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 –Â 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/
I am not sure what to do. I had trouble paying my Silverleaf last year but in January set up payment arrangements and they agreed to defer some the late fees. Well, they came back in March and said the payments were set up incorrectly and if I did not pay an addition $400+ by the end of March they would foreclose. Interestingly enough they are still taking payments out of the checking account. Well, they called again today and again we set up payment arrangements. The manager then came on the phone and said again these were not good enough and they needed an extra $400+ or would foreclose. I told them to go ahead because at this point I don’t know what to do. They set up arrangements, which I kept, then they came back and wanted more, threatened to foreclose but are still taking the payments out of my account. What is the point of making payments if they are going to foreclose anyway. I know $400+ does not sound like much but I am having a great deal of trouble making the arrangements we set up. Any comments that would better help me understand this situation are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
You need to go to your bank and stop the payment out of your account personally. It will cost you about $30 to do a stop payment, and that is your right! Do it now before they milk you of anymore money. Don’t worry about the consequences cause there aren’t any. Those of us on this blog are proof of it. I haven’t read where anyone has been sued, taken to court, has had a lien put on their property or had their wages garnished. Totally agree with Janet.
yes… i did this as well with my bank and had to pay $30 to block off any charges from the specific company that you want to. so far they are not able to take any deductions from my bank account.
ALL who are on auto debit need to go to bank and pay fee to stop the payment. It will not stop the problems, but you can still issue a cease and desist letter to stop the collection attempts. That’s the law. DO IT! It’s not worth losing anymore money over this crap. DO NOT be afraid. They are more afraid of YOU than you should be of them.
Hi Mari, We have a TS on silverleaf too here in TX and i cancelled the property 2 weeks ago because of financial difficulties, i stopped the payment but they keep calling me that we cannot cancel the TS because it’s a secured loan. Also, they keep asking me, to lower our monthly payment, but no matter how much they will lower we can’t really afford! My question to you is, are they calling you too and asking the same question what they asked me? Did they tell you that you cannot cancel the property. Please let know. I will apprciate anything you can share.
My TS is on the island of St. Thomas, USVI. IF you enter into negotiations you are harming yourself, and your re-setting your time given you to let the clock run out on this debt. As far as it being a “secured” loan, what are they securing you???, a week a year??? IF it’s a secured loan the ONLY thing they can take away from you is what is up for security, which is the TS. If you don’t want it, it doesn’t matter. Let them repo it. As one person stated on this site, he/she did a bankruptcy and included the TS and the judge just laughed at it saying it was of no consequence. Send the cease and desist letter I’ve posted on this site. If you can’t find it, let me know and I’ll re-send it. Mail it CERTIFIED/RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED so you have PROOF that they got it, cause they have to SIGN for it and then the receipt part of it is sent back to you as proof that they got it. Once they receive it, BY LAW they CANNOT contact you anymore, period, by any method; mail, fax, email, phone. IF they think they can repo the TS, then that’s the blessing. Don’t stress over it.
Mary – what is the cease and desist letter for? I sent it by fax, but still getting calls. Thanks!
Hello Mandie, Here another timeshare cancellation scenario: We’ve had it since 2007! We are with Westgate Resorts, headquarters is in Gatlinburg, TN. Current on Maintenance fees and monthly pymts. Bad investment cant afford it anymore… Owe about $7300! What are the tendencies of Westgate? What are the TN laws according to timeshares as real estate?
For those concerned about their credit reports
By US federal law, all 3 of the major credit reporting agencies are required to provide you with a FREE copy of your credit report, once every 12 months, for the asking.
Foreclosures, as well as other negative items on your credit report are supposed to be removed after 7 years, but this isn’t always done, so it pays to check your credit report every year. If any negative item past 7 years remains, all you have to do is write a letter to the credit reporting agency advising them, and it will be removed. (Bankruptcies however remain for 10 years.) I recommend sending your letter via certified mail.
Even before that 7 year period however, it is possible to have negative items removed that you feel are inaccurate or incorrect. All you have to do is write a letter to each one of the 3 credit bureaus that have placed that negative item on your report, and dispute any and all negative items you do not agree with.
After disputing a negative item, the credit bureau then sends a letter to the creditor, who is required to provide proof that you owe that debt. The credit bureaus only give creditors about 30 days to respond, and if they don’t respond within that 30 days, the disputed item is removed from your credit report.
Responding to these types of requests costs your creditors both time and money, and you might be surprised how many of them simply don’t respond. Especially not for debts that are: a) for smaller amounts, b) more than a couple years old, or c) they have too many more important things to concern themselves with, d) they don’t have any extra personnel they are willing to spare the time on to look up your records, e) their record keeping never was the best and who knows where your file might be? and/or f) they already transferred the debt to a collection agency, wrote it off their books, and don’t care enough about your credit report to bother exerting any further effort on a “lost cause.”
The Federal Trade Commission provides very good instructions on how to go about obtaining your annual FREE credit report instantly, from the ONLY official website, set up by the 3 major credit reporting bureaus for that very purpose, as well as how to dispute negative items and have them removed from your credit report, at their official govt. site, here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm
Best of luck to all.
After 5 months of not paying on our timeshare, we just received a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure on our Wyndham timeshare. It does not, however, take care of the maintenance fees that we owe. I believe my husband is just going to pay those so we can FINALLY be done with it. Stick to your guns when they keep calling you. Don’t give in and let them talk you in to making a payment!
Jeannie,
Good for you, I stopped paying Feb 2010 Wyndham TS ,and Ive been waiting for the deed in lieu of foreclosure..but what i received was 1099-A IRS thing/ but i put the cost of the contract so it is wash…Im still waiting for any foreclosure documents, my credit is lowered now but I dont care anymore.
has anyone ever gotten sued by a timeshare?? i have a westage and have stopped paying for about 5 months now. i was breaking my head trying to figure out a way that i can make this go away but in all honesty, even that costs money, which i dont’ have. so i have decided to stop paying. at this point, i don’t really care about my credit (has gone down due to bills that were paid late) but what i don’t want is for these jerks to come back at me for the rest of the money, in which case the judge will probably side with the TS and make me pay it – so there goes my money, my credit and my sanity. I have had Westgate since 2004, purchase for $7300 and by now in calculating the number, I have paid Westgate over $11,000. the last time i spoke to a Westgate rep and asked them how much I owed towards the property, they said over $5000!!!! NOPE, DONT’ WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE. This really pissed me off and I refuse to give another dime. but it seems as if we are not protected but they are!! so i’m afraid of being sued over this POS TS.
anyone ever been sued?
Sounds just like my story. NOPE, just don’t want to do this anymore. We stopped paying our maint. fees 2 YEARS ago and they just now started with the calls. I immediately faxed them a cease letter, and that WILL stop the calls. As far as I know there are no federal laws (which they claim there are) governing timeshares. Some timeshares are hooked to your credit, some are not, but I don’t care if mine is or not, my credit is ruined anyway, and in case any of the folks out there reading this don’t already know this…IF THE FEDERAL GOV’T looses it’s AAA credit rating, SO DO WE, so credit ratings are soon a pointless issue. We will be sucked down the sink hole along with the gov’t. Yes, I know I sound like Glenn Beck, but I’ve known this for more years than he’s been on FOX. I’m not even late on my car or house payments but if I’m the least bit LATE the start harassing me. Between yesterday/today I told Bank of Amer to go after people who don’t pay their bills and leave me alone. I’ve NEVER missed a house payment. I know I am straying from the course of this topic, but it all feeds into one another. DO NOT BE SCARED. Stand up, you DO have rights, and DO NOT let anyone intimidate you! We are all going to lose anyway. The only way we can fight the system is to vote every 2/4 years, otherwise there is no other voice we have. I do not apologize if I’ve offended anyone, but the truth’s the truth. Get ready for it…it only gets worse!
After being pressured to no end on our last vac My wife signed a new contract with diamond resorts. after we got home she lost her job and I was injured at work. We asked for help but were denied. We never since the start of contract made pmt or took possession of property. We notified them we were relinquishing our “points” .the harrassing calls and letters are starting. All I can say is do not ever get involved in a timeshare and if they continue I will make the trip to some of their properties and be sure to start warning all prospective people to RUN RUN RUN!!!!
