke with a lawyer last night (not a TS lawyer) he said that if we dont pay, eventuall it will accumulate with the interest, and eventually they can take our house or other property waht they call lien? but of course he is not a TS lawyer, he said that here must e a proceedings to be done like a bankcruptcy.
Stacy, my God mine is $499 and 123 maint fee I have 300,000 points before at least I was still married but now I am divorce Its hard.
Hope we can find a good lawyer for these.
January 26th, 2010 at 8:46 am
I heard that they can do that, however I don’t think they will it will cost them so much money with legal fees and all. Even to do a foreclosure it will cost a lot of money for them to do that. And during this recession there are most likely hundreds of people that just stopped paying. I was reading above that some people did a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. I think this is the link
http://rcivip.com/2008/deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure-for-timeshare/
But I think they need to agree to it and basically you are responsible for the legal fees. And I was thinking about filing for bankruptcy also but I heard from the comments above that TS is not included in it. Honestly when you have a couple of hours read all of the above comments and you can hear what other people did. It took me a whole work day to read every comment but it was well worth it. Lets you know that you are not alone in this mess and may put you in some sought of ease. I am following all the peoples advice, as well my families. My brother called Wyndham for me and the manager said if you can not afford it stop payments and it will eventually go into foreclosure. My brother told the manager that I wanted to do everything the legal way and that’s all the advice the manager gave me and that’s what I am doing. I have nothing to loose and I rather go threw this mess now before I own a house and before I have children.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Thanks for the reply Stacy J, but what are the stop payments photocopies you refer to. I should have mentioned the fact that i’m in the U.K.. I’ve already been to the bank and told them to stop but they said there’s nothing they can do!
I sent an email to their customer services last night telling them to stop taking payments, so i’m waiting for a reply to that before i go back to the bank. Would this E-Mail be good enough for the bank?
Any help greatly appreciated
January 26th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Craig, Just call them(TS Company) that you wont make it automatic but you will be paying in check and they will tell you that there will be additional charge or higher interest, then thay sais they will stop the auto paymnt, thats what I was told in Wyndham
January 26th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Just had an Email back from the Mortgage Dept saying sorry to hear about your financial situation and your payment method has been removed from the account. So hopefully thats sorted out the auto payment. I guess the fun begins in a couple of months. Thanks all for your help and inspiration to rid us of this ball and chain around our necks!
January 27th, 2010 at 7:35 am
HI everyone!
What can you say about these Prof Timeshare or any other that they help Owners to get out of contract is this true..or another scam, anyone has an experienced?
January 27th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Just got my second letter from Wydnham saying that they want $321.00 that I owe in this years taxes. It stated if I do not pay it then they will block my points. Not paying it. And Craig if you read some of the previous comments above there are many people from out of country. Maybe that will give you some additional advise as well. Keep us updated.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:05 am
stacy, just spoke from Prof timeshare LLc thay ask $4000 up front and 100% guarantee that we will be out of the contract…of course that’s another way of scam…
January 27th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Sounds like by the time the TS comes after me for non-payment, the monthly payment put aside in a bank account would help pay for lawyers fee down the road. Less than 3 years divorced, single parent, foreclosed on my home in less than 3 months, what do I have to lose?
My credit is already shot, I will just have to learn to pay cash for everything now. Thanks for all that have written, this has helped me make a descision I should have long ago. Let the damn thing go to foreclosure. I will take my chances.
Please include me in any class action lawsuit against TS. If anyone knows a lawyer who does class action suits especially in timeshares, there are frustrated people like me who would send $100 to be put in trust to a lawyer to pool money together to get enough to get the ball rolling. Eventually, that pot will get big enough to catch a big fish lawyer who may want to take the timeshare industry on. Just an idea.
January 27th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
sorry to hear that, but your not the only one like that everybody is getting bad credit, me too dont have delinquent pymnts but banks cut my credit cards , so im now paying cash ,no cash nothing, that’s why the first thing to let go is the TS, Im also willing to send $100 for a lawyers fee in a pot , Hope there is someone out there to help us.
