Getting rid of your timeshare

The industry, which finances lobbyists & political campaigns in states where they remain unregulated, are not about to self-regulate. They certainly SHOULD provide an exit strategy, just as they should be investigated for fraud - but it won't happen.

In what states are they not regulated?

They certainly are in the heavy timeshare states.

But they are not regulated properly. The regulators treat the shortcomings and scams as being legitimate, and then penalize the resale companies, which only exist because of the industry's shortcomings.

But, then, the timeshare owners who monopolize Internet forums seem to be gullible enough to believe it is OK to give someone $2000 or $3000 to (hopefully) get rid of them. It was 25 years ago, but I don't recall that part of it in the sales pitch.

I was told today that Hilton Head Island Links charges 1874.00 fee just to transfer the fee from your name to theirs. Does anyone know how to verify whether this is true or not?

Thank you.

Ask them.

https://rebamanagement.worldsecuresystems.com/company

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We owned in one of the Escapes! resorts, and when Escapes! bowed out a couple years ago, Festiva bombarded us with emails saying we belonged to them, which we did not.

I found out the Festiva transfer fee is $1750, and our resort's is $350, or nothing, one or the other.

I am with you my story I paid mine in full in one month about 8 yrs ago. I did not take out mortgage I took vacations with my mother and when she died I made a decision to get rid of it. The resort would not take back even for free. One day they called me to scare me about not receiving M/T. I offered again and got the same answer. At that moment in time I said " Alright then I will never give you another dime never. And this is the last time I will speak with this resort". That was 3 years ago. The have tried every form of communication and now I am at their in house collection agency phone calls. But I will never speak to them for the rest of my life. They have 3 ways to wear you down. Send you letters to threaten you. then next report you to their collections and then hopefully foreclose {highly unlikely } or go on to try ruin your credit which is just fine with me. my outlook is more bleak than that. Our government is broke and the dollar will crash. I am more worried about how to get food and shelter than some wacked out criminal timeshare. They can bang their heads on brick wall forever. put these problems in perspective

Maybe if more people were willing to do that, so that the HOAs would find that ugliness does not work, they would change their tactics. Some argue that HOAs are only doing the only things they are empowered to do and that they believe they are protecting the other owners by being ugly with deadbeats.

I believe they are empowered to do what's best for their resorts and it may not be what they have always done. I have good ideas in that regard, but I do not want to be more involved with people who only know how to be ugly. I want done with them altogether.

You are on the right track. It is actually all you can do. Is it on your credit yet? If so, it supposedly will stay there 7 yrs and then must be deleted. That's the law. However, once it is on your credit, I would contest it through the credit company and the resort has a very short time to confirm you owe it or it has to be deleted. Once it goes to an independent collector, I would ask they send you the original contract, and if they can't, that's it. They can't collect or put it on your credit because without the contract, they can't prove you owe anything. If they do, you can claim 4x the damages. It is more worthwhile to hire an attorney than pay thousands to some resort that will take the money and not do anything for you anyway. Start reading sites on how collection agencies work and what the law is, and how to get around them. NEVER pay a resort money to sell your timeshare--its a scam and they are lying. Anyway, if it goes to collections, it is 7 yrs on there (usually they give up reporting after a couple years and you can contest and get it removed). If they don't report it, and keep trying to collect, just ignore them. FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE

everyone who bought at Los Abragados through LX should just stop paying for something you can't use and can't get anything you were promised, and maybe that will send a message. They are counting on you being an upright person while they are scammers. I imagine the fees you pay just go in their pockets. Better in yours.

we have been trying to give it back and they say our maintenance fees will just keep mounting and never go away. We own our points of 68,000 and the M. fees are killing us. Plus we are elderly and need to stop travel. I just need to know how much damage they can do to us. Also our heirs do not want it. Help!!

We are with Diamond Resorts Intl....sorry for posting it on the other question on the change over but Diamond did buy it.

were you on points? We have 68,000 points so I am sure it will not be cheap to get out of it. We owe nothing except 2015 maintenance fees. We are old and can no longer afford this and do not know what to do.

Financial services from whom? The resort? We already asked DRI to take it back and they refuse until we pay them 10,000 fee for maintenance. If we had that kind of money we would not be wanting to give it back.

