• The TUGBBS forums are completely free and open to the public and exist as the absolute best place for owners to get help and advice about their timeshares for more than 30 years!

    Join Tens of Thousands of other Owners just like you here to get any and all Timeshare questions answered 24 hours a day!
  • TUG started 30 years ago in October 1993 as a group of regular Timeshare owners just like you!

    Read about our 30th anniversary: Happy 30th Birthday TUG!
  • TUG has a YouTube Channel to produce weekly short informative videos on popular Timeshare topics!

    Free memberships for every 50 subscribers!

    Visit TUG on Youtube!
  • TUG has now saved timeshare owners more than $21,000,000 dollars just by finding us in time to rescind a new Timeshare purchase! A truly incredible milestone!

    Read more here: TUG saves owners more than $21 Million dollars
  • Sign up to get the TUG Newsletter for free!

    60,000+ subscribing owners! A weekly recap of the best Timeshare resort reviews and the most popular topics discussed by owners!
  • Our official "end my sales presentation early" T-shirts are available again! Also come with the option for a free membership extension with purchase to offset the cost!

    All T-shirt options here!
  • A few of the most common links here on the forums for newbies and guests!

Marriott Owners: Do you feel the way I do?

WorldFlyer2

newbie
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
new york ciity
MCVI owners, & Bill Marriott,

I though it would pass over me like the Biblical plauges of the Old Testement.
But like the other silent majority of 750,00+ Americans, I too have been hitby hard times. The wife and her 6 figure salary is gone.
Lost forever until something of an other good opportunity comes by..
Yae, good luck! And I gotta bridge in Brooklyn for sale!
With her job and my job: the hours & livelihood have been cut...gone forever.

How many out there are reading this and maybe some are avoiding the idea or some are experiencing the same plight we are and/or just want to drive though the idea without the thoughts of doubt?

Here we are thinking about monthly expenses and what to do without the monthly income and perks fro the job...

MCVI is a great idea. The places, and the hotels are wonderful.
Yet, we dont know how to get from under this financial burden.

I turned my boss onto MCVI & my boss called
a CFO at MCVI seeking to lower interest interest rate...
to save us and others from another tsnumai of accrued debt upon MCVI owners and MARRRIOT INC..
We think its an great idea...

Whoever reads this please call:
MARRIOT = Bill Marriott - 301-380-3000
www.marriott.com....
as well as
HOST Marriot = David Babbage - 240-744-1000 or
email him at - owner.services@vacationclub.com

and request a lower INTEREST RATE!

We are hard working Americans,
we pay our bills..
why are we being raped with such high rates & fees on something we can do without!

REMEMBER PEOPLE we ARE owners...we pay for their manisons & nanny's
any ideas?
Get back to me..
 

Eric

newbie
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
348
Reaction score
0
Points
326
I assume you understood the rate when you signed the contract ?
It's NEVER a good idea to finance a timeshare.

MCVI owners, & Bill Marriott,

I though it would pass over me like the Biblical plauges of the Old Testement.
But like the other silent majority of 750,00+ Americans, I too have been hitby hard times. The wife and her 6 figure salary is gone.
Lost forever until something of an other good opportunity comes by..
Yae, good luck! And I gotta bridge in Brooklyn for sale!
With her job and my job: the hours & livelihood have been cut...gone forever.

How many out there are reading this and maybe some are avoiding the idea or some are experiencing the same plight we are and/or just want to drive though the idea without the thoughts of doubt?

Here we are thinking about monthly expenses and what to do without the monthly income and perks fro the job...

MCVI is a great idea. The places, and the hotels are wonderful.
Yet, we dont know how to get from under this financial burden.

I turned my boss onto MCVI & my boss called
a CFO at MCVI seeking to lower interest interest rate...
to save us and others from another tsnumai of accrued debt upon MCVI owners and MARRRIOT INC..
We think its an great idea...

Whoever reads this please call:
MARRIOT = Bill Marriott - 301-380-3000
www.marriott.com....
as well as
HOST Marriot = David Babbage - 240-744-1000 or
email him at - owner.services@vacationclub.com

and request a lower INTEREST RATE!

We are hard working Americans,
we pay our bills..
why are we being raped with such high rates & fees on something we can do without!