January 31st, 2010 at 12:59 pm
After spending hours and hours on this site with its gold mine of information, I am ready to break free from the bonds of Wyndham time sharing. As a US citizen I am gambling with my credit score, but as Melham states cash is king again. For those in wyndham a site to also look at is http://forums.atozed.com/. Good luck to us all in this.
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:53 am
Final update.
im out! I signed the WDIL from Westgate resorts, paid the ‘processing fee’ of USD 250 and now im no longer tied up with them or anything close.
For all the new people here, I’m a non us citizen and dont live in the US. I bought a TS in May 07 during a holiday and stopped paying by nov 08. In Nov 09 received a letter from the TS offering the WDIL (warranty deed in lieu of foreclosure) which would release me of any duties once signed and sent back to them.
thanks to Rhada for her story, which gave me the courage to stop paying and to Mandy for having this site up.
I dont think i will hear from the TS again but in case i do, i’ll let you know.
good luck to all.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:39 am
Hi Ken!
I am planning to file for bankruptcy just to get out,do you think I have to do this or just stop paying, I still owe a lot.
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:13 am
Has anyone ever tried getting out of a timeshare with Coral Rosorts in Hilton Head? It is points only.
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:12 pm
We have paid more than the original principal on the timeshare loan(& more than the timeshare value)and are now paying into the interest remaining. What should we write to the resort to ask for a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclsoure? We have stopped paying on our maintenance fees and 2009 taxes as of Sept 09. Financial hardship – lost 1 job and possibly the other spouses job this year. Trying to save the house with family.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:31 am
Hey KEN !!!
Please can you give us the email of the people you where dealing with in Westgate, so I can contact them directly and ask them for the say…. I’m also a Westgate Owner, Paid in Full, and Maintenance paid up to date, but I can not take it anymore, have send them many emails via the “Contact Us” link on the website with no response.
Please kindly send me the details
Thanks for your input… this give us a hope
February 4th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Connie,
I own at Coral Sands Resorts and received a $916.00 maintenance fee and I have never stayed at the resort because I don’t have enough points to stay there. All this timeshare stuff is a bunch of mess. I am going to contact them to see if I can make payment arrangements since I don’t want a hit on my credit. Please let me know what you find out.
February 5th, 2010 at 7:26 am
We finally got our Warranty Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure from Westgate, 11 months after we stopped paying! Signing it and sending it back, and I want nothing more to do with them. I’d advise anyone who wants out of their timeshare, just to stop paying, you are throwing your money away!
February 8th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
@Melham: if you are not a US citizen jz stop paying. there is no credit affected outside of the country where the deal was closed.
@Bruno: if you are still tied up with them and you try to get rid of the property using the ‘good’ way -by this i mean trying to reason with them..- i dont think it is going to work.. I tried that before and they advised me to: rent the time share or to sell it. when I asked for other alternatives they said: rent the time share or to sell it.
so i dont think you’ll be able to find help from them.
anyway, if you want to give it a try, call 1 – 800 – 375 8122. WG contracts mediation.
February 9th, 2010 at 6:42 am
ken,
unfortunately, I am a resident here, im ready for my credit ruined, its just that for some other harassments. but what can I do if I cant afford anymore I have to pay my medical bills first I just got divorce last year and the TS is just only under my name, my husband fooled me (I was just new in US ) that it is investment and its for both of us, but later on I realized he has no knowledge of it . we even bought more points..now I am stuck. I adveritsed it paid $600 in TIME SHARE ONLY ” but 2 yrs never heared even a single offer. At my age I am ready not to have a good credit…I dont plan to buy a home anymore.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Hi Melham,
Just stop paying them. I’m a resident of the US and I stopped paying since November of 2009. So far they have just been calling and sending me mails. I told them paying my mortgage and car payment is more important to pay before I pay them. I told them times are hard out here with people losing their jobs. I still have a job, but paying to keep a roof over my head and able to get to work and back is more important than paying my timeshare. They said it will ruin my credit and I told them I don’t care at this time because when I was paying on time for several years it was never reported on my credit. I already have the important things I need so I decided to save the money I would have given them in my savings account. I pay all my bills/mortgage and credit card on time.