Hi All,
In my case we are stopping payment on TS on the fact that we were mis leaded, cheated and the TS was sold under false pretense. We realized it within two months and I am fighting with all the people involved. Got the little weasels on my Tape- recorder, cheating words and everything false, god knows if I can use this against them. Little help here please. Stopped paying since this month.. thanks
We have a timeshare with DRI. We stopped paying in February. I originally called and let them know we couldn’t pay any longer. Was told they could do nothing. Then I went on their forum and posted my issue. Was contacted again and then told they could do nothing. So I stopped payment. Now I am getting calls but have an app to block them and auto hang up. LOL. So I eventually got a certified letter that had a mutual release form in it. On the form is says that the TS must be paid in full. That isn’t happening. I owe on this and will not send them $10k just to give it right back to them. It’s total bull. I sent them an email about their practices, the fact that maintenance fees are out of control and that they have now made the TS more costly than just booking a vacation on my own. I could never find an open week that fit my schedule anyway. I always had to settle for less. Then I got rooms that were smelly and outdated. What the hell are the maintenance fees for? I think they are to pad the TS exec’s pockets. My vacations will be cheaper without the TS and I’ll be able to go whenever and wherever I want. So I’m walking, and not even stressing. I don’t care about my credit score. It’s never that hard to find someone to loan you money. Even higher interest rates will still cost thousands less than paying into a bottomless pit of timeshare for years to come.
My husband and I are apparently big suckers. We have two TS with Wyndham and one with Orange Lake. We did use them and enjoyed them, but finally just could not pay them anymore. So we made our last payment to Orange Lake in June or July, 2010, and stopped paying Wyndham in October 2010. Wyndham has called frequently, both home and my work phone, but those calls stopped a while ago and it was turned over to collections. (We still owe on all 3 contracts). Orange Lake called a few times, and keeps sending statements, but they have been much less bothersome. Over the weekend we received a letter from Orange Lake saying our account was being cancelled due to non-payment. I’m not sure if that means we are done with them or not, but it sounds promising.
Ah, another orange lake user.
To be honest, the years that I have had the timeshare, I have had holidays in the US, Tenerife and here in the UK. They all have been rearly good and haven’t had a problem.
Then I lost my job. When the redundancy money ran out 10 months later, I called orangelake to discuss the situation. Out of work 10 months, blah blah, used my redundancy money to keep up payments etc. They wernt interested. I stopped payments around Dec 2010. Eventually I got a call from Frank. He was understanding, explained what was going to happen, good. Mind at rest.
Week later got another phone call demanding payment. Then got emails “we have some important information for you”… Rearly ?? Ok, phoned to get your credit card is about to expire, please process a new number. Luckily I used a prepaid dollar credit card so no unexpected payments went out…
I got a job on march so I was able to make a payment with my remaining savings. Now i discover my new wage allows us to scrape through with a few pounds left after paying the mortgage and utility bills.
My wife had a conversation with them yesterday to discuss options and there revised payment plan is $550 instead of the $347 we were paying. How is that helping us ?
At this time, I would rearly like to keep the timeshare but just can not afford it and OL just do not want to help. I offered $50 per month until such time when I can increase the payments to pay off the delinquency but, they aren’t interested
So I feel my only option is to stop payments completely.
Elane please post updates and I will do likewise. If anybody else has received a DIL, please let me know as OL suggested advertising in my local newspaper ??? Erm… Don’t think so…
Cheers
Pete
Pete,
You know, Me too i enjoyed the TS benefits, but when crisis come, especially on this hard economy ,its not our priority people loose their homes why cant loose the TS ? its just a luxury. Hope this become an issue or headlines I’ve been waiting ..Me too Ive lost my good credit,but at least I have saved the money,we can recover credit score. ,but we have to save our future..its a curse for our children it wil be passed on generation to generation never ending charges..so we have have to stop it now,we can have good vacation without buying TS.
One more thing, as long as you are paying your mortgage and maintenance fees, these scums( sales people, managers) are very goody goody and very sweet to you, they will promise to be there for you, to help you, but the minute you have some dispute or you stop paying they don’t even want to talk to you its just as if you are a disease and your phones are not going to be answered. The QA ??? Manager won’t even talk to you with whom you signed the paper, he’ll simply say i’ll call you tomorrow which never happens. RON is absolutely right just walk away, and same goes for these other spammers who say they will help you rid of your TS, no they just want your hard earned money. I’ll post my experience again about how its going.. thanks.
to all,
I will keep you posted as everyone keep me posted and whst ever work we can all benefit!! Thanks Jackie
To all,
I guess I will stay with transfer america and spend 1700.00 and see what happens. If they do indeed put someone, a compay- else on the deed It will get me off the hook. If in one/two/five years or whenever from now they come back at me I’ll keep the paperwork and just refuse at that point to pay anymore. If this does work I’ll let you all know and give you my rep name, if you tell them i sent ya i get 100.00 and that will help me eat the cost. If this does work it is worth the money and WE ALL should benefit cause I know how all of you guys feel-IT HORRIBLE!!
We did use a transfer company. It cost $1900, we gave them the deed. They e-mailed a poa form that we signed and sent back. After a couple of months I called the resort and the title to our week had been transferred to a corporation that had something to do with wine. No maintenance fee ($600) statement this year for the first year in 20. We did utilize our week, exchanging it every year, and at first it made sense because for a reasonable amount, about $350 we had a nice week in a one bedroom with full kitchen, usually a bath and a half, and usually a jacuzzi. Now, with the maintenance fee, the exchange fee, and the RCI membership we were paying over $800 for that week. One thing with a transfer company, you need to have your unit paid for, and your maintenance fee needs to be current. I was apprehensive after we paid the transfer company’s representatives. We had actually walked out of the meeting. But when we got to our car we decided to just take a chance and hope for the best. It worked out. We are rid of the timeshare. I’m sure the transfer co. made out like bandits. They got the fee from us, and the title transfer co. was part of their co. Then They bundled a bunch of the timeshares from the resort we were in and,I’m sure,sold them for a good price. I wouldn’t bet every timeshare transfer co. is legitimate, because as we all know, that industry is full of scammers. And I think I have talked to all of them, but we got lucky.
Hi Dave
Were looking at a transfer company right now. Which one did you use?
I say Don’t pay another single penny on this timeshare crap. In fact, I just got my postal “return receipt” from my cease and desist letter I sent to the collection agency. They can no longer contact me in any way, shape, or form. It only cost me $5.00 and change. Only their FEAR tactics are causing these “transfer” companies to arise. Have you thought that maybe these “transfer” companies are owned by your TIMESHARE COMPANY? Think twice before you give such money away after you’ve already paid SO much already. Take back your RIGHTS and kick them in the rear. Refuse their fear mongering and just launch your return attack. Here is a sample of a cease and desist letter:
To: (company name, address, date)
From: (you)
Re: Hereby cease and desist from all further contact with me concerning the collection efforts regarding my MAINTENANCE FEES.
Signed: (you)
Now, send it CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED via post office. Keep ALL receipts. If you do NOT receive your receipt back which is your verification that they did receive your cease/desist letter, it WILL hold up in court if they continue to pursue you. NOW GO FOR IT!
for the link to the Timeshare user group with duscussions about another shill talking about Ann Pellegrino
search on google for
pellegrino law office tugbbs
the only posts by this “guest” were the three in this thread, and they were never heard from before or since.
Those of us who have really been through it are telling you there is no lawyer, no donation company, no timeshare escape company anywhere that wants to help you. There is only one option – walk away, walk away, walk away. Why do people insist on continuing to believe there is a magic solution. The criminals stole from you once, if you let them continue to rob you, then you have no one else to blame but yourself. Don’t listen to any advice besides walking away. It is not genuine, and there are other motives involved. Can’t make it any clearer.
I completely agree with Ron. A year ago, I was fool enough to be talked into buying a week with Vacation Village in Florida (near Disney), so I could be a good grandma…yes, I was guilted into it. Never did see my actual unit, only a demo. I tried to cancel the deal after being home and back to work….realizing I had made a big financial mistake. I was not within their 10 day recession limit to cancel, so they would not help me. I have not made any payments other than the down payment, and have received all the threats via phone and mail as you others have.. Contacted a local lawyer by phone, and he advised as Ron did to just ignore them. It will cost them a lot of money to sue through the court system in both Florida and the state I live in, so after they get their jollies out of harassing (don’t know how long that may be) will offer a deal to take it back. If it really is that great of a place, you would think they would be “johnny on the spot” to just sell it to another person who can afford it and enjoy it. I will never step foot on the property again and will never refer any friends.
