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/deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure-for-timeshare/
Timeshare Foreclosure and Your Credit Score – http://rcivip.com/timeshare-foreclosures-and-your-credit-score/
Alternative Timeshare Sales Options – http://rcivip.com/alternative-timeshare-sales-options/
update: went today and closed my bank acct. although had a stop-pay on acct. for ts.
The stop pay worked well for Jan, but a friend who works for the bank told me that if they change the draft amount by even 1 cent, it will be paid. They could add a late fee and draft and bingo got their money.
This is because the bank goes by dollar amount not names.Some companies know this and will draft a penny extra and get their money. Not worth the worry so just change accounts! I get a call from the ts office about 4 times a week….got a letter and a request for new bank info as posted above. Haven’t answered any calls but the very first one. May send them a note requesting all correspondence be by mail…no calls!
update: Went today and closed bank account even tho had a stop pay in place.
I been getting emails from a resort I stopped paying at email addresses I never gave them, do they have permission to send emails to those emails. They also sent an email about me being behind and how much and my account number to an email address that me or my friend doesn’t even own wouldn’t that be going against the privacy policy.
Hi,
Got suckered into buying Hilton Grand Vacation in November 2010, lot of promises were made and none are kept, all we get is measly $300 voucher for paying nearly $3000 per year. Just talked to the manager , who obviously don’t have any answers. She promises to call back, hopefully I can sell it back.
I am getting ready to close my old checking account where The ocean beach club has been drafting money every month. I owe still 32K on this timeshare and my payments are close to 6 hundred a month. Its killing me! I’ve been putting off calling them to tell them to stop drafting from my account but have chickened out everytime. The next draw is around the 8th of next month so I better do something quick. I just received my maintenance fee which is over 6 hundred a year so I just can’t take this anymore. Help! should I call them right away to tell them to stop drawing? My bank says that if I stop the payment the timeshare can force the account back open within a certain amount of time. Should I call my timeshare owners association? Please advise. Thanks! Eddie
you need to tell your bank that you will sue them if they honor any more debits from the timeshare company.
stopping a debit is no different than stopping a check. If you tell them in advance not to honor a check or an account debit, they are required by law not to honor it.
You need to get them to sign that they have received this instruction from you. the only bank I have seen behave this way is the Bank of America, and they cannot win in court.
The easiest way to solve the whole problem is to notify the bank to not accept any more debits, and to also close the bank account. You also should send a certified letter, return receipt requested, telling the TS to no longer debit your account. They then can not claim that they have your approval to charge your account.
Follow-up fro
Well, I stopped my payments in Jan of this year(2011) as earlier posted, and did not pay my maintainance fees due In Jan. I went to the bank and placed a stop-pay on the acct and talked to them about closing the acct. Is was about 2 weeks after they missed getting the payment that I got a call from the financial office. I explained to the man that I was not able to pay anymore and that was that. He was very nice, and proceded to tell me he was making notes on the acct about what I said, but that I needed to expect calls to start soon. It was another week before the first call came in which I did not answer. I get about 3 or 4 calls a week and I just ignore them. Today I got a letter from TS re: late maintainance fees. They said a 25 dollar late fee would be added per month, but they had already added 75 dollars for late fee??????why was just due this month….so here we go!
I also got a letter asking me to contact them concerning the past due monthly note, and on the back was a form they wanted filled out and signed saying I would accept all fees and new amounts due each month to be deducted from my bank account if I would send them new numbers!!!! LOL Yeah sure, hold your breath til you get that! They also said they would like to work with me and help me thru these hard times….oh yea, does that mean they are going to pay off all my bills and feed me every month. Will post again as things progress.
That is pretty funny they wanted your bank numbers. My “collection agency” Meridian Financial, used an exposed phony sub-incorporation in Las Vegas, uh yeah right, with some clown “Bob” who would call me. I invited the little criminal to come to my house and try and collect in person. Needless to say I never heard from the little weasels after that.
