Canadians and U.S. Timeshares
One of our users left the following comment on our Westgate Timeshare Orlando article in response to another person’s comment:
“We are seriously considering walking away from our TS with Westgate. We are not so concerned with our credit rating since we are Canadian and the banks and creditors here tend to look at your payment history as a whole and these types of “blemishes” don’t seem to bother us much if you can offer a valid argument. That being said, I have checked and Westgate is not listed as a creditor on our credit reports. My question is (and I don’t know if you can answer this), can we be denied entry into the U.S. for this?”
An age-old question in the timeshare world is what will happen if you walk away and don’t pay. Unfortunately, there is no concrete answer to this question. Some people have walked away from their timeshares with no consequences, while others take a major hit to their credit score. But more often than not, if you walk away and stop paying the fees, your timeshare could go into default and eventually foreclose.
So now the question is if a timeshare foreclosure could bar a non-U.S. citizen (Canadian, in this case) from entering the U.S. The answer is probably not. You could possibly run into trouble if your mortgage lender decides to sue you for the money you owe–called a deficiency judgment–but only if it rises to the level of a criminal offense, which is unlikely. Even if they did file a criminal suit against you, that would not necessarily mean automatic denial into the U.S. So, you are probably safe to continue to travel into the U.S. following a foreclosure on your timeshare property, but it is wise to not let it reach this point. You might try some of these options before simply walking away.