It has been reported on my credit report. I have to live with that. These TS sales tactics really need to be reprimanded publicly and penalized for the pressure method they use. Thanks for being there Ron….it takes continued reminders to keep the posters calm and not to chase the so called TS rescuers that will just take more money.
on Thursday, more than three years after we stopped making payments to a florida timeshare, I received a letter saying that they were going to turn our account over to CUI. They also had a sentence in red that we should consider giving the weeks back to the association.
I called yesterday, and they had me fax back a copy of their letter saying that we wanted to give back the weeks, and told me that they would send a quit claim deed.
We are hoping the deed arrives so that we can have this one go away.
We have several weeks that bought many years ago on ebay, that we can no longer afford, so these are only maintenance fees that we have not paid for more than three years.
Hello All,
Update on my situation. Fist I have not finished on paying on my TS. I have stopped making payments on my TS and Maintenace fees since Nov of 2009. I have a TS with Palm Beach Shores. For the last almost 2 years I was receiving phone calls on my home and cell phone to make a payment. For the new people on the site just take the time to read through all of them, before asking questions. You may find your answer in one of the posts.
I am an American and I live in the midwest. So far my credit has not taken a hit. I have paid my credit cards, home mortgage, car payment on time. My credit cards I pay in full each month. All they (TS) can do is look into your credit. I noticed on my credit they do a hard inquiry which can do a little effect on your credit score, but no major damage. I have notice on my credit report that the collection agency (who is trying to get the money for unpaid maintenance fee) listed is on there now, but still no major hit on my credit score. My credit score is 723 which is pretty good since I have not made a payment with them in almost 2 years.
Anyway, I received a phone call (message) saying they will not call me anymore that they will move on to the next step (whatever that is). So a week or so went by and I got another call for me to contact them to make a payment…LOL Mind you…I have not picked up the phone or answered their calls. Cause all they are going to do is ask for a payment even if it’s for a $10.
Don’t make one payment…than it will start the whole process again!
For you who are worried about your credit score…who cares. Just ask yourself this one simple question. What’s more impotant? Keeping a roof over your head and make ends meet or pay on a timeshare you will never be able to use? So stop asking questions about what’s going to happen to you. If you take the time to actually read some of the other posts you will get your answers.
I am prepared for my credit score to take a hit, but at least I won’t be stuck with them for the rest of my living life. I can deal with bad credit. AFter all they weren’t listed on my credit score when I was making my payments on time. So, why would they be listed when I’m started stopping making payments???? Answer yourself that question.
For you guys who are out of the country. Why are you so worried??? They can’t do anything to you. It’s a lot easier for you to walk away vs. a USA citizen. No, they can’t stop you from coming into the country…that’s absurd.
Thanks Erica,
In the same boat as yourself, but still have a long long way to go. I will post my whole story one day. Still waiting on something. We just made 2 principal payments plus one down payment and not yet paid any maintenance fees ( The first maint. fee was due this month) and now stopped the payment since this month. We realized that we were mis leaded within 2 months of signing our contract which was in November 2010. My pleadings and calls to all the managers, sales department, reconciliation department didn’t change anything yet. So we stopped paying since march. Hopefully we get some positive answers because once the Manager was asking me ” is this about the money or is it about the misunderstanding in our sales pitch?” I said there is no misunderstanding but its clearly a white lie you told us. They don’t want me to call them anymore now unless it is for TS club points or I want to upgrade my TS ( yeah right). So whoever calls me regarding the promotions and some other things regarding this particular TS, I start with my story about how I was duped by them. Hope everyone gets to know about my story and somebody from anywhere helps me and thousands others like me who were lied to and got cheated. Thanks to all the TS owners for being there for each other and I am all for a big march and exposing these guys, TV station, news Channels, News papers, community awareness whatever, I am all for it. Thanks once again.
heck yeah! this crazy companies got the guts to report us when we dont pay them and we were paying them on freaking time, they dont. well, keep me posted. i stopped paying this march 2011 after waking up on the hell of timeshare. lets see how it goes. I havent heard of anybody who went to jail for not paying debts. hopefully we get a deed in lieu of foreclosure. they said the foreclosure only takes 90 days instead of 180 days. not sure. lets see.. keep us updated.
Keziah,
Hi! Is your TS fully paid? We just paid the down payment and 2 months mortgage , when we realized that they mis-leaded us, Stopped paying them since March 2011 too, so we are in the same boat unless your TS is fully paid off. I’ll keep you posted and I am going to call there sales department in few days which is in Florida and ask them to take this TS back, lets see what happens. Now I am glad that we realized this fraud early and didn’t pay them year after year. We bought in Nov 2010, and stopped in March 2011. Is anybody in this forum knows anyone from TV channels, Oprah, news paper if so please come forward and lets help each other. I visited a TV station last Thursday a field trip for daughter, but now I feel that I should get in touch with them somehow and expose this fraud, GOD Please help me. Thanks,Ruth..
Let doing it let me know and
I am ready to help you, I got
more people scammed from TS
so I can email them. Let me know.
Hi ruth,
I’m not fully paid. We have this since 2007. We’ll lets see how this whole thing turns out. I just spoke with a lawyer today and he said he’s gonna talk to another florida lawyer and look for a way out. This is a night mare but not paying them, feels good. I was thinking about writing them a letter, telling them i could not pay them anymore. i dont know what to do. some people say, dont talk to them at all and wait for WDILF.. so im still hanging in here! Goodluck!
I don’t think writing does anything at all. I tried writing to Wyndham when we first started having money problems, a couple of years ago. I never got a response. I think they probably just laughed and tossed the letter.
the key is not to send them any money since that only resets the clock that lets them harass you for up to four years (statute of limitation).
in the worst case, they can harass you for almost the statutory time, but then will have to either foreclose or do a deed in lieu.
I will never understand the logic they have that somehow the collection agency will get you to pay if you haven’t paid in the first year or two. I think they will change to shorter times since more and more people are unable to make payments these days, and the timeshare companies need to resell the weeks to someone who can pay the fees.
Bill & Mile, (to others on list, I apologize, you can ignore this)
OK, I started this and I’m sorry. I did not mean to imply I endorse nor necessarily recommend Ms. Pellegrino Esq. I was merely relating my experience how I dealt with my TS affliction. Bill, if you are so afflicted you have my deepest sympathies and I hope you find relief soon and inexpensively in whatever manner you see fit.
I am just an average joe like you, working at a university here in the midwest for the next 3 years (until the grant runs out or the congress cuts the funding) and had managed to finally pay off the mortgage on the albatross. Had I known about the “if it’s not on your credit report” aspect I would have defaulted because I don’t recall it ever appearing but it may have.
Be that as it may, I wasn’t comfortable with stiffing these guys, fearing the wrath of bill collectors hounding me and my aging parents who live with me, I chose to enlist Ms Pellegrino. By what I’ve learned in just the most recent postings had I just suffered the calling all I would have had was 1099 Misc earnings to pay taxes on for the maint. fees, along with the calls and letters of course.
So, Bill it’s your choice. Mile, it too is your choice to contract with Ms Pellegrino, I hope she helps you like they did me. Bill, what ever you choose to do, my you find the least expensive option that makes your problem go away and your life better. May all time share salesmen/corporations/moguls go straight to Satan’s pit, this goes for car salesmen and some lawyers (my exe’s in particular).
Sincerely, Wayne
Thank you for your comments, You are a good person try to share your thoughts and I appreciated you did is been very helpful to me. Have a great day.
HI,
Let me say first that the credit report story being pushed, that if they don’t show the payment they can’t report — is totally wrong.
The problem hitting your credit report is the collection agencies that report that you are having collection activity against you. So all those creeps that call you looking for you to send money are the ones who report you as in collection — not even saying that it is a timeshare.
Also,
It is the general feeling that people like Mile are shills for scams
here is a link to the timeshare user groups about these people
and the shilling they are doing to get people for lawyers
Oh my gosh you really are a sick man.