DON’T PAY CRIMINALS ANYMORE MONEY. WALK AWAY!!!
does anyone have Club landor’ in the Bahamas, they very rude on the phone they keep calling my job it’s two of use on the contract,but they always call me I guess becauase I pay my half i cant afford it any more my days at work have been cut my bllod presusre is high i cant do it any more.
Hi All,
Update on my situation. My credit still has not taken a hit since I stopped paying in November of 2009. So, it’s been over a year and some months since I paid. I have yet to receive anything about them doing a DILF. I still get calls like 2 times a week. I don’t answer cause all they will do is ask for a payment or try to make some type of payment plan with. Which I will not cause than the whole thing starts all over again.
People…it’s quite simple. Stop paying them if you can’t afford it any longer. Which is important…keeping a roof over your head or pay on something that you can’t use any longer??? I don’t see what the problem is in deciding. Yea, your credit is going to take a hit for 7 years, but at least you won’t have this monkey on your back for the rest of your entire life and your kids life, and so on….
Hi Erica,
I took a slight hit on mine. Of course since the timeshare was sold under fraudulent pretext, I paid it in full, and since I only owed illicit “maintenance fees”, they actually committed defamation of character. I could sue them, and still might.
Walk away – its the only way. I did and couldn’t be happier to be done with the scum. Especially the criminals at SPM Resorts and Bluebeards. May they all rot in hell.
Hello, does anyone here have a TS with Massenutten? Please respond if so. I would like to compare notes. Thanks, Tony
I had purchased a timeshare in Orlando Fl. During this recession, I worked for 2 companies that went bankrupt and I lost my job both times. Needless to say, I filed for Bankruptcy and did not reaffirm on my timeshare. We wanted the timeshare, but a year and a half later we can not afford it. If I stop paying on my timeshareshare, can they stil come after me for anything since I filed bankruptcy almost 2 years ago and did not reaffirm on the timeshare?
I had enough. I just stopped paying. Bluegreen listed my TS as abandoned. I received a 1099 from IRS.
Bob,
when did you stopped payment? mine is almost a year now, but i received nothing yet.
Mel, stopped mid ’09. Never did hear anything from TS. Nothing. Not even a notice of any proceding they would be taking. I didnt abandon, I just told them they could have it back. I couldnt afford it any longer. It was either the TS or my home. I learned of the abandonment listed on the 1099 in Jan ’10. Good Luck. My stress level has been reduced greatly!
Did you have to pay any taxes on the 1099 from your timeshare
amanda,
as for me ,I received 1099-A and ia m figuring out that it will be treated as my income, I will pay taxes on it, and I called wyndham to make sure that its the end of it,they said that is is the same as 1099-c I hope its true..any other inputs on this 1099-A from TS?
Unless you put your house up as colateral for the TS loan, a lien cannot be put on it.
what are the chances that if I forclose on my deeded TS that they will put a lien against my house making it hard to sell when I try to in the future?
Ok, need some info. I was told that my TS was not deeded. So what does that mean as far as foreclosure? Does that mean it can’t “foreclose” and would just count as an unpaid debt? Was told I could pay off my maint. fee and then could cancel the contract. Total cost would be another $2000 and I don’t want to lose any more money on this worthless TS. I’m stopping payments this month.
David,
I am in total agreement that these scam outfits need to be halted at a national level. But the way the government works these days, if they are generating positive revenue and steer clear of the IRS, then I don’t think our government CARES if we are being legally ripped off. The other side to that is, I think too many people are so ashamed that they got duped, that they don’t speak up about it. There is power in numbers and if I knew how to assimilate a group of people interested in bringing this to the level of national attention, I would. I plan to never stop until I have done my part in exposing these companies for what they are. I stopped paying mine in December, so I haven’t gotten much activity on mine yet. I’ll be happy to share if I get positive results.
I appreciate that.
I would be interested in exposing these cheaters. Social network does have power and it has been proven recently in Egypt, well something good will surely come out and these scumbags will pay dearly.
Any body there now a lawyer names Ann Pellegrino in Orlando, she claim to helping us to get ready the contract but asking for 3000 dollars before we star the case, any advice?????