February 9th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Thanks Erica.
hope you keep posted on whats next, im up to date.but this month i can no longer pay…really very hard, and i feel stupid and one of the biggest mistakes in mylife. This is what I get in US “DEBT”.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Mandie;
I am a Canadian dealing with a long term problem that afflicts most of your people here- timeshare fraud. I have had this albatross for 20 years now, and it has been too long coming… I am refusing to pay them anymore. My original contract was for vacation rights every other year, with fees being paid the same- every other year. I do not have a site specific location- it is 4 home properties with the chance to use the exchange network At a cost of course. I have been disputing the new owners for 15 years, each time refusing to pay their annual fees- mine were to be every other year- and each time they harass me into paying. I am now at the point where I know that am not alone- and they are adding on huge fees every month now- until the debt has reached a whopping $3000+. I want to know what will happen to me if I just don’t pay them….I don’t really owe them anything because they have been overcharging me for years and I have been paying them. The contract that I have states that the maintenance fess are to be paid “annually or as required” and they are totally negating the fact that as a biennial member, mine are required every other year. They are also telling me that the fees that they are charging me are half the maintenance fees that they are charging the annual members, but they are now charging $300+ american for a half a year, which menas that the annual member would be paying $600+ per year? My fees when I started this long ridiculoas journey were $200- could they triple the fees in 15 years? What are the rights of Canadians dealing with the Canadian version of vultures? How do we stop them charging us hand over fist for things that were not in our contracts? Is it legal for them to charge for things that are not in our contracts? Can they just randomly charge fees for “late payments” that were not part of the original contract?
February 10th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Maintenence fee for a 2 Br. timeshare in Marriott grand chateau in Las Vegas:
2008 US$882
2009 US$922
2010 US$985
Once you are in, the only way they make money out of you is to increase Maintenence fee.
February 10th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Teresa:
We were told that we are to pay our maintenace fee every three years so I do not yet know what it will be. We were also told that our condo in Florida was accepted as a down payment but it is taking forever to be transferred. I am very concerned they will come back and say they dont want it and then we will be stuck with another condo. I have contacted Timeshare Advocacy……have you or anyone else had any experience with them? I am not feeling good about this. Can you still take a hit on your credit if your condo is paid for and you are only paying maintenace fees? We just signed our contract in November of 2009.
February 11th, 2010 at 2:29 am
My timeshare is not for any one property- it is based on the ownership of four and the exchange network- I do not have a specific week at any specific property. I am a one bedroom every other year. Does anyone out there own anything with vacation brokers in Toronto? What are the average maintenance fees for a year? I am paying 3 times what I initially started paying when I bought it. The properties that we have been to are crap- no working smoke detectors, dead lizards beside the toilets….really cheap. I am contacting a lawyer today regarding the language of the contract and if I can get out of it. I have been harassed by these people for so long that I just want it over. I just don’t want it to affect my credit rating- it’s not me who is being a pain necessarily- I just want what I contracted for- nothing more, nothing less. Go to Epinions.com if you want to hear some more horror stories about this company-there are some really angry people that might just like some support.
February 11th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Anyone looking for an answer to “how to get out of the timeshare trap” should read info on website http://www.timeshareaide.com/
Timeshare Advocacy International, LLC works with anyone battling fraud or misrepresentation within the timeshare industry by helping identify and assist in holding timeshare companies accountable to comply with the each states real estate commission laws. We assist you in communicating with your States Attorney General. Timeshare Advocacy International, LLC can assist you in the proper ways to cancel timeshare contracts due to being misinformed, misled, coerced, or lied to.
February 12th, 2010 at 8:32 am
Elizabeth,
I have tried Professional Services, They want upfront payment “another Scam”?
February 16th, 2010 at 11:20 am
I can not afford this nighgtmare any more please help me or tell me what to do to stop these calls I can only pay what I can afford.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Tasha,
I just paying too this month I cant afford either are they harassing you? what can we do, they cant take something we dont have .
February 16th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Timeshare owes money from us we just give them money, but we cant get anything we are suppose to harrass them …we dont get anything we just gave our signature and that’s IT!!! unlike if we purchase a car which we use ,but this….we just make them rich ,I am a VIP member with a 300000 points in Wyndham but I can only book twice…always no available or shld be 8 mos before departure. But whatever it is, our life has change with this hard economy, everybody is in hardship Time share is the first to go.