Do you need help to manage your anger???
to Wayne I was just contacted by Pelegrino this even wants 2500 to file fraud against Wyndham. My TS is also paid in full and said they may not be able to get any money back for me and if they do they get 10% of my settlement. Why would they charge me 5 times the price you
paid if it is not just one more scam. Please let me know how you make out with this lawtyer
That is an absurd amount of increase in fees between 2009 and 2011. I have previously disavowed any kind of recommendation of Ms Pellegrino but with the prices she has been quoting recent people like you and Mile(?) and her $3000 number I can only say this again,
I do *not* recommend Ms Pellegrino. If you choose to use her services, do so knowing her prices have changed immensely since my experience in 2009. I have had no contact after I sent my package to their offices in 2009, so I am *assuming* my deal is done. My evidence is no calls from collectors and no mail from Celebrity.
I apologize to all those who pinned their hopes on using Ms Pellegrino for a reasonable fee, I have nothing to do with her personally and again I say, All I did was use her services and relate the tale to the group. Some faction(s) want to pillory me by saying I shill for these people and I do not.
I believe now is good time to unsubscribe from this group. The angry tenor of some contributors detracts from the benefit people garner from hearing peoples escape stories. If I had different circumstances, I would have done what many have advocated and simply stopped paying which would have solved the problem eventually, given mine was paid off.
All the best to those who are shackled by a TS. May you be free if you seek it, and may your fees stay reasonable if you like your TS. Mine was an albatross.
-Wayne
I think it is pretty obvious that this board has now been attacked by someone trying to get everyone to sign up with Ann Pelegrino.
Shame on you!
You have now lost any possible belief that what you are posting over and over is real.
Go take your user-frienldy lawyer to another site, along with the donation site and those who will just take your TS.
Mr.Bill don’t get nasty I am not pretend that anybody sign with her what are you talking about Sr. I am in the same boat us every one here, I don’t know her, she isn’t mine friend I got her information from a guy in this page march 6/2011, he share he’s experience my apologies to you Sr. for my comment, I share the information for who ever need that’s all, very sad that we can’t express our thoughts or good Ideas because people insulting other people. Have a blessing day.
you should just go away
it is obvious that you are a troll trying to get business for a lawyer. You say you paid a lawyer who did nothing, but now you are ready to pay $3000 more to another lawyer because someone here said they did well.
just about everyone of your messages has her name with your recommendation, and your e-mail so that you can collect e-mail addresses to send spam to hard sell people to use your lawyer.
do you think that because all of us are stuck with a Timeshare we can no longer afford that we will send you money?
or are you just a new version of a Nigerian scheme to steal down payments?
Hi Mile,
I am in TOTAL agreement with you!! Like you, I gave some advice and was treated like a criminal by a few disgruntled folks. They don’t want to hear possible solutions; just complaints. I wish you all of the best.
PS: Are you Croatian?
Here’s my story: I found this website sometime last year and feel compelled to write because I feel sorry for you guys who are so scared, because even though I am a little bit, it’s just not worth it when there’s so many other important things in life to focus on.
Purchased a Fairfield Resourt TS at the end of 1996.
It’s pd off, and pretty much unused. The maint. fees dbld from $400 to $800 by 2007.
I had tried to sell it and/or give it away to no avail.
Maint fees due in Jan. 2008—I made the decision to not send any more good money after bad and to deal with the consequences when the time comes.
After a month or so, a company called Aspen called looking for payment. I told them they could have my TS–yeah, right. Tried calling Fairfield to talk to someone about having them just take it back—couldn’t get anyone.
Phone calls for collection kept coming–I just let them go to voicemail.
July, 2008 I got my 1st (threatening) letter. I filed it.
Dec, 2008 a 2nd letter–filed it.
June, 2009 a letter from Pinnacle-new collection agency.
To this date, I get a couple phone calls a week from Pinnacle and a couple of letters from them a year. All phone calls go to voice mail which I then delete.
I check my free credit report every year–which everyone is entitled to.
As of a month ago, 3 years after I stopped paying, I don’t see anything about my delinquent maint. fees on my credit report.
I purchased my Timeshare in Fla. and I live in NJ.
I owed no principle only maint. fees.
I also own 2 homes of which one has a mortgage. After loosing my job and using most all my unemployment to pay the mortgage, I finally had to stop paying that last year. Now THAT is on my credit report, but not the past due TS maint. fees.
However, what I did receive for each of the 3 years was a 1099 Misc. for the unpd maint. fees which is supposed to be considered income on my tax return. (I don’t know if an unpd mortgage on a time share would hit your credit report).
To sum up, I think I’ve convinced myself that given the terrible state of the economy–especially housing in the dumps and unemployment at record highs with no end in site–I’m not sure of the TS owners legal rights, but I can’t believe they’re going to have much luck in the courts trying to collect from us unfortunates who bought into these loosing investments. Actually, I’m hoping there is some kind of outcry that gets this into the national spotlight, so that some sort of resolution can be made. In the meantime, I can wait for the consequences.
Does anyone have knowledge of or have had dealings with “Timeshare Answers”. A company (NOTLAWYERS)that will get a Release of Lein from the TS companys. I’m working with them, and will keep everyone posted as to their results. TR
I have been “working” with them since Oct./Nov. . Once the fees are paid in full you don’t seem to hear a lot out of them. I have 3 contracts so I had to pay the fee 3 times. I’ll let you know how it goes but so far I am feeling scammed again.
Please they can’t putting you in jail, better advise from another person get lawyer a good one, I am hiring now one that I got from here her name is ann pellegrinno google her, the person in this time share forum said that she helped him to get ready his time share, of course I wasn’t the lucky one she charged him $500 dollares, I guess because the propierty was pay in full, for me they want it
$3000 cash before the case star but I’m planning to do because we don’t ruinning out credit, so I have not other choices, good luck my email is milegon@yahoo.com
be careful. Dont pay any upfront fees.. and 3000 is a lot. Check that person first, i dont think we should trust her.
No upfront fees ever!!! Once bitten twice shy.. I am still waiting for answers to my Questions above.
Milena
My property is paid in full also and they want 2500 for me and 10 % if I get any cash refund from Wyndham. Sorry not taking the plunge yet? Sounds like yet another scam!!!!
Hi Barb,
Because my timeshare was paid in full, I was able to donate it thru Timeshare Angels and get a $5000 tax credit. Call them to see if you qualify for donation! Like you, I had maintenance fees quarterly and was still able to donate it at ZERO cost!! It’s worth a try. Their number is: (510)744-1875. Good luck!!
Hi Ron,
I am sure there are answers to my question here but I don’t know whom to trust now. Please let me know if I still owe money to my TS and then stop paying what would happen? Can they really seize your property if you have signed lien? And once foreclosed how much is the IRS tax we need to pay. Is there such thing as perpetuity on your time share maintenance? Is there anyone who stopped paying and got rid of TS forever. Please let me know. Can they really drag you to the court and put you behind bars? what if you don’t have any assets and still owe a huge amount on your house mortgage, in such case what happens to your home? Can they come after your kids for the payment? I read somewhere when they call parents for money, but what really happens after the foreclosure, what is the process.. Please please answer these questions. Thanks in advance -Rucha
I’m in a similar boat as you. I owe a lot on my timeshare mortgage and stopped payments for both mortgage and maintenance fees about 6 months ago. I would really like to know someone who walked away and wasn’t sued from this. My mortgage has now gone to collections. My initial thought is to just walk away from it and let it foreclose and take a hit on my credit, based on the majority advice in this blog, but after getting a collections letter, I thought I should ask a lawyer if there is anything that can be done on their end to get me out of the contract. He said that because I owe so much, they will not just let it go, it will not foreclose, that they will sue me, take all my assets, take my savings, if any, and garnish my wages to get their payment. That this just won’t go away. I asked why I can’t just foreclose like any other mortgage out there and he said it is not the same kind of debt or contract so they won’t. I don’t know if he is being honest or just trying for my money.
Some say on this blog that they won’t garnish wages or take anything, but I would like to hear from someone who still owed a lot on their mortgage, walked away and nothing came of it other than a hit in credit. I seem to read a lot from those that don’t owe on their timeshare and walked away from must maintenance fees and wonder if I am in a different situation when I owe $30K+ still on my timeshare. Thanks!
Ally,
I have/had a contract with Wyndham owed $60,000+ on the remaining balance on the mortgage. I stopped payments in Oct. 2010 & I received a DIL in FEb. I also have 2 smaller contracts that I stopped payments on in Nov. and I am waiting for DIL on those. We took a hit on our credit but, no foreclosure, no garnish & no selling off my assets. I don’t know who you talked to but just STOP payments!I was amazed that my larger conrtact was actually let go first! Good luck!