REMEMBER PEOPLE we ARE owners...we pay for their manisons & nanny's
any ideas?
Get back to me..
 

rsnash

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
377
Reaction score
2
Points
16
Location
NJ
I'm afraid I don't agree with you, OP. I do agree with above, don't finance a TS purchase. It is basically unsecured debt, like credit card debt, and you know what kind of interest rates cc's charge.
 

gmarine

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,304
Reaction score
17
Points
423
It wasnt a contract that included a variable interest rate. If you didnt like the rate you shouldnt have signed the contract. Unfortunately it is what it is. It isnt the same as asking a credit card company for a lower rate. You signed a loan document for a fixed rate and thats what you got.
 

WalnutBaron

TUG Review Crew: Expert
TUG Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
2,193
Reaction score
2,585
Points
574
Location
California
Resorts Owned
Hyatt Highlands Inn, Hyatt Pinon Pointe
I'm truly sorry to hear about the loss of your wife's job and the hardships you and many thousands of other Americans are experiencing in these difficult times. But it's not Bill Marriott's responsibility to bail you out of your debt obligation, nor is it mine or other loyal customers of Marriott hotels.

My best advice is for you to attempt to sell your Marriott TS so that at least you won't have the burden of the annual MF's to deal with. Tough times require making tough financial decisions, and begging Marriott for a lower interest rate on an unsecured loan is not one of them.
 

Latravel

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
Messages
882
Reaction score
1
Points
16
Location
Los Angeles
Wow, I thought I was tough! It's true the OP signed the contract documents but millions of people signed mortgage papers and are now negotiating with the bank for lower rates. Why are timeshares any different? Why can't the OP try to negotiate with Marriott to avoid a bad situation?

It is to everyone's best interest that every owner is able to pay the maintenance fees.
 

Garnet

TUG Member
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
395
Reaction score
7
Points
379
Location
California
Resorts Owned
Marbrisa 2,31 MNCV 52, MSR 52, MDSV2, FSA
WalnutBaron stated it most elegantly, and appropriately.

For several years we have watched home prices rise and rise. We kept looking at the ratios. Always go back to ratios (hugely important!), history, and basic sensibility (thing back to the dot com bust....). Doesn't matter if it is TS or homes or stocks. For years home ratios weren't there. (Rent or buy, or for us, buy a larger home. We are really squashed into our home with 3 kids that we paid off in march 2007!) All that mattered to too many people was...can I afford the payment or even worse, what kind of loan can I get approved for? If the payment is too much...if you are too stretched...if you don't have the savings...don't buy.

And, if you do, I'm very sorry...but don't blame others. Financing a house is one thing...blaming (repeat, blaming) someone else for financing an optional TS doesn't make sense. Not their fault you financed.

That said, again I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. The usual 3-6 months of expenses one should have in savings I realize is running out on many people who were really watching their money before. And yes, we are cutting back to bring up our saving to 8 or so months expenses. We are obviously not helping with any sort of spending for an economic recovery any time soon!!!
 

ecwinch

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
3,731
Reaction score
1,119
Points
748
Location
San Antonio
Resorts Owned
Marriott Harbour Point (HP), Kauai Beach Villas, Riverside Suites, WorldMark Pts (WM), Wyndham Pts
Not sure that is something that Marriott could even do unilaterally - even if they wanted too. Like all real estate developers, they transformed those loans into CDOs, that were sold to 1000+ investors. Those 1000+ investors that own a small percent of your loan would have to agree to lower your interest rate.
 
Last edited:

Big Matt

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
6,146
Reaction score
1,608
Points
599
Location
Northern Virginia
I completely agree with this post.

The posters in this thread who are pushing back against OP are missing something. OP isn't asking anyone to forgive the loan. It's also in Marriott's best interest to keep OP paying the note regardless of the rate. Lot's of foreclosures will hurt Marriott and the HOAs of the properties already managed by the owners.

We NEED people to keep paying their maintenance fees.

Wow, I thought I was tough! It's true the OP signed the contract documents but millions of people signed mortgage papers and are now negotiating with the bank for lower rates. Why are timeshares any different? Why can't the OP try to negotiate with Marriott to avoid a bad situation?