February 16th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Melham and Tasha. Why pay for something that you won’t be able to use anyways? I just stopped paying and going to take the hit on my credit history. Just get it over with…rather take the 7 year hit on my credit report than deal with them for the rest of my life. With the constant raising of the maintenance fee. I calculated I paid last year $6000 in payments not including the maintenace fee. Out of the $6000 in payments only $1200 went towards my principal. The rest was all interests!!!! I could have taken a better vacation with that amount including airfare…probably multiple vacations.
I figured I just stop paying them and if they do come after me with fees I’ll be ready for it. Cause the money I will be giving them I will be saving it instead of them taking it.
February 17th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Erica,
Exactly!! you are right. I got VIP plan knowing I can use them more but counting it ,I only used it 4x for 2 yrs and I already pait $14000 in 2 yrs excluding Down payment, plus everytime I use it there are some fees ($30, etc) on line for booking in excess of 3x on line. But the most reason is My life change, I got divorced and diagnose of cancer , I had already 3x of surgeries and coming next month..so I would rather pay my medical bills ,I cant afford anymore, you are right, I dont care of 7 yr hit on my credit, what else can it give a good credit to us, we cant even buy stuff now with the High interest giving us..plus all my payments went only to interest ….what else can I say more.
February 17th, 2010 at 11:59 am
Eric,
Keep on updating us, on what’s going On.
February 17th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
So far just phone calls and mail. At first I was answering the phone calls and telling them I couldn’t afford paying it anymore to take it back, but of course they wouldn’t. I asked if they would take the deed back instead of foreclosure….NO to that as well. Last time they called me said I have one more week to pay at least something like a $100 so I wouldn’t get reported to the credit. They said they give the person 90 days to get their account updated. Which I stopped paying 3 months ago. I said I’ll try, but I was lying I had no attention of paying them another dime. That was 2 weeks ago, so they are calling me and I’m ignoring the phone calls.
Oh yea…they suggest I ask family members or friends to help pay for my timeshare. I said are you guys crazy…I have 2 family members laid off from work and why would my friends help me pay for something that is a luxury…not a necessity. Of course she couldn’t respond to that.
So all it has been about 3 months of not paying them.
February 17th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
My husband and I purchased a timeshare at the Massanutten Resort in June 2006. We fell behind on payments, because I lost my jobs in 2008 and he lost hours at his due to the recession. A few months later I called and told them our situation and tried to work things out with them. I asked them to take it back, asked for a loan modification, and they said no. The only thing they would do it take half of the arrears we owed ($1309) and that way we could avoid foreclosure proceedings. We didn’t have the $1309. Fast forward-got a letter from their attorney saying that we need to pay $9700 (THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE LOAN) by March 19 which we don’t have. If we don’t, property could be sold at a foreclosure auction. We are now able to pay ALL of the arrears, and bring our account current and go back to making our monthly payments, but would they allow us to do so? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
February 18th, 2010 at 6:34 am
mirjie,
that's their threat to people to ruin our credit, if you are not ready then go ahead, it will be a lifetime nightmare (maintenance fees ( increase every yr) are forever pass on to your children) , they will of course bring you in current they need your money.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
hi all, thanks Mandy for setting up this site. It has been really useful reading the blogs. I am a UK resident, bought the timeshare on our first trip to Florida at the Bonnet Creek Resort with what was then Fairfield resorts now Wyndham vacation resorts, in 2005. What a waste. We are putting it down to an experiece , a really bad one, and that we were young and naive . It has been a real eye opener, dealing with the time share industry. The Reps are the scum of the earth. We bought the timeshare even though we knew we won't be able to visit US every year, because we were given false information and promises about the associated exchanged company RCI. They made it sound all so easy, and showed us dreams of how we could be having fabulous holidays all over europe every year. The truth is that you will be luck to get an exchange with RCI in any place other than Tenerife! As lots of TS places in Europe other than Tenerife, are still owned by Week owners , who are not willing to exchange with people who have points. we have just decided to stop I
paying the maintenance fees. Tracey (UK) and Herman's blogs have given me courage. Just one question guys, i do not want to give one more penny to the blook suckers. How can I have the Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure without paying any fees. Any suggestion would be much appreciated. Best Regards Sam
February 20th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Hi I just would like to any one diling with a time share scam from Orange Lake resort, we already are a group of 16 suit this company for damages and we need more people ready to enjoy the group, my email is. milegon@yahoo.com
February 21st, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Hi Guys!!
like Milena, any one here to start against Wyndham Resorts?
