# Financing with Marriott



## aceinthehole (Sep 16, 2008)

I am in the process of purchasing a plat week and a gold week at Marriott Grande Ocean...Should I use Marriott financing?  I understand that I can make the payments with my Marrott Visa and recieve 10 points plus the 5 points for every dollar.  The sales man saind that we would get 50,000 points each year for using marriott financing... Also they said that the interest can be deducted is this stuff true??


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## bogeygolf (Sep 16, 2008)

aceinthehole said:


> I am in the process of purchasing a plat week and a gold week at Marriott Grande Ocean...Should I use Marriott financing?  I understand that I can make the payments with my Marrott Visa and recieve 10 points plus the 5 points for every dollar.  The sales man saind that we would get 50,000 points each year for using marriott financing... Also they said that the interest can be deducted is this stuff true??



Whatever offer they are giving for financing, my humble advice is don't do it.  If you have to finance a ts purchase, I would seriously re-think if I can really afford this.  There are a lot of great deals on the resale market and marriott is waiving ROFR on a lot of cheap resales.  Have you checked redweek or myresortnetwork?

Also, if you really want Marriott points, you and your spouse(if your married) can each purchase up to 50,000 pts each annually on marriott's website.  Exchanging your week for points is generally not a good deal.


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## gmarine (Sep 16, 2008)

Is there a reason you are buying from Marriott directly? The only advantage you get is the ability to trade your unit in for Marriott rewards points. Unless you are receiving an enormous amount of incentive points, say half million or so,it isnt worth it.  Your spending probably at least 15K more than you would on the resale market.

Also if you have to finance through Marriott dont buy it, and if you have to finance it any other way seriously consider whether renting would be more cost effective.


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## vacationtime1 (Sep 16, 2008)

aceinthehole said:


> Also they said that the interest can be deducted is this stuff true??



Timeshare interest is not deductible for tax purposes.  I suspect that a whole lot of what you were told in the presentation is not true.

I agree with the previous posts: if you buy, you should almost certainly buy resale.  And if you have to finance, you almost certainly should not buy.


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## Zac495 (Sep 16, 2008)

Can you rescind? Don't do it!!! Talk to us! You are about to spend a fortune on something you can get for much, much less.

What is the price? We'll tell you what you can purchase it for.
they will LIE and say you can't do it - that you'll lose X, Y, Z. You WILL lost Marriott points but they are NOT worth the money - let us explain.


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## aceinthehole (Sep 16, 2008)

Thanks everyone!  The Plat week is $34900 and the gold week is $29000.  Interest rate is 14.4


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## gmarine (Sep 16, 2008)

aceinthehole said:


> Thanks everyone!  The Plat week is $34900 and the gold week is $29000.  Interest rate is 14.4




   No way, you shouldnt even consider purchasing.

Just a quick look shows a GO gold resale on TUG ASKING 20K and a platinum ASKING 27K. The actually selling prices will be much less but even at those asking prices you are paying $17K more.

Dont buy those weeks, then take your time and learn about timeshares. Then if you still want to buy you will be able to make an informed decision.


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## bogeygolf (Sep 16, 2008)

aceinthehole said:


> Thanks everyone!  The Plat week is $34900 and the gold week is $29000.  Interest rate is 14.4



Platinum on myresortnetwork is asking 25.5K and gold on redweek is asking 14K.  You can find other sites which have resale listing as well.  Look at sticky on buying/selling forum.


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## Lawlar (Sep 17, 2008)

*Yikes!!!!*



aceinthehole said:


> Thanks everyone!  The Plat week is $34900 and the gold week is $29000.  Interest rate is 14.4



Rescind!  Cancel!  Don't do it!

We made the stupid mistake of financing with Marriott last year and when we made a prepayment they notified us that we no longer qualified for MR points (despite our continuing to pay $648 a month).  Fortunately, we are paying off the loan this year (we got a 12.7% loan - so Marriott's rates have gone up).

What a rip off! For about $6,000 a year in interest we could have qualified for enough points (50,000) to stay 3 nights at a Marriott hotel.  What a joke.


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## Latravel (Sep 17, 2008)

I would not finance the purchase.  If you want to pay with the Marriott Visa, pay the amount in full on the card (you'll get lots of points that way!) and then pay off the amount completely when you get the bill.

I bought directly from Marriott even though I knew about the resale market.   There are many very good reasons to buy directly from Marriott that you should research on this board and there is not a one-size-fits-all answer as the above posters might tell you.  A poster did mention that if you get a lot of incentive points to buy, which i'm sure they did offer to you, that would be a prime reason to purchase from Marriott.  The cost of that vacation alone is worth the price difference.  If you purchase on the resale market, you obviously won't get those points and you'll lose out on an amazing vacation.  Also, you'll be able to exchange your unit for points if you decide to take a trip to Paris or Italy where there are no timeshares.  We loved that flexibility.  Then again, that may not matter to you and if so, you should buy resale.  Good luck in whatever you chose!