Wow, that is great Susan! That is exactly the scenario I am hoping for. I haven’t received a DIL yet or anything from them other than to pay up and I stopped in November 2010. It is now with collections. Did you contact them in any way asking for the DIL or did you have lawyer send them a DIL request? Or did you just wait it out and eventually they sent that to you? I’m with Tahiti Village so it might be different with them. Did yours ever go to collections? Were you ever threatened you would be sued or wages garnished? Just wondering if that is expected but nothing comes of it or if it is real and they actually do it to people. Thanks so much for you reply.
Ally,
Mine did go to collections-so I got all the calls and put up with it for about 2 weeks then I sent them a fax to stop calling my home, cell & work numbers & they did- now I only get letters which is great. I did not ask for the DIL they just sent it. They to my knowledge are not allowed to garnish wages and the only form of “sueing” they do is to foreclose. That cost them money so they would rather you give it back in the DIL form. Just wait it out ! Good Luck!
Thanks so much for your reply! I appreciate it and it gives me much comfort!
Forgot to mention that all creditors stopped calling after they received a bankruptcy notice. My other username is wazzat here and they were all screened anyway. Wynless sent my deed release to my lawyers last week and I won’t be paying them another cent. It has to go to my hearing trustee and then Wynless. If returned to Wynless within 10 days I’ll receive a $125 check from Wynless. Not nearly the $33k I’d spent on the Fairfield TS. WHEN WYNLESS TALKED ME INTO CONSOLIDATING LAST SPRING, THEY TOOK AWAY ALL MY RIGHTS TO COLLECT ANYTHING I’D SPENT. But, I became a VIP in Wash., D.C. National Harbor! FEEL THE PRESTIGE!
Chapter7 bankruptcy cost me $1500 plus another hundred in costs. They won’t take my car, house or attach wages. Nor take my 401k or IRAs. If I had a lot of life insurance, vacation property, a large valuable collection, lots of cash, they’d take those. But I don’t have a house, or anything worth them chasing after. Visited the lawyer referral and 3 lawyer before deciding which to use. In Pa. you must take a pre bankruptcy course and a post-hearing bankruptcy course. 2 “education” courses contacted me and I paid for and took the post BK course before the hearing. They didn’t send the certificate to my lawyer and it was a waste of $15 because I hadn’t attended the hearing as yet. These educators charge $15-$35 per course. Before you go to a BK lawyer you’ll need 2 years previous Income tax filings, monthly bill statements, wage and any income statements, deeds to property and burial, any money accounts and investment statements, list of belongings, life insurance, etc. Be prepared. LAWYERS HAVE FREE CONSULTATIONS, USE THEM. It’s an involved process and you may feel humiliated at times. I’m waiting for final approval after 6 weeks. But no more payments on credit cards or TS. Stopped paying Wynless Jan.12 2011. Quit paying credit cards last month. That’s $1750 Wynless didn’t get. It’ll affect my credit for 10 years. But 2 years from now I can finance a vehicle purchase or purchase a mortgage. Start with credit cards then also if wanted. My beneficiaries won’t be paying Wynless any maintenance fees for the rest of their life. Worth it?
My husband and I tried to file bankruptcy. We thought surely if anyone qualified, we would, since we are up to our eyeballs in debt and my husband has been out of work for over two years. But after being told we would qualify and to stop paying on our credit cards, we were eventually told we did not qualify because my husband’s parents had opened college accounts for our kids and put them in my husband’s name. Even though we had never put a dime into those accounts, it made our assets too high, so we were disqualified. Now we are months behind on all our cards with no way to catch up.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. I extend my sympathy to you and hope better times come your way.
Hi-
Sounds like my husband and I are in the same boat as everyone else here. We live in Arizona. We purchased our Worldmark by Trendwest, now Worldmark by Wyndham, timeshare in 2003 and still owe $15000. My husband was unemployed when we got behind on our payments. I made a payment last month and was told that if I made another payment this month I wouldn’t go to collection. Well I received a collection agency notice today in the mail demanding the entire balance in full in 30 days. We haven’t used the timeshare in several years and can’t afford to keep it. We are not homeowners. We don’t know what happens when you stop paying. Do they ‘foreclose’ on use to use the timeshare and are the able to garnish wages? Should I call the collection agency?
I appreciate any tips you can give me!
Cherrie you made another mistake making a payment. i talked to Wyndham financial and they said there’s no first right of refusal. NO BUYBACK. But after 190 days OF NO PAYMENT they would send me a deed in lieu of foreclosure. I didn’t trust them with that either and filed for chapter7 bankruptcy. My lawyer said they could sue during the 190 days and I wasn’t going to give them a chance. When I found out for certain they rent TS even before they allow owners to use I lost all interest. Wyndham is increasing costs, decreasing availability, running TS sales in its own interest. I gave up 2 good Fairfield TSs signing a Wyndham contract. Lost $33k investment but won’t pay them another cent.
IF YOU FILE CHAPTER7 bankruptcy you will lose your credit rating for 10 years. But you won’t be paying the timeshare. Big savings. They can’t take your house, car, attach wages, IRAs, 401ks. If you have other valuable property making it worth their while to sue you they can take your collections, vacation home, guns, if its worth their cost. You may also be liable for any savings or other investments you cashed in the near past. On the flip side you can rebuild your credit by buying a car or taking on a mortgage after 2 or 3 years. Not at the lowest interest rate. you also will most likely receive credit card offers with higher APRs. Pay TS fees forever or bankruptcy? A number of bankruptcy lawyers will provide FREE CONSULTATIONS. Just be prepared to take all papers showing investments, property, loans, bank accounts, past 2 year’s income tax filing. Chapter7 lawyer cost me $1500 and 7 weeks time. Visited the local lawyer’s referral service and visited 3 lawyers. didn’t pay TS since Jan.12 2011. Credit cards since last month. Savings before lawyer expense-$2000. TS savings after-priceless, won’t be leaving beneficiaries any TS debt.
hi. we got a timeshare at west gate resort in florida. we have it since 2007 and now it is being a pain in the butt. We still owe them about 16000 i think and in contract for 10 yrs. we know we are wasting money on this but now i’ve found this website, i thinking of what i should do. Theres 3 of us written on the deed, we were all friends but it looks like it was named just on one person and she receives all the IRS and she is the one who pays the westgate. Now, we are planning not to start paying this april after reading this entire thread. But my question is, how do you think it will affect our credit score? do you think, it will affect the 3 of us or just the main person? we are planning to foreclose this crazy timeshare. one of us owns a condo and she was wondering if foreclosing this thing will affect her mortgage though she’s not the main person Do we just stop paying them and they will give us a note of foreclosure in few months? Do you think they’ll bring us to court? oh my go? it scares the heck out of me since were filing american citizenship on november.. Should we go ahead and look for an attorney or wait until they give us notice? we need help!!!!
AND DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD STILL CONTACT WESTGATE OR NOT?
We have buyer’s regret too. We bought a TS at Westgate by Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and now we are trying to get rid of this Albatros.We are presently work with an attorney, but no feedback from him yet.
i am looking for a lawyer too. let me know how it worked for you. are you fully paid with westgate? we still owe them about 16000 i think. we are planning to stop paying this april and see how that goes.
I will hired and State Attorney her name is Ann Pellegrino, google her, her name is the ladyofjustices, it is another guy that got ready the time share with her
hope we do too. We don’t want to have bad credit so is better with a lawyer good one of course, we have another lawyer didn’t do anything for us, she has her office in Largo florida, let me know if you want more information about milegon@lyahoo.com
OK, Folks, Stop being so logical and nice about the timeshare companies and collectors. They are thugs, criminals trying to extort money from you after they already robbed you once. Don’t let them suck you into any conversation at all. Just don’t do it!!!!! I don’t know how much clearer to be. Its what you need to do to be free of these evil scum.
What we as a group need to do is get the word out that major corporations like Wyndham, Marriot, Fairfield, and others behind these criminal conspiracies, and they should be held accountable in the world of public opinion. Anything we can do to spread the word and disparage their reputations we should, until it becomes a liability for them to be part of this evil.
Lets doing, please we need to made this public, we
can’t let other people get rip their money like
they did we us, let doing milegon@yahoo.com
I have more people 1 can’t doing it self we are
a lot of people so lets doing now. I am tired to
pay and pay try to sell, pay a lawyer didn’t do
anything, please please I am here for who ever want
to do something.