Dear Diamond – Did you ever get any information on deeded ts vs. nondeeded ts? Whatever happened with the Mutual Release and Termination of Purchase and Security Agreement (1/13/2011 posting)? Have you gotten a DIL? Would you please give an update on your situation? Any information would be so greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Misery loves company…. wow I feel like a fool getting involved with RCI – Coral Sands! It is sickening to hear what so many are going through. Why isnt this on national news warning everyone how all these scams work. I have stopped paying any more money to the scam artist and have now accepted my loss and will follow the path of just letting my credit score go and accept the barrage of calls from credit agencies. Cant donate my shares since I refused to pay the ever growing maintenance fees. Last bill they charged me 200% interest for not paying the last three invoices. How do these people look at themselves in the mirror?
So I have a timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta at what was formerly Playa Del Sol Grand. It’s paid off and I just have the biennal maintenance fees which have doubled in price since I first bought several years ago. Have been wondering if you own a unit in Mexico and it’s right to use if not paying any more maintenance fees would end in a credit hit on my credit report since it’s out of the country. Anyone experience that?
Where do you make your payment? We bought a TS in Mexico but payments were sent to San Diego CA. We stoped making payments on the TS and we did take a credit hit.
We are in a similar situation as Laine. We still owe on our deeded timeshare at Tahitti Village in Las Vegas, and have already paid thousands into it. We have had great vacations from it as well, but we have realized we have made a poor financial decision and quite honestly can’t afford it anymore and would rather ruin our excellent credit than keep paying. So 3 months ago we stopped making payments and did not pay our annual fee. Twice a day, everyday, I get calls for the overdue fee threatening it will go to a debt collector and court. But have only received 1 call and 2 letters for the past due mortgage payments so far. I have tried requesting a DIL, but they tell me I need to pay up or I will go to court. Everyone’s comments have been helpful and hopefully this will settle outside of court. Anyone’s input is much appreciated. This decision and process is very scary stuff.
Hello Marie, I also have a time share at Tahiti Village , vegas which I thought was a good idea at the time. It is now a financial burden. I contacted an attorney who specialized in canceling time share contracts. Paid him $5000. Tahiti village wrote a rebuttal which indicated it is an iron clad contract so I dropped the suit and was refunded $4800. Now I am thinking of stopping payments but hate the idea of the harassing phone calls. I am retired and on a fixed income – actually it is going down as my health insurance goes up, taxes go up and my annuity and soc security stay flat. I plan on moving back to my condo, where I have another hefty mortgage! so maybe it won’t matter if my credit rating is damaged. What a mess! Keep in touch and I will be watching for your progress as well.
Thanks Carole. I’ve also thought about contacting a lawyer, but the more I research, I’m thinking the best thing to do, especially since this whole thing started from my not having money to pay my timeshare is to just wait and see what happens. I’m fine with it going into foreclosure and taking a hit on my credit. Better that than keep paying, which isn’t much of an option anyways. But just wonder how far this will go and for how long? I’ll keep you posted on what happens and you please do the same.
Hi Neil,
Thanks very much for your very detailed response to my post, it never ceases to amaze me to hear about what these companies can LEGALLY get away with passing on to us duped owners! I think if I’d been in your shoes I’d have thrown the towel in when they asked for the hurricane damage fees, it’s a pity they didn’t bulldoze the resort and free all of you owners.
I appreciate you sharing your understanding of the credit rating situation and also that it’s unlikely they’ll pursue us in the UK.
Please submit the odd update on how you get on as I’m very interested to hear.
I don’t know if you’ve already come across them but I’ve just subscribed to the Timeshare Users Group – I’m just finding my way around it and although it seems like most members are USA based, there’s lots of good info’ on there most of which you can access without subscribing. If you do subscribe you’re able to post on the forum, advertise for sale/rent/free/to buy and there’s good info’ on how to get the most out of your TS if you choose to hang onto it. I’m going to use this year to try and sell or give my TS away on TUG and if I can’t I’m just not going to pay next year’s fees.