I think we all should write letters to the local paper in which we live and warn people what they are like. Of course it might not do any good. My sister was warned and went right ahead and bought points with Diamond. People really don't understand what you go through or timeshares would not exist! I have told our timeshare we are giving our points back (paid for in full) and they say no way unless we pay them $10,000 I would like to know how much damage they can do. I was told they can't ruin our credit or otherwise hurt you. Does anyone out there really know ??? And can they force our children to take it when we die?? I don't understand the lack of regulation on these things and the suffering they have caused. Where is customer protection laws??

They cannot force your children, or anyone else, to take it if or when you die.

I wonder though, how you ended up owing $10,000. Maintenance fees are usually around $1000. So by my calculations, you have been delinquent on your maintenance fees for about 9-10 years. Or is this $10,000 the amount you owe on the mortgage? There is a big difference between owing on the mortgage and owing maintenance fees.

I abandoned a timeshare with Fairfield in Flagstaff and they put a mark against my credit for 3 years. I contested the credit ding and they never responded in the tine allowed (they only have 10 days to prove to the credit bureau you owe it, or it goes off) and it was removed. they never tried to get the fees for maintenance. there are only two things you can owe which never go away, income taxes and federal student loans. The rest go away after 7 years. technically, they could try to file a lien against you, but they almost never do. And if you are old, and on SS, they will not bother as they cannot attach that money, so it's not worth it to them. Also, I cannot see how heirs can be made to pay for something they never signed for, agreed to, or even knew about. JUST REMEMBER, NEVER PAY COLLECTIONS ANYTHING, AS ONE PAYMENT MEANS YOU AGREE YOU OWE IT AND HAVE AGREED TO PAY IT. iGNORE THEM AND HANG UP ON THEIR CALLS AND COLLECTIONS. AND DON'T BELEIVE ANYTHING THEY SAY--THEY WILL LIE TO GET MONEY. AND IF YOU PAY COLLECTION AGENCIES ANYTHING, IT GOES IN THEIR POCKETSAND YOU STILL OWE THE RESORT, SO WHY PAY ANYTHING? IF THEY SAY A PARTIAL PAYMENT WILL CLEAR THE DEBT UP, NOT TRUE. they WILL SELL THE REMAINDER TO ANOTHER COLLECTION AGENCY. IF THEY SAY THEY WILL TAKE IT OFF YOUR CREDIT REPORT, NOT TRUE. if THEY TRY TO COLLECT FROM YOUR CHILDREN, TELL THEM TO TELL THEM TO TAKE A HIKE AND HANG UP. COLLECTORS CAN'T ENFORCE A CONTRACT YOUR KIDS DID NOT SIGN AND SO THEY HOPE YOU WILL BE INTIMIDATED AND PAY UP ANYWAY. YOU HAVE TO BE HARD CORE AND NOT ABLE TO BE INTIMIDATED BY THESE CRIMINALS. ONCE IT GOES TO A COLLECTOR, THEY USUALLY DO NOT HAVE THE ORIGINAL CONTRACTS, SO THEY ARE COLLECTING ON INTIMIDATION ALONE, AND CANNOT DO ANYTHING AGAINST YOU EXCEPT HARASS YOU. ALSO, NEW CREDIT LAWS MAKE ONE CREDIT DING HAVE MUCH LESS IMPACT THAN IN THE PAST.

ruthh144 wrote:

I think we all should write letters to the local paper in which we live and warn people what they are like. Of course it might not do any good. My sister was warned and went right ahead and bought points with Diamond. People really don't understand what you go through or timeshares would not exist! I have told our timeshare we are giving our points back (paid for in full) and they say no way unless we pay them $10,000 I would like to know how much damage they can do. I was told they can't ruin our credit or otherwise hurt you. Does anyone out there really know ??? And can they force our children to take it when we die?? I don't understand the lack of regulation on these things and the suffering they have caused. Where is customer protection laws??