TIMESHARES SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. IF YOU CAN’T MAKE YOUR HOUSE PAYMENT YOU LOSE YOUR HOUSE, SAME WITH CARS, YOU DON’T PAY, THEY REPO. IF MAD-LYN O’HARE GOT PRAYER TAKEN OUT OF SCHOOLS, WHY CAN’T WE ALL BAN TOGETHER AND GET A LAW PASSED MAKING TIMESHARES ILLEGAL??? BUYING A TIMESHARE MEANS A LIFETIME SENTENCE OF MAINTENANCE AND SPECIAL ASSESSMENT FEES. OR IT MEANS GOING THROUGH HELL TRYING TO GET RID OF IT. HOW CAN WE GET A LAW PASSED MAKING TIMESHARES ILLEGAL???
Agree with you, why we all exchange emails and do that pleas we all talking but haven’t done anything against them that’s why they
continued to scam people, please my email is milegon@yahoo.com
Thank you all for sharing your situations with the rest of us who are struggling through this. I stopped payment in January and tried talking with the TS rep about our situation and she just got nasty and
started threatening me that they could do so much more then just foreclosure. It took everything I had
to make the decision not to keep paying this debt. I had no chose unless I wanted to lose my house which
I can’t do. So far I’ve just received phone calls which I refuse to answer after my bad experience with my
first phone call with their people. I’ve gotten a few emails in which I am debating whether to communicate they way with one person of my choosing to see if there is a way to resolve this situation. I have a feeling this won’t work so what does everyone think. Should I respond maybe once through an email since I won’t be talking to the nasty lady again. Thanks for you input. Eddie
Harassing phone calls? SCREEN YOUR CALLS PEOPLE. With your answering machine, or voicemail. Are you running to the phone everytime it rings? Get over it. My phone message reads “You have reached _____ all calls are screened and SOLICITOR’S CALLS ARE NOT ACCEPTED”. Nips 98% of all sales in the bud. Mike from Wyndham was on the line one time I picked up and I told him I wasn’t here. They still called but all we heard was the phone ringing. Anyone you know would leave a message. Some may be rude and press the phone buttons so that they leave a loud buzzing as a message. I pickup and do the same back. ERRRRRRRRRRRRR.
If that’s what they did they are blatent violation for FCC laws. They should be fined $1000 for each offense if the FCC would just enforce it own rules.
Thanks for your quick reply. Hopefully, they don’t keep calling them and hopefully they don’t have anyone else’s number. I have no idea how they got my parents, especially since they never called me. I am wondering, is it worth it to pay for a lawyer to get involved to help get this process over with, either a deed in lieu or foreclosure or is it not necessary and I should save that money as well and just wait out the storm?
Marie,
You are not alone in this situation. Though I personally didn’t experience my family being called by these collection firms but harassing is really part of their job so people will be threatened to pay. They used to harass me before too but after reading other people’s comment here, I just ignored them. I just turned up the volume of the tv to the max and put the phone near the speakers! lol. After 3 calls and not talking to them, they stopped calling me.
The collection firms are earning commissions if they get people to pay back the fees so it is really normal for them to be rude. It happened to my friend too so all he did was asked his family to hang up immediately or be rude to them as well. You just have to explain to your family though so they won’t be surprised of what’s going on before they get the chance to call your other relatives. But I wonder how they got those info, I can’t remember putting those info when I signed up.
My parents received a call this morning from an agency called Pinnacle saying that it is urgent I call him back regarding my property. He couldn’t get details of the property as he said it was a federal offense. He was awful to them on the phone. I haven’t lived with my parents in years and why would he call them instead of me? I googled the number and it thread came up that the number is a collections fraud for past due maintenance fees on timeshares that they didn’t own and multiple reportings that this company abuses the FTC laws. I haven’t pad on my timeshare mortgage or maintenance fees since October, so I am in arrear. But they will never get my money again. I am willing to foreclose if I have to. But I am wonder if anyone else has had this happen to them and what can be done? Are they going to call all my relatives? Can I get this collection agency to stop calling them? I can take the daily calls but I don’t want my family to get them, especially when he is rude like that to them.
Is anyone going to timeshares in cabo?
demand $300 usd minimum and laugh in their face everytime they tell you to buy their timeshares.
it may take 4 hours, but say no just for the hell of it until they give you the money for coming out.
Hi Ron,
This is Rucha here, Did you get any IRS Tax? We stopped this month and got a call today from TS. I said our TS is in dispute and I am happy that they are recording my call so that everything gets recorded and their dirty lies also gets recorded. Hope to hear from others at what happened to their TS. Haven’t heard from any members from almost a month now. Thanks for all you input here. I know that I am not alone.
Rucha
No – the tax thing, considering an unpaid mortgage debt a credit, only applies if you owe on the initial principle of the timeshare. It doesn’t apply to maintenance fees as there is no asset involved. I think if you owe on the initial purchase, it is more sticky than just walking away from maintenance fees (forced hotel rental fees, extortion fees, whatever). But I imagine that through proper legal channels you could argue to reduce the value of the credit, since the timeshare has zero value anyway. The IRS is a lot more customer friendly these days and will work with you if you just call talk to them plainly.
As a response to some who are looking for options on how to ditch your worthless TS (mine was for sure) here’s a short on how I got rid of mine.
I obligated myself to the TS originally in ’01 owing $6000 on it. Once the job evaporated in ’02 I managed to keep paying on the note until I finally had it paid off (and the maint fees paid along the way) in ’07. Trying to give it back to Celebrity was impossible. I buckled several times trying to not pay the maint fees but eventually got an email from a TS lawyer in Florida (unsolicited BTW). I contacted them and since the TS was paid up except for the ’09 maint fees they took my paperwork on the TS and the lawyer sent them a nasty letter telling them in effect that we were suing them for false advertising and a number of other (actual) torts applicable to the scummy practices they use to entrap new suckers.
I paid the TS lawyer $500 (if you still owe on the TS mortgage they charge $1000) and never heard another word from Celebrity since. My credit score is still in the high 700’s and aside from the other “TS resales” calls trying to sucker you out of money I have been TS free for over a year.
So, if you are trying to save your credit score you need to instead of paying on the TS hire a lawyer versed in dealing with TS companies. My impression is that you have more pull with a lawyer if they don’t come through for you (state bar assn.) whereas the TS doesn’t answer to anybody except the courts (refer back to needing a lawyer).
If this helps anybody else, great. I searched for a legal means for years before I stumbled upon a lawyer who said they knew how to deal with these scum bags. Luck for me, the lawyer did her job and I’m only out $6000+(8 * $300 avg maint.)+$500 = $8900
Do you have a name and phone number, include area code? Thanks, TR
TR,
The lawyer I used was Ann Pellegrino who operates out of Florida, number is 1-866-476-0571, website is w w w.aladyjustice.com I’d suggest a google search for timeshare lawyer and see what comes up because I feel she can’t be the only lawyer who wants to make money off of dispairing TS owners. My experience with her office was OK, no feedback after I sent in the paper trail on my TS but also no more calls from Celebrity about the maint fees. Best of luck!
Please let me know about your
experienced I call, they want
to charge me and arm and a leg
3000 dollars before the case
star I am litle be scare it a lot
money so can you please tell me
anything about her job, she
claim to help us to get ready
the contract I haven’t pay in
full, thank you Milena
milegon@yahoo.com
Milena,
My TS was paid off when I went to Ann Pellegrino’s law firm for help. Actually I was quite suspect of this bunch also because the email came unsolicited. I suspect her prices were low when I used her because she was just breaking into the market (to see if she could make any money suing the criminals) I suspect that her costs were higher than anticipated so she raised her prices to *3* times her previous advertised rate.
So, my situation was a paid up TS that I owed maint fees on. I did pay $500 up front (with trepidation) but once I mailed the info I had on the TS I didn’t hear from them again, nor from Celebrity Resorts 🙂
My credit rating did not change and no notations appear about the TS.
So, in my situation Ann P. could get rid of the TS. If you owe too much I suspect the mortgage holder will argue harder to get paid and Ann P. has to pay them off or do more work (I suspect that is where she wasn’t making enough money, paralegals need to be paid).