February 21st, 2010 at 6:25 pm
I have also been scammed by Westgate. Recently I have been getting calls on my home and cell phone from Westgate resales They have given my personal info to about 30 of these rip off resellers that just charge you an upfront fee and do absolutely nothing.HOW DARE THEY! I WAS UP TO DATE ON MY PAYMENTS BUT HAVE HAD IT WITH THIS RIP OFF SCAM COMPANY.Do not give your timeshare company your phone number, they will sell it!!
As well There has been absolutely no mtce on our unit in 10 years! Gee they collect 52 times 900 and they do not even replace furniture? Screw them I live in Canada no more payments from me
February 21st, 2010 at 10:02 pm
My wife and I got suckered into the Grandview Resort in Vegas 2 years ago. Maintenance fee’s have significantly increased since. My wife lost her job and we want out. The resort told us that they do not resell units. THATS A LIE RIGHT THERE because we refused the original “high” figure. As we were walking out, the manager came over and offered a RE-SELL for half the price!!!
We are in Ontario, Canada. We would gladly do one of two things:
a: Travel to the resort sale centre as a large group and “hinder” there ability to sell to new suckers until they agree to take back our units.
b: Join in a class action against the resort. My email is paul.baker@campuspublications.ca
Any scammer tracking these comms who even thinks of emailing me to attempt to “rescue” us for a fee, forget it. I am hardline out after all the scammers in this line of grey business.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:55 am
Melham,
I am deffnatly in to do whatever possiable to start against Wyndham Resorts. My email is Rosest1009@yahoo.com
I stopped paying for three months already and I am getting phone calls every two hours from 6 in the morning till 11 at night. Have not picked up any calls yet. I already have almost a thousand dollars saved just from putting that money aside that I would have been giving to them.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:01 pm
thanks, stacy I will PM you…
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
for J-dog or anyone in a similar situation. Curious – how have you made out with not paying your maintenance any longer.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:09 pm
me and my friends bought a ts thru shell vacation 3 years ago however we stopped paying september of last year 2009. now we recd a letter from collection agency. how do we handle this?
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I have really been stupid over these past several years and didn’t learn my lesson, until now. Sure wish I was smart enough to read websites like this before hand. I now own 3 separate timeshares, one of which I will be paying for another 5 yrs. Everything they told me was a lie and I unfortunately bought into it. I actually believed that by buyng this third one they would sell my first two. What a mistake that was. My first timeshare is up in Cape Cod, Mass. and this year they are hitting us with a special assessment of $2,100 on top of $650 maintenace. This is crazy in this economical situation so I am going to gamble and just not pay it anymore. I’ve tried selling it, donating it to charity and even surrendering it to Cape Cod but they won’t take it back. Any suggestions from anyone … this is stressing me out so much – just isn’t worth it anymore. Thanks
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Lorraine,Ivy others,
I have read in some postings that if you are ready to ruin the credit (if it ruin) or expect the harassment of collection agency (so be it!)it will stop eventually and they will foreclose it. Harassment of collectiona gency is to be expected that’s their job, so dont mind them, buying TS we feel we are stupid It was really very hard to go during the sale, If only I could surf first in the middle of the sale I shld have not sign, I found this website but its too late ,I paid for 2 yrs, and now I have no more to pay.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:21 am
Thanks Melham – this is an awesome sight and it certainly helps to chat with others that are going through this same hassle. I have until the 1st to pay and decided it just isn’t worth it anymore and getting myself geared for the hassle of a collection agency. Hope I can lean on anyone out there for support. Much thanks.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
We are in the process of getting rid of several TS that we have owned. My first piece of advice is to look at ebay and see what timeshares like yours are currently selling for. After shock, you should ask yourself if you really want to keep paying a mortgage. My second comment relates to stopping the payments. At other sights, they talk about what can happen if you stop. A key part of the discussion is the statute of limitations on debt — there is a different number of years for each state, but basically, if you stop paying, and make no more payments, the clock starts. After so many years, e.g. 4 years in PA, a court case cannot be brought to collect anything owed. Just make sure that you make no payments of any amount to collectors or the TS or to anyone. If you pay the collectors even a dollar, the clock restarts.