Best of luck with whatever you end up doing,
Mike.
Know your rights. Here are two good sites that may help you. collectionagency411.com and naca.net There is a statue of limitation and also rules collection agencies must follow.
Regarding Tasha Hardy’s question, I gave up on my timeshare over a year ago, and they started calling my job even leaving messages. I wrote them a letter asking them to stop and they did. Hope this will work for you. I live in the Caribbean so the threats about my credit score meant nothing to me, but they did call non-stop for about 5 months and sent us letters threatening us with legal action. The calls have stopped and so far no legal action. It was a horrible experience but we got through it
Thanks Neil I’m going to walk away I can’t afford this nightmare any more
to everyone,
if you have read my posts above, I stopped my payment Feb 2010 its almost getting 1 year , i experienced calls and letters for about 4 months, now no more I havent received any DLI to sign like wjhat happened to some, Im waiting for Deed in lieu of Foreclosure, but nothing as of now, I purchased Wyndham Timeshare in VA.
Stacy,Erika How’s everything? (we were on the same time if i am not mistaken) any feed back/?
Sorry Melham that you still haven’t gotten the D in L of papers. that must be discouraging. Maybe you will get lucky and it will just all go away! Has your credit score shown the hit? I’m sure you are ready for closure on this…I can relate to that. We are about 3 months into it, so I guess we have a ways to go. Hope it is over soon for you. 🙂
Laine,
yes i think so. itdid hit my credit, but not that hurt.LOL ! just lowered my credit limit to all my credit cards (everybody does anyway)im not planning to buy a house, but the most worry if we continue, our children to generation will shoulder the maintenance fees..imagine that. its a curse.! credit score will be recovered later on..we will have some IRS issue there..cancellation of debt.
Thanks for that information, They talk so mean to you over the phone as long as they dont garnish my pay check I deal with the bad credit score I cant afford this nightmare. how do get them to stop calling your job
I cant afford my time share I on the contract with my aunt thinking it will give me a good credit score not….. I cant pay my rent trying to pay the time share its in the bahamas Club Landor’if I stop paying it the said they will gronish my pay check I cant afford them to do that what can I do I tryied canceling they said no, I sent a paper work stating I will not be returning they dont care.
Hi Tasha,
First, they cannot garnish your paycheck for a timeshare maintenance fee. Second, you don’t need them to agree to your not continuing. You just stop sending them payments, then ignore and don’t answer when bill collectors start calling. The collectors will file a collection notice on your credit report, so it will hurt your credit score, but isn’t that better than continuing to pay for something you have no use for and which has no value?
Land’Or is not actually a timeshare. It is right- to- use vacation time. No deed and no ownership. Land’Or International owns the resort and members buy finite time in weeks under contract. I can’t sell or give it away with the shape its in. What I want to know is can they garnish the meager wages my husband makes since its not a deeded timeshare? I wish it was deeded so they could just foreclose and be done with it.
We are in the same basic situation as Tasha. Bought at Land’Or in the early ’80s and bought more time over the years. Never traded and went every year. Loved it even as it got older and shabby with not much done to upgrade. We paid every fee/assessment,etc on time no matter how we had to do it which meant we had to charge all fees starting a few years ago but still we paid. As time went on they never used the thousands in assessments they got from each member to upgrade/renovate as they kept promising.
We have been in financial hardship for over 2 yrs after loss of a small business and one catastrophic medical event which took all our savings and lots of home equity. Hubby was out of work for many months. We have been doing all we can to keep our home and keep the lights on. Land’Or (or any vacation for that matter) has become a luxury we can no longer afford. Stopped paying mtce fees last year as we had nothing to pay them with. They call every few weeks to pay up and in the meantime we have gotten an energy assessment and a second budget balancing assessment so the amount owed gets bigger and bigger. Balance THEIR budget twice…seriously? They are sending our acct to collections which will lead to court. They seem to want to wait until the amount owed gets much bigger so its worth their court costs and looks worse for us. We are terrified. I am on SS only and hubby does not make much. Like I said we are already struggling and working with bank to modify loans but we will still be short each month. If they garnish his wages we will lose the house we have fought so hard to keep. Can’t afford a lawyer of course. Any advice?