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## Dave M (Sep 17, 2008)

vacationtime1 said:


> Timeshare interest is not deductible for tax purposes.


That's not always true and probably isn't in this case.

A taxpayer who itemizes deductions can claim interest on a primary residence and one other residence. A timeshare qualifies as a "residence" for interest deduction purposes. To claim the deduction, the loan must be secured by a mortgage rather than written as an unsecured consumer loan. Marriott's timeshare loans, at least in the U.S., meet that secured requirement. 

Thus, Marriott interest will be deductible if the taxpayer doesn't have another vacation home or second residence which is subject to a mortgage and where the interest is being claimed as a deduction.

Beware, however. Most timeshare loans (not Marriott's loans) are written as consumer loans and don't qualify.


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## CAROLW (Sep 17, 2008)

I have two timeshares that I purchased directly through Marriott and financed through Marriott. Our experience is that everything the sales rep told you is true. We receive 25k points every 6 months, as long as we continue to make the loan payments with out Marriott credit card.

Also, our accountant is able to claim the interest on one of the timeshares as a deduction on our income tax return.

The timeshares are at the Surf Club in Aruba and the Surfwatch in HHI. Both were structured so that we can claim the interest and both are held as mortgages with deeds.

Hope that helps!


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## m61376 (Sep 17, 2008)

Save- since the OP is talking about 2 weeks in different seasons, would only one week qualify for interest deduction under the second home rule, or could the interest on the loan for both weeks qualify? 

Of course, if the OP already has a mortgage on a second residence (vacation home, boat, etc.) then the interest would not be deductible in that case.

Interest rates on home equity loans are much less and are deductible (unless that is already maxed out).


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## Lawlar (Sep 17, 2008)

*CPA*



Dave M said:


> That's not always true and probably isn't in this case.
> 
> A taxpayer who itemizes deductions can claim interest on a primary residence and one other residence. A timeshare qualifies as a "residence" for interest deduction purposes. To claim the deduction, the loan must be secured by a mortgage rather than written as an unsecured consumer loan. Marriott's timeshare loans, at least in the U.S., meet that secured requirement.
> 
> ...




Dave, my CPA wouldn't let us deduct anything relating to our TS.  I'm sending him a copy of your post in the hopes that your comments allow us to amend our return and claim the deduction.


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## pwrshift (Sep 17, 2008)

Come to Canada ... you can only have one principal residence on which there are no taxes on capital gains.  But all other homes, timeshares, boats, cars, dog food, etc. have taxes that you can't claim back.

Except for government controlled lotteries, of course...in Canada if you bet $1 and win $30 million (or any amount) you get the whole amount (not spread over several years) and there are no taxes.

Brian


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## KathyPet (Sep 17, 2008)

My accountant who is a founding partner in a firm of CPA's always deducted the interest on our loan.


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## Dave M (Sep 17, 2008)

Lawlar - Ask your accountant to read the definition of "qualified residence" in the Internal Revenue Code (Section 163(h)) and the regulations thereunder. Then point out that your loan is secured by a mortgage - assuming it's a Marriott loan.

m61376 - Although the tax law doesn't specifically address your question, I addressed it in the Taxes and Timeshares article in the TUG Advice section as follows:





> Can you deduct interest on loans for more than one timeshare? If you have a mortgage on your primary residence, interest paid on loans on multiple timeshare properties would not be deductible, since interest in connection with only one property other than the primary residence can be deducted. But suppose the multiple timeshares are all at one resort. You might reasonably view these multiple timeshares as one "residence". The tax rules aren’t clear on this issue.


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## Lawlar (Sep 18, 2008)

*Thank You*

Thank you Dave.  My CPA was still trying to find an answer, so your advice may point him in the right direction.


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## radmoo (Sep 21, 2008)

*Marriott Loan Deduction*

We financed w/Marriott.  And no I didn't know about TUG until after we bought.  But I had worked for Marriott Timeshare some time back so I knew them to be reputable outfit.  In any case, we were able to deduct interest as this is a recorded mortgage.  Hope this helps.


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## applegirl (Sep 21, 2008)

*Rescind!*

I hope aceinthehole will rethink this whole thing.  Already they have received good advice on this thread.  Shopping for resale weeks on various sites including here on TUG is a great starting point as well as read lots of threads here to learn what is the best!   I agree that if you have to finance a timeshare you probably can't afford it.  Of course, I should talk since we financed ours through Marriott 6 years ago but that was before we knew TUG and before we were more finance savvy.

Janna


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