February 24th, 2010 at 12:51 pm
We had a Marriott TS in Las Vegas with a mortgage. We stopped paying in January, were harassed beginning in March, got black marks on our credit in June, they offered a deed in lieu which we signed in November. Be sure to watch out for the unexpected w-something for taxes, since they report the written off part of the mortgage principle as income. (Get a phone with caller ID and donm’t answer — even better et a phone that allows selective call blocking and the phone doesn’t even ring)
February 24th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
we bought a wyndham in Newport on ebay, so it did not have a mortgage, just maintenance fees in about 2004. We stopped paying maintenance in Fall 2007. We got collection letters, and finally an attorney letter in Fall 2009 that if we paid a $250 fee, we could get a deed in lieu or pay no fee and it would be foreclosed. We said we could not afford $250 and they asked for a smaller amount, which we paid.
February 24th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Bill,
thank you so much as Ive read and heared it can be done, though we should be prepared for their calls, but that’s their job.
Any one that got rid of their TS please post their experiences in this site, it is a big help for us who are having stress and agonies while in the process of getting away of TS.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Thanks to everyone that post comments. I now check this site every morning and helps me with the stress of dealing with TS. I am writing my last letter to Cape Cod today and that is t until I begin the harrassment. I have another one I’m going to try and donate – Lagonita Lodge in Bear Bear. Maintenance is paid until the end of the year but I want to just be rid of it. Anyone interested, will gladly turn it over to you – 1 bedroom, floating week and maintenance is less than $500. Any interest – email me at rainer1019@sbcglobal.net — Once again thanks everyone and keep posting your experiences, it does really help.
February 25th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Anyone owning or is a member of WESTGATE TRAVEL CLUB? I do, and I want to know what will happen if I stop making my monthly payments. I don’t live in the US nor do I plan to. I have not tied in any mortgate to it. All I made was a $300.00 downpayment and signed a document stating I will pay pay $99.00/mth for 1yr. After reading all these bad testiments about WESTGATE, I want no part of it. I want to cut my loses now.
Does anyone have any idea what are the consequences?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Mandie – miss your input on things – hope to see you back on line soon. Trying to donate but can’t find anyone that is interested. Anyone have any suggestions?
February 27th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Hi Lorraine,
I am still around – working on upgrading the site and getting more content out there for everyone!
As for donating, have you tried the places listed in this post? – http://rcivip.com/2008/charities-accepting-timeshare-donations/ Someone also told me recently their local NPR station accepted their timeshare as a donation, so that is something worth looking into as well.
It is so nice to see everyone working together on this site and sharing information. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will have the new site up and we can get even more people involved.
Keep up the good conversation everyone!