PS..have written to the owners twice for mercy and all I get is that we have a legal obligation regardless of hardship. Like I don’t already know that? We still have a large investment in time we will lose so they are really ahead already.
TB
@ mike:
i’m a non US citizen, got scammed by a TS, after 1 year stopped paying everything and at some point the resort offered me the deed in lieu of foreclosure (not without sending tons of notifications saying i was going to get my credit affected bla bla bla..). i paid the processing fees (USD 250) and that was it. im free!!!! this was on late 2009 by the way…
hope this helps.
Thanks for responding Ken, that’s good information and reassures me that not paying future fees is the way to go.
Just to be clear, although they threatened your credit rating it wasn’t affected?
Which resort did you own your timeshare at?
Thanks again for the info’
Mike
Hi Mike..
if you are not a US resident, there is no credit score that can be affected.
the timeshare names is westgate lakes. its an awesome place but as such is too good to be true…
good luck!
Ken,
You, in particular (and Radha and this forum has been SUCH an amazing help to me)This TS has been such a source of stress for me, and today after spending almost half a work day reading through the comments, I feel semi-liberated. I know you said previously that you were offered a deed in lieu of foreclosure. I bought a TS with Grandview Las Vegas, and I’m not sure that they would offer me this. I’m not concerned about my credit rating, because as you and some others have mentioned, it would affect me, given that I am a Canadian… what I am concerned about though, is the prospect of getting sued/being taken to court. I have paid off my entire “mortgage” amount, and I just have a maintenance fee of around $350/yearly (but it seems to be going up)… I know that 350 isn’t much, but I don’t feel like giving another cent to those scoundrels! I was 23 years old when I fell into this trap… I wasn’t thinking at all, obviously!!! What are the odds, do you think, of getting sued? I don’t own a house or a car, but I do have money in my bank account and retirement savings…can they get that? I would HATE for that to happen, and would rather just pay the maintenance amount then! Any thoughts Ken or anyone else? Thanks in advance!
There is a website in California names timeshare relief google this company, they have a lot information, if you pay in full they said they can help people I called but my time share isn’t pay in full so I could do anything with them.
I think everyone needs to remember that a company will only accept a donation if they think they can make money selling the week. These are all for profit companies, so if they take your timeshare as a donation, it might be worth more than you think.
Having said that, for a lot of us, we just want the TS and the fees to go away, so if we can donate it, that is an easy way to make it go away. But we should never pay a company to sell or take our TS. That just means we have run into a company that will take your cash and then have lots of excuses for never taking it out of your name.
I guess Lynn is a phony person as well. Timeshare Angels is a scam like all the others. They all should die.
Despite being turned down by Timeshare Angels, I agree that it is worth looking into. In all fairness, they must be very careful about which donations they accept so they don’t with expenses themselves.
Imagine if you went to good will to donate your stuff and they said sorry only 1% of people qualify to donate. But if you write us a check for $2000, we might think about allowing you to donate. When you think about how absurd that sounds, you have an accurate picture of Marie’s bogus company.
My dearest Ron,
I am on your side. I understand that 99% of the timeshares out there will not qualify. However, for that 1% that do, it’s worth the phone call. If I can help just one person, then posting my experience on this site was well worth it.
I notice you don’t deny working for that bogus company. You are not on my side – you are a dishonest jerk and a criminal.
Hi Ron,
Let me clarify…I DO NOT WORK FOR TIMESHARE ANGELS OR ANY OTHER TIMESHARE RESALE CO. If you must know, I am a full time longshoreman at the port of LA/LB.
As Lynn points out, Marie’s crooked company, Timeshare Angels want thousands of dollars, and then won’t actually do anything for you. They are crooks. Get it straight – no one is out to help you!!!