I checked the BBB in Florida as well as the Florida Bar Assoc. listing on her and she seemed on the up-and-up that is why I chose to pay $500 for her services. I’m satisfied but I won’t guarantee anything because I’ve never met her and only talked with her secretary/paralegal over the phone once or twice during the entire proceedings. I’ve never got anything from her office telling me it’s done, so I’m in the no-news-is-good-news mode.
I sincerely you get out from under your albatross. Mine caused me so much heartache and stress over the years.
-Wayne
Thank you so much for your information, I know your time share was pay in full mine isn’t, hope she will doing her job and I be free from those liers soon. Have a blessing day.
I just want to thank you for your information about Pellegrino Offices, my case was finalizad today, I am very happy, because I am free from the time share. How ever is there scared to do anything please, don’t be scared this women is honesty and she didn’t get any monies recovery but at list I am free and not more worry about my credit. She is the only lawyer I know contacte me all the the time and let me know updates about the cases. Please fell free to email me for help yuo, you are not along. (milegon@yahoo.com)
Who was your lawyer? Every attorney I called wanted nothing to do with timeshares, I just paid a company today 1700.00 to get rid of my timeshare this would have been good info to have.
Hi Jackie, I have somebody attacking me he argued that the lawyer Ann Pellegrino is mine personal friend, please I just share information from Mr Wayne he told everyone here about his time share and contact her last week, I just don’t want this person name bill star make trouble to me to said things that aren’t true, I am in the same boat I am tired to get rip my money, I went to bed last night at 2:30 am informed my self about new law regard to this matter and found that here in Florida a lot resellers company are under investigation for false promises to customer, like that one that I pay 2 year ago, onlytimeshare they are under investigation go to attorney general of Florida, he post all the company that are under investigation in this way we can get our money back as soon as possible, so if your have time get your money back no any company sell our time share they are scammers they want our money and never call back to tell us anything, if you want my email is milegon@yahoo.com I be more than happy to share whatever information I got. Have a blessing day.
Wayne, who was your lawyer? Jackie
Is anyone years out from walking away from this mess.So far 3 months out from stopping payments.I have paid the at least 7,000 and I still owe 12,000 to the scam. So far just phone calls and the threat of turning over to a 3rd party collection agency.Which I think they did because I get 2 or 3 unknown calls that I do not answer every day.The timeshare is from W.gate.just need to know if anyone actually have done it and got away with it. I hear a lot of advice but no one who actually has ditched the jerks.
Haven’t heard from anyone in over a year and I walked away and paid nothing to anybody. Got the creditor calls, snotty email responses from the timeshare scums, and took a small hit on my credit report. Told them to all go to hell, and I still may sue them for defamation of character for the credit report. I’m done – wouldn’t pay them a cent if they were dying on the street in front of me.
Hi Ron,
Thanks for talking about your experience…I’m not worried about my credit taking a hit, but I am worried about getting sued… I’m a Canadian (and live in Canada)… what do you think are the odds of this happening?
Thanks
Hi Alyssa,
I live in Canada and stopped paying since September 2010. So far, I get phone calls everyday and sometimes I answer but all they try to do is make payment arrangements which I will not do. This week they claim that they are cancelling my timeshare and sending me to collections. I’ll keep you posted…
Good for you, congratulations. I just question my self why if this is a debt because we all got a morgage from some where why this debt doesn’t showing on my credit report???, my lawyer said “if the lender isn’t on your credit like others, they can’t report it after you don’t pay, she claim that it cost to them a lot money to do that. So I stopped I wont pay any nickel to those alligators, the funny part is I got my complaint in a website and by accident I did checked again and the seller that rip my money, is very up sad, because he said that isn’t true, he claim to be the most honesty guy in planet to sell time shares hahaha, they all the same. Sorry Mr. seller to make public your lie-rs I am so happy that you are offended I am too for what you told me that isn’t true. My property is at ORANGE LAKE RESORT.
Any updates Ron?
I am about to enter the unpaid maintenance fee dungeon… any suggestions.
In Canada- owner of a paid Carriage Hills unit.
we asked our bank to stop payments for our timeshares (wyndham and rci) and they did. since, you have received your 1099 for irs stuff just wondering if they (timeshare co) attempted to do bank levies on your account. we realy do not have any more extra to pay them but we are afraid that they will levy the money that we only have for mortgage.
hello,hello hello
1099-A issued for TS, an abandonment there is no clear instruction on what to do with it, IRS mentioned that I will still recive 1099-c in the future therefore it will be double taxes…if that’s the case I think 1099-A is just an information purposes that the lender has acquired back the property and I have to wait for the 1099-C for forgiven debt before id will be enterd in Tax return…Any one has experiencing the confusion Please give some inputs ..// Ill appreciate it. Thanks.
Hi MELHAM.
Last year I got 1099-A from Wyndham I paid taxes on it. When your fair market value more then balance on principal on timeshare you wont get 1099-C. After I paid taxes on it haven’t heard from them. Good luck.
Well, Folks now it begins. This is the first month of not paying my monthly payment. I had closed my old checking account that the timeshare had been
drafting from. They already called me and I told them my situation about my
wife having to retire early due to physical reasons. I told her I couldn’t afford it anymore and said they can have it back but she said they can’t take it back. I
said then if you have to foreclose then do so even though I know my credit will suffer. She got nasty and preceded to tell me they can do alot more damage then just foreclosing. She said they could have money taken from my wages at work. I just don’t know how much they really can do. I still owe alot on the timeshare which is not good but keeping my house is more important. I too have been ignoring the phone calls and now email. I’m sure it will get more intense as time goes on. Has anyone actually been taken to court or had their wages garnished? Eddie
i am pretty sure that they have to have a court judgement against you to garish your wages or bank accounts, and that has to be a default judgement for you to not know they are going to do that. (meaning a court date you didn’t show up for) and for that matter, if it is a court judgement, then you would have been able to argue for them to take their collateral back in lieu of payments, IE a foreclosure.
most states do not allow garnishment of wages for unpaid debts. That is saved for child support, alimony and unpaid taxes.
As Ed said, first they have to foreclose on the TS before they could even get a court order, and their lawyers are smart enough to look at credit reports to see if someone actually has assets before going to court for a judgment against cash that you don’t have.
They won’t. Think about it. People all over the US have been walking away for home loans, “home loans”!. If banks can’t force people to pay for legitimate home sales which have gone unaffordable, how does little time share weasel think they can. Its over. Everyone knows the secret now, just walk away and don’t ever speak to them again.
Update….
We stopped paying Orange Lake since September 2010 after paying them just under $2000 since March 2010. We live in Canada and so far our credit is okay. Two days ago I accidentally answered a telephone call from a rep who told me that she is from the cancellation department and wanted to know if I rather let my almost $2000 go to waste or do I want to make a payment arrangement. I told point blank that I will not pay another dime for that useless timeshare and that I lost my job since November. She proceeded to tell me that I can use my unemployment insurance to pay for it. I told her to go to hell and she claims that I will receive some kind of cancellation document in the mail shortly. I will wait and see if they actually send such documents..
Barb,
it will be 1099-c an IRS to be declared as income on your tax return.
..use your unemployment insurance to pay for it….how out of touch can these people be?
I had a similar ‘suggestion’ from my timeshare internal collections to pay my maintenance arrears. They suggested I borrow from friends or family OR take out a loan. That really made me MAD. I said a few choice words on the friends and family thing and as far as taking out a loan? Talk about out of touch. Can barely pay mortgage even after modification, only have SS as income and hubby doesn’t make much these days. Have already told them I cannot afford a payment plan with them but somehow they think I can get a personal loan and pay it back in order to pay them? HUH? Do I have stupid written on my forehead. Account is off to outside collections now.
all collectors care about is having you pay them — they don’t care about your legitimate problems — they just want you to send money so they get their cut. I’m sorry to say, but my experience is that your only choice is to pay forever or to stop paying and let them hit your credit report.
the only good news about the 1099C is that there is an IRS form to ask for forgiveness for paying taxes on the 1099C cash if you can demonstrate that your assets are lower than your liabilities — sort of like the bankruptcy rules without filing bankruptcy.