DON'T PAY THEM ANYTHING. CHANCES ARE, THEY WILL KEEP THE MONEY AND YOU WILL STILL OWE. AND AS YOU HAVE SEEN, THE STATE WILL SIDE ON THE SIDE OF THE RESORT AND THE COLLECTORS, SO YOOU WILL HAVE NO LEGAL RECOURSE TO GET THEMONEY BACK. REMEBER YOU ARE DEALING WITH SCAM ARTISTS WHO WILL DO ANYTIHG TO GET THE MONEY, ESPECIALLY LIE.

EXAMPLE OF A SIMILAR PROBLEM TO YOURS Expert: Dave Heine - 2/28/2011 QUESTION: Dear Dave:

My parents bought a timeshare in Florida over 25 years ago. It is the Sheraton Vistana in Orlando. They cannot sell it, give it back or donate it. There is no mortgage. My dad just died and now the timeshare belongs to my mom - it was in both their names. She is 86 and having a hard time keeping up with the maintenance and fees.

I just learned that the Warranty Deed reads as follows:

'The benefits and obligations hereunder shall inure to and be binding upon the heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns of the respective parties hereto. The grantor does hereby fully warrant the title to the unit week and will defend the same against the lawful claims of all persons.'

Does that really mean that my four siblings and I MUST assume the timeshare payments even though we had nothing to do with buying it? We have never even stayed there. Vistana refuses to take it back. If they have the right of refusal, why don't we? We live in NJ. None of us want it or can afford it. I cannot believe that this kind of trickery on their part is legal and binding. What can we do?

Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Alice:

First sorry to hear about your loss. Lets try to look at this in parts for the time being, but I am going to take it out of order to make it easier..

First the part of "'The benefits and obligations hereunder shall inure to and be binding upon the heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns of the respective parties hereto. The grantor does hereby fully warrant the title to the unit week and will defend the same against the lawful claims of all persons.'"

This is standard language on a General or Special Warranty Deed. The first part is what allows it to be passed down from generation to generation. The part where they say they fully warrant the title, means if someone else claims they own it, they will defend their title at their expense.

Second, if your mom passes away and the deed is in here name, you do not have to assume the liability for it. Just like a house or a condo, they will foreclose it for the lack of payment of the maintenance fees. They would be foreclosing against a dead person so your credit would not be in danger.

Starwood Vistana to my knowledge does not have a right of first refusal in there documents, so I do not think that is an issue. There is no trickery on their part. Basically your mom and dad bought one week every year or every other year in a condominium and therefore are legal owners there.

Just like with your house or a condominium, no one is legally required to let you take back your purchase after the fact. BUT YOUR HEIRS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR IT

Dave

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Read my thread about the hypothetical way to get rid of a timeshare in the General Discussion forum. It's a few threads down from here. Any resemblance or DRC an DRI is just coincidental. It's just hypothetical but sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Food for thought.

Well, at least one internet forum has the nads to allow frank and honest discussion about the problems plaguing timeshare owners without being bullied by a small handful of obsessed timeshare lovers who seem to be able to get forum administrators to discipline those trying the engage these issue.

No, we owe nothing but our maintenance fee with Diamond Resorts Intl. This is the reason we want out. They have doubled our payments in the last 5 years, which they promised they would not, and are asking for $10,200 for a single year. Last year it was $10,000. Two years ago over $8000. How in the world we have to pay these we don't know. We are free and clear on everything else and they say up front it is maintenance. We never dreamed they would raise it this high. We have 68,000 points and it does give you a lot of travel. An average resort can cost us anywhere from 500 points to 1,000 but that is unusual. You would think they would have some regulatory rules on this. I have never heard of anyone having maintenance fees this high! We can't sell it or give it away. Thinking of trying a charity but don't even know if that will work.

They cannot force your children, or anyone else, to take it if or when you die.

I wonder though, how you ended up owing $10,000. Maintenance fees are usually around $1000. So by my calculations, you have been delinquent on your maintenance fees for about 9-10 years. Or is this $10,000 the amount you owe on the mortgage? There is a big difference between owing on the mortgage and owing maintenance fees.

It is correct that we owe only maintenance fees and we have wondered why they have went up so much, doubled in five years! It is a lot of travel but we can't take these kinds of prices.

ruthh144 wrote:

were you on points? We have 68,000 points so I am sure it will not be cheap to get out of it. We owe nothing except 2015 maintenance fees. We are old and can no longer afford this and do not know what to do.