You can get lucky and sell it on eBay if it is worth a lot and the maintenance fees are low. However, the other 99% of us are stuck with a property which cannot be sold under any circumstances. Your only choice is to walk away.
NO – they cannot go after your house or garnish wages. All lies. Walk away is the only realistic solution. It is annoying and painful, but in the end, you will be done with the criminals for good. Wish there were a better answer, but there is not.
As I said earlier, not everyone will qualify to donate. However, it’s definitely still worth investigating.I was at the end of my rope before Angels rescued me. I went so far as to have taken my spouse off of the title,in order to save his credit score. I wish you all a successful outcome!!
Marie,
Please just go away.
You are becoming transparent.
Donation is only an option IF you don’t owe on the mortgage.
We are glad that donation worked for you and you are rid of your TS.
Please move on with your life.
By the way, I can provide you with free psychological consultation to help with your obsessions with Angels.
To: Dr.Quack
Now now don’t hate. Someone here might qualify for donation. It is worth noting! However,If I wasn’t qualified, I would’ve simply “let it go”. I wish you many blessings.
I had what I thought was a very nice timeshare but Timeshare Angels wanted $1200 plus transfer fees to try and sell it without a guarantee. I ended up listing it on Ebay and Craig’s list and sold it for $35 on Ebay. I paid all of the transfer costs and the company provided all the necessary paperwork for the transfer. All the maintenance fees were paid up and I had time available for use.
My heart goes out to anyone who is stuck with a timeshare they don’t use. The government has let us down on this. Don’t trust companies wanting to be paid up front to sell your timeshare. I tried 4 different donation companies to no avail. If you can donate it, donate it, but it isn’t a solution for many because of the glut in timeshares available.
Hi Jill,
as I stated above, I just completed the donation process for my timeshare thru Timeshare Angels. The only thing I had to pay for was a $10 fee to have my transfer of ownership document notorized. They took care of the rest. I wrote their telephone number in one of my earlier posts. Like you, I was harassed by many resale companies that wanted a ridiculous amount of money. I told every one of them to go pound sand!! Who did you try and donate your timeshare to??
DO NOT GIVE ANY MORE MONEY! EXCLUSIVESALE.COM contacted my husband wanting to help us. They said my husband inquired to there website. They had all our info which my husband has no clue where our deed is from. They Lied! They are contracted through Bluegreen and they want 1195.00 and they will sell our timeshare and its worth more then we paid for. LIKE IM GOING TO FALL FOR THAT TWICE!
I tried to donate mine! they want 3000.00 plus i have to pay closing cost and more fees!
Eddie, DO NOT GIVE anyone any more money. Its been almost 3 months since I have payed my maintenance fee and Exclusivesales.com call me wanting me to give them 1195.00 so they could sell it for me and that my time share is worth more then I paid for.Anyway they said my husband was the one to fill out a form on the internet asking for there service. THEY LIED! My husband has no clue where our deed is from or knows any info to give them. I asked them who they were contracted throw and she said bluegreen. DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY MORE MONEY PEOPLE! someone already said on here” is your credit score worth 600.00 a month?”
Thank you for the Information. I am so scared! I just made my last payment to the timeshare because there is nothing left. My wife had to retire early do to physical reasons and the money she got for retiring is almost gone. I closed out my checking account and started a new one so they next month they can’t draw from it without my consent. I don’t know who I am supposed to contact to let them know about my situation and I just want to give it back somehow. I would pay some to give it back if they’d let me. I just got a call from some Holiday resort last night saying someone wants to buy my timeshare and is supposed to call me back. As much as I owe I have to be careful not to get scammed again into giving money up front. Please let me know about who I should contact and should it be by phone or letter? I have a home owners association but don’t know if they are the ones to talk to. Thanks for sharing your experience with us and hopefully it will work out for my wife and me. My monthly payment is almost 600 to you can see this would take a big burden off of us.