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:15 am
Hi Mandie – I agree and hope more people come on this site and share their experiences whether it be negative, positive or just horror stories. I have tried several places looking to donate Lagonita Lodge without much success. One listed on this site said they aren’t taking any more timeshares, Property Donation Group said that their brokers didn’t feel Lagonita Lodge was in a desirable location. However, the recommended Timeshare Relinquishment Program but of course there is a catch and not sure if it is just another scam. The fee for this program is around $900. If I knew for sure that would resolve the issue I would pay it just to be rid of this timeshare. Sure would love to hear from anyone that has had any positive experience on donating their TS. Hope to hear from more people on this site. Certainly has been an eye opener for me and since we are all in this same horrible situation, it does help to be able to talk with other people.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Hi, love this site! Have a paid up grand beach ts in orlando. (weeks). only pay maintenance and taxes now, running about 850/yr. Have traded every year through rci and have been happy with my ts. Now I get freq calls from diamond resorts trying to talk me into going to points system–listened once for laughs, would have cost me thousands of $ to switch with fewer places to trade to. told them they were nuts to think I’d put out more money on a ts I’d had paid for years ago. They said this was my only chance==guess what, they call every month with an offer to listen to their spiel for free Branson visits. lol. I have their number on my phone contact list with ‘no ring’ as the ringtone choice. I’m going to a SMART TRANSFER seminar in two days to see about getting rid of my ts cause I plan to quit work end of this year. have researched all I can online about this outfit and see pros and cons. will post my experience later. my question is why would they take my ts off my hands when other people can’t give one away for a $1 on ebay? How did I get on their mailing list to get this seminar offer? Maybe diamond resorts are trying to get at me another way through this transfer smart outfit.lol. I won’t burden my kids with this ts. I’ll go into default first. I’d like to see more USA people commenting.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:53 am
Hi Linda, like you I love this site. Don’t have an answer for you but hope that other people will continue to post their stories whether they be positive or negative (horror). I’m dealing with more than my share of headaches with ts and doing whatever I can to get rid of them. Will keep everyone posted with any of my encounters. Have tried several charities with no luck whatsoever and now going to try listing one of them on eBay and Craig’s list. Good luck
March 5th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Hi all,
Stopped paying Wyndham TS in January. I receive phone calls every day, sometimes 3 or 4 per day, from them. The phone number they have on file is a cell phone, and on the cell phone there is a block call feature that has come in very handy. They never leave any messages. I have only received normal snail mail from them, saying I owe for two months mortgage payments and maint fees, no nasty grams yet. I am us citizen. Have not seen anything pop up on credit file yet.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Jason,
same here, I receive phone calls from Wyndham but unfortunately its in my workplace ,its good that my office mate understand that its TS and they know and they do believe also that I shld stop paying it too, but my reason is I cant afford anymore, I had a good time with it its just that too expensive $600/mo plus for 2 yrs I had only 4x used of it…and its really stupid now to continue it, I have to pay first my credit card and some more important things,I am ready to what will happen to my credit if they ruin it, 2 mos ago I had decided to file bankcruptcy because of TS, but I realized Ill try to default first. As I have researched they can only foreclose it and can even give us IRS form-100-c (debt cancellation)as Income and pay taxes on that.
Jaso,Erica,Stacy,Lorraine hoping for more feed backs from time to time.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
@Jason. When I spoke with TS and told them I can’t afford it anymore they told me if I pay just a little it won’t go on my credit report. They won’t send it to your credit unless it’s 90 days overdue. Well, I haven’t paid since November…I haven’t checked my credit report yet. I’ll check it within a month or so.
So far I’m just getting mail and phone calls on my cell phone and I hit ignore and than they call my landline and leave a message on both phones. I receive phones calls like 2 to 3x a week. I just let the voicemail answer it.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Does anyone know how to transfer title of ownership to another party without it costing a fortune to do? I thought it could be done by a quitclaim deed. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. Thanks
March 9th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Hi Melham. Nothing new has happened. Just been getting about 3 phone calls daily. And a letter every month saying how much I owe (have not paid in three months) and if I don’t pay they are sending me to collections. They have been threatening me since I skipped the first payment. I have a load of stress off my shoulders since I stopped paying them. I have been keeping all the letters in a folder and ignoring all the calls.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Hi Stacy ,same here Im one month late, but you know what? I think till 6 months of threatening they will end up forclosing it. Me I dont have a choice I cant afford anymore,Im ready , I also receive letters, but I just put them in a folder, but maybe Ill write them a letter,but of course it wont help just to inform them and for their record .But when the collection agencies turn to call us expect the worst threat and they are so nasty, that’s their style to stress us and be freight., but they cant get something that we dont have. also we should expect if ever an IRS form (1099) for the amt of debt cancelled which is taxable (but we can pay it installment to the IRS and that’s it! , unlike in TS its FOREVER!! up to our heirs.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
TS system is really an evil thing, its fun in the beginning but life change.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Has anyone ever had any positive experiences with unloading their TS? I can’t agree more with melham, sounds like a sweet deal until you get caught in the trap. Ever try exchanging your week and not been able to do it and losing the week? Talk about pi**ing money away …. with all I’ve lost on situations like this I could have taken a really nice vacation for myself.