Bill,
About the 1099C..In our case there is way over 10K in the developer’s bank account for contracted weeks we paid for and can never use. It would take a whole slew of mtce fees over the next years to equal that amount and the interest it has drawn so I don’t think there is any way they can put a value on those weeks for a 1099C since they are the ones who are ahead of the game by us not paying the fees. We are the ones losing our investment. The developers should count it as a windfall.
hi,
the only thing that shows up on the 1099C is the amount due on the mortgage. It is an IRS rule to report this, but I agree that it should not apply to timeshares, and that there should be a way to argue the market value since they turn around and sell it for wnat you originally paid ot more — so how can they say there was no market value?
i purchased a timeshare with the Holiday Inn Club Vacation in Orange Lake FL in Aug 2009. Maintenance fees and payments are getting crazy. i tried sending an email to several different parties of the company and it got returned undeliverable for my salesman and the lady that processed my paperwork. It seems to have gone through to their quality assurance officer and a manager though. Will see how they respond to my situation. I anticipate missing my first payment next week, but my fees are now over a month overdue. I have paid just over $7 grand on a $20,000 dollar timeshare, but I am sure most of that went to interest. My salesman assured me that I would be able to refinance it through my bank. My banker almost laughed. No collateral, no refinance. My credit has already been hit due to some other financial matters so that does not bother me too bad. I just want out from under this timeshare!
Has anyone had closure (good or bad) with orange lake? And how long did it take? What was the outcome?
update,
i still have not paid this years maintenance and tax fees ~800 and am now almost 3 months late on my payments for the timeshare. i get a phone call once or twice a day. sometimes i answer because my cell phone is actually a company phone. today i got transfered to a higher up when i decided to go ahead and talk to them. i said yea, go ahead and foreclose on it, or do a deed in leiu, that would save me from filing bankruptcy. the guy was pissy about that, and said they do not do Deed in lieu. i said ok, foreclose on me then or i will file bankruptcy. he kept saying, i am noting that you are unable and unwilling to make a payment arangement. then he told me to forward them my lawyer stuff when i file for bankruptcy. lol. then i told him to stop calling my cell phone and start mailing all corespondence since it is a company phone. after a couple minute argument about it and me finally saying by law if i request it you cannot call my work # he finally said i would have to submit the request in writing. lol. little weasel dick.
i would prefer to not file bankruptcy, but with some other unsecured debts i have it might end up being preferable. but i think i will wait a bit longer to see what these timeshare guys will do. that will be my last option i think. Stupid Holiday Inn Vacation Club at Orange Lake
I hate to be negative, but take a look on ebay at what comparable timeshares currently sell for.
After you are done being shocked, you will understand the real downside of paying off the timeshare when you will then own something with little value.
How much is your credit rating worth to you?
I think Timeshares are great, but only in a good economy, and I don’t see that anytime soon.
bill, The reason they are on ebay is because people cannot afford them and they are trying to recoup what they have in it.
exactly.
and there are so many people with this problem that a TS week is worth less than $1,000. And for Orange Lake, the highest in the past 10 years at resale is $5,000.
yes, these are the collectors.
no matter what they might say, they only get paid if they collect from you, so their only goal is to get you to send some money. — And if you do, the clock starts all over again on getting out of the maintenance fees.
When you get a letter from the timeshare itself or the timeshare’s lawyer asking about the Deed in lieu, then is the time to respond.
From what i have read these ts people have there own collection agency…I tell them all to go fly a kite. Haven’t payed my maintenance fees in over 4 months now and Pennical collections keeps calling asking me to pay what was suppose to be 300.oo a year maintains fees has gone up to 900.00 I tell them no thanks I don’t want to give my hard earned money to liars. They already got us for 9200.00 why would i give them any more.
you should see if your phone company allows call blocking for specified numbers. Then you won’t even have the annoyance of the phone calls
Got a call today asking for payment. I answered the call this time, since I got a letter yesterday stating they needed to talk to me as they would like to work out something as they are dedicated to helping their customers. HAHA, they just pushed for payment. I told them how they were scamming people and had told us a bunch of lies. I then asked for an address to mail a letter asking them to send all inquiries and notices via mail and desist from all phone calls. I was quite angry by this time and he informed that we had signed the paper and they didn’t force us. We exchanged a few more words and I again told him I needed the address, which he then gave me. I hung up on him, and will send the letter out in the morning. NO more answering the calls as they are lying once again, and have no interest in helping anyone…..they just want their money!
i have stopped paying mine in Kingstown Reef Orlando,will this affect entry into the US if i ever intend going back on holiday?
No one will stop you to come back to US for a reason stopping the Time share. Do come back and visit as many times your visa permits. Don’t let this one bitter experience spoil your life time of great experience of vacation.
rucha is right,TS has nothing to do with your coming back here in US port of entry.
I bought one time share in Canada and one in the US and have defaulted on both . I am a Canadian Citizien. I have too many other credit cards bills and other monthly payments which I am paying on time. Will this still affect my credit score even though I am paying all my other outstanding debts on time.
@sally
yes, mine is perfect score but when i stopped mypayment in TS,it started to go down eventhough i pay everything on time except on TS. just be ready .
yes, the collectors file a collection activity notice on your report, and that lowers the score. This is just the cost of getting rid of the forever maintenance fee payment that increases each year.
http://taxes.about.com/b/2010/02/27/what-to-do-with-form-1099-a.htm Read this article. Call and find out why they sent you a 1099-A and not a 1099-C. Ask them to send to you in writing that the debt has been forgiven. Don’t assume that it has been.
HI Everyone,
Anyone here received 1099-A from Time resorts? if we paid them is it the end of our problem?
Hi everyone,
Just a thought, Can we not expose this nationally, on papers, TV, government. Its a shame that such a fraud is still going on right at this moment as I am typing. If these people are exposed then we will save some 10000 people who are going to buy time share. At least there won’t be any lies on selling these time shares and people who might buy time-share will be well aware of what they are getting into unlike the few unfortunate like us. Please let me know if anyone has taken this to the court, news paper or any others means. Please answer because I am in constant stress and feel as if its going to horribly affect my health, already lost 3 lbs. since last week. Thank you so much.
I had gone the abandonment route and I am now done with the scum. But at one time I had tried getting in touch with NJ consumers affairs, better business bureau, NJ state attorney office (yes Chris Christie who did nothing). I guess these organizations only function if you are going after someone who didn’t bribe congress. But I get the feeling that the timeshare industry has bribed congress just like the mafia used to bribe local politicians to extort money from citizens, with their blessing.
I had invited my jerks at SPM Resorts and their mafia collections group Meridien Fincancial to come to my house and collect. Of course they didn’t because they are cowards who hide behind their lawyer mommy’s skirt.
I wish we could organize against them. I would be only too happy to get involved. Remmeber, RCI is owned by Wyndham, and so is Fairfield, and Equivest. All criminal conspirators now under one hidden Cendant umbrella. Want to ge them back – don’t rent a car from Budget / Avis – they were part of Cendant – don’t ever visit a Wyndham Hotel. If these people were linked to the criminals they support, that could make a difference. They are all scum. May they die a long, horrible death by the most painful cancer possible. And may there be a god who meets them with an appropriate reward for their deeds.
Amen! I hope their end is near!
I am thinking of going to Vegas for TS BS** this Friday, will talk and meet the guy who lied left and right and sold us TS. Nothing is finalized yet but I am all for it to go and talk to everyone who ruined our peace. Wish us luck everyone.
hi! everyone,
I stopped paying Feb 2010. I did not receive any DILF offer to sign,not heared anthing no calls after few months..and then now I received an IRS form 1099-A, an abandonment of property ,stating the FMV and the acquired cost, I have to pay Tax for the balance. I am just wondering if this is only one time and THAT’s it. I am complating of 1099-c which is forgiven debt, but 1099-A is abandonment is it treated the same?
Anyone has receive 1099-A ? is it a total relief after we paid the tax?
@Bob…I received the same as yours..is this total relief on our part after we pay IRS?
I just typed in IRS 1099 and it brought up info on these forms and the different kinds(there are several forms with different letters added to apply to different circumstances.. Go to site and read this info…it explains how it works. It also tells under what circumstances you do NOT
have to pay. May help you Melham and Bob. It seems unfair the way this
works but never the less, it is the IRS!
Did you get any info on IRS Tax, is it one time and once its paid are we done . please advice,
And one more thing, how much tax do we pay as in % for the remaining balance? Please let me know. Thanks for all this information and help, its nice to see that all of you are taking time and putting in this information, glad that amongst all these TS scums there are lovely people like you who help people.
is an opt out form the same as an DNL???????anyone know…cus they sand me a opt out from but no dnl………..