I know it sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t. If you call them you’ll know. I am simply trying to help others in the same situation as me. I saved my credit score & received a tax deduction for simply donating my timeshare. If you don’t want that, then don’t call. They totally took care of me. If you are in the same situation as me, it couldn’t hurt YOU to call them too.
If you don’t qualify to donate, before you stop paying, you might want to try taking any spouse or co-owners off the title &/or membership, in order to save their credit score.
I’m an even years owner at Vacation Village at Bonaventure in Fort Laderdale Florida and live in the UK – we also have 100k RCI points but they’re less of an issue for now.
We paid the mortgage off years ago but we’re getting sick of paying ever increasing maintenance fees, especially as we no longer use our week due to never being able to exchange to any resort that we’d like to go to nor for any of the dates that we’re able to get time off work. Our biggest worry is that our children could end up being saddled with this albatross because of our naivity!
Could anyone tell me:-
Has anyone that has stopped paying their maintenance fees, actually been taken to court for none payment and if so, what was the outcome?
Has anyone in a similar position to us i.e. own in Florida but living in the UK and that have stopped paying maintenance, had their credit rating impacted as a result?
I have an invoice for $100 for 2010 real estate taxes due to be paid by the end of this month that I’m going to pay but having read other people’s posts, I’m strongly inclined not to pay next year’s maintenance fees.
Hi in reply to your E mail, I am in a similar situation, I own Four weeks timeshare in ft lauderdale florida, and live in the uk, everything is paid, no mortgage and all taxes and maintenance fees also paid up. but I am about to pay state/federal taxes which are now due,then about the beginning of April maintenance fees are due. I am also fedup of paying ever increasing fees and have decided to stop. Enough is enough When we had the last big hurricane that hit Ft Lauderdale the complex was almost destroyed but they made all the owners pay towards the repair of the resort and with me owning four weeks it was a huge amount to pay.
Now this year they want everyone one to pay to upgrade the pool!! I am sick of it I cant sell my weeks no one wants Timeshare. So I’m going to walk away from it. I Understand from a legal person that your credit
rating in the UK wont be affected as it is out of the U S A. and has nothing to do with American law. But to be sure I would get this checked out.As for them chasing you with debt collectors its very doubtful they will do this from the U S A. because of the cost . I’ve never heard of on person being taken to court over this . you may get lots of demands for payment but you must be strong and ignore them they will give up after a time. they will eventually give up and forclose on the timeshare.
Good Luck – Neil
Update.
Mine seems to be a quick solution. Seems all my inquiries convinced them I was not going to pay and let it go to collections. So I got an email just one day after contacting finance stating they will do a Mutual Release and Termination of Purchase and Security Agreement” (MRA)
Anyone heard of this. Can’t do a deed in leu of because it is not deeded. To me that means it could never go into foreclosure anyway. I’m not a lawyer though. So the deal is, I pay up my maintenance fee and 250 per contract which I have 2 and they take it back. Seems I would have been out at least that much if they won any kind of lawsuit, and my credit shouldn’t take a big hit so seems worth it.
If anyone has hard of this let me know. I won’t send them this money if I am not sure the contact would be terminated. Will keep you posted. Any one with diamond resorts should follow this or give me some input
Thank you Bill. That’s a great way to look at it. I’m sure that is why she wanted me to hang on until she wrote everything I was telling her down.
Well I live in LA and I offered my timeshare in Virginia for free to anyone who wanted to take over the maintance fees, this was my last option because i never used it and so i decided to stop paying for it, a few months later the phone calls came harrasing me and letters in the mails…They really did scare me when 6 months after I stopped paying i received a letter from a lawyer and the letter had a date to show up to court…that really did it for me so I decided to pay the late maintanance fees that i owed, and posted an add on craigslist…and sure enough i did get a lot of interest….I chose someone that lived in Virginia and I paid the deed fees which a Virginia lawyer charged me like 600 dollars, then my late fees were about 700 dollars and I believe there were other small fees involved…anyway, I decided that it was best for me to give this to someone and pay out of my pocket a one time fee of about 1800 dollars than continue paying for this timeshare that i never even used. I did pay for the maintanace fees for three years so it was a loss for me…money i threw away…I think that if you want to buy one of those timeshares for a few buck on ebay like I did, you should buy one close to where you live….I made the biggest mistake to buy this one in virginia and like i said before i live in Los Angeles….well this is just my dumm story but I really wish all of you good luck!
Hi Pat,
yes we get this. It’s a shame they have your work number cause you could just call block the home number.
The lady calling is a collector and only gets paid if you send her money – so, she won’t hang up and will keep calling you to get you to make a payment so she gets paid. They ease off when you won’t answer or talk with them.
You have to think of the harassment as what you pay in order to not give them money
pat,
send them written notice that “…this is my place of employment and I am not allowed to conduct personal business or have any personal correspondence or calls.” THIS IS LAW.
While on the phone get the full name and address of the caller. Pretend that you are going to make a payment if you have to.
I even did this with my home address with a harassing collector.
Funny – I was just reading through all these posts and wouldn’t you know it, I get a call from Wyndham at my place of employment. Same lady that got ahold of me last time. A very nasty lady who, as far as I’m concerned, is harassing me! Asking me what has changed that I can’t afford this payment anymore, if I’ve tried to sell the timeshare, saying it sounds like I don’t care what happens to this timeshare, which I don’t. I told her it was none of her business as to why I can’t afford this stupid payment anymore. I will have 2 kids to help with college next year and that is my main focus right now. I can handle my credit taking a hit for 7-10 years as she informed me. I finally had to hang up on her. Just foreclose on it and quit harassing me!! Has anyone dealt with this?
Pat – I don’t think there are any pretty answers. But what are maintenance fees but forcing a user to pay for a hotel room on an annual basis on a room(s) they have already paid for/bought. You may have a better situation living in a country with more consumer protections than the US which protects multinational corporations far more than their own citizens. Again don’t expect them to just go away quietly. In my case I had to deal with SPM Resorts – (their CEO actually went to jail) and their mafia collection agency (criminals based in Nevada with a fraudulent incorporation). But they can’t sue you or garnish your wages or any of the ridiculous claims they make. They are part of an ongoing fraud, and they will take advantage of you only as long as you let them. Treat them the way you would treat any scum who would mug you on the street corner. That is the proper state of mind and perspective to take with these people when they bother you.
As far as Marie’s claims, the whole reason you are trying to dump your timeshare is that they have no value (actually a hugely negative value if you count the maintenance fees) and never will. Nobody wants to accept such a “gift”. She works for someone involved – do not listen to her. If Marie were a real person, she would not have so forcefully argued about credit ratings. Ignore her and the other trolls who lurk in these groups.
Bill mentioned that no one will accept a timeshare as a donation is false. I just donated my timeshare thru Timeshare Angels. In order to qualify for donation you must: have paid off the timeshare in full and be current with your maintenance fees. Obviously, not everyone will qualify, but for those that do, this option is best. For those who qualify for donation, call Timeshare Angels. By the way, I DO NOT work for any timeshare company. As for Ron, despite your horrible comment, I still wish you all the best.
If you owe on your timeshare and stop paying everything including MF is that any worse or basically just as bad as just not paying the MF. After several paycuts for me and my wife it just isn’t affordable. Plus the MF’s are going up ridiculously fast It’s with Diamond Resorts.
What is your update on DRI. Are you an American. I would like to know what are your experiences.
I am Canadaian and my wife and I made the mistake of purchasing one of these albatross’ while vacationing in the US…. I paid it for a few months, found out how totally worthless it is and what a waste of money it was and just stopped… They called me for about six months demanding payment I told them to pound dand every time and my Canadian Credit Rating is perfectly fine… not a mark on it… If you are Canadian and got roped into one of these schemes and don’t want to pay anymore, then just don’t… They can’t do anything except take away your rights to use the timeshare (which we could never get what we needed when we wanted anyway)
so really, since I am Canadian this will not effect my credit rating since we have a different one than you. And as for maintence fees, I can just stop paying them too???