It is to everyone's best interest that every owner is able to pay the maintenance fees.
 

gmarine

Tug Review Crew: Rookie
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
4,304
Reaction score
17
Points
423
I completely agree with this post.

The posters in this thread who are pushing back against OP are missing something. OP isn't asking anyone to forgive the loan. It's also in Marriott's best interest to keep OP paying the note regardless of the rate. Lot's of foreclosures will hurt Marriott and the HOAs of the properties already managed by the owners.

We NEED people to keep paying their maintenance fees.

Matt you make a good point that we need owners to pay maintenance fees but defaulting on a timeshare loan is much different than doing so on a home. A person who loses their home then costs the government money with housing, welfare etc. Losing a timeshare to default only hurts the owner long term. Short term it does indeed affect the resort until they have a buyer who takes over maintenance fees.

Peope losing their homes are doing so because they took on variable rate mortgages which have risen after the initial lock in period. Not so with the Marriott timeshare loans which are fixed.

I think the problem with the OP is the part where they say they are being raped with such high fees on something they dont need. They signed the contract for a fixed rate yet now they are saying the rates are too high. The rates were fine I guess until the OP had $$ problems. Losing a job is tough but it isnt Marriott's fault and it isnt Marriott's fault that the OP financed a timeshare at a high rate.
 

thinze3

Tug Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2007
Messages
6,364
Reaction score
37
Points
483
Location
Houston, TX
I got about halfway through this thread and thought "WOW! Why are they being so harsh?"

Marriott sold probably 90% of their timeshares with financing, so what makes it so wrong for the OP to have bought his in the same manner. Obviously they could afford it. Times have drastically changed now. Even Marriott is borrowing billions of dollars to stay afloat.

OP. I am sorry about your situation. I think it is a great idea to try and get Marriott to lower your monthly payments. Let them know what the other option is - no payments at all!

These luxuries come and go. Take care of your basics first and foremost - family, food, health, home, etc... It's just a timeshare for crying out load! If you were forced to let it go and ultimately had a black mark on your credit, yes you would have to hear all the spill for a year or too, but as soon as the economy turned around, Mr Marriott would be beating at your door asking you to buy again - and offering financing to boot. Don't let your pride take you further into trouble.

Good luck. I hope things work out well for you.

P.S. - Please don't come back to me with all that "he knew", "he signed", "he this" and "he that"! The man has bigger problems to deal with. IMO
 

Lawlar

TUG Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
681
Reaction score
1
Points
16
Location
Santa Barbara
There But For The Grace Of God...

I got about halfway through this thread and thought "WOW! Why are they being so harsh?"

Marriott sold probably 90% of their timeshares with financing, so what makes it so wrong for the OP to have bought his in the same manner. Obviously they could afford it. Times have drastically changed now. Even Marriott is borrowing billions of dollars to stay afloat.

Marriott probably knew (the same as the mortgage companies knew) than many of the people it was selling its overprices TSs to would be unable to make the payments. It knew. Its salespeople probably joked about it.

The high interest rates Marriott charged should more than offset any accomodations it should make to help its customers who suffer financial difficulties in this horrible recession. [Need I mention how it has stopped giving MRs for the loan payments. Funny, I don't remember our saleslady mentioning that possibility.]

As a former bk lawyer I can tell you I've seen thousands of people who worked hard but through forces they couldn't control suffered serious losses. It is heartbreaking. Just imagine all the homeowners in this country who are unable to sleep at night because they face the possibility of foreclosure.

I recommend that the OP see a good lawyer or accountant and see what remedies are available (I used to help clients - who were not candidates for bk - to renegotiate loans). But be careful, there are a lot of scamers out there who are looking to take advantage of people who are in trouble. NEVER SEND MONEY TO A COMPANY THAT SAYS IT WILL USE YOUR FUNDS TO GET YOUR CREDITORS TO TAKE A BIG REDUCTION IN YOUR DEBTS. [I know - some of my former clients are running these scams - they will take your money and run!]

[Now that Dave M is on his well deserved vacation I can say whatever I want about Marriott. Right? Probably not. He would probably pay whatever it costs to post counter-arguments in favor of Marriott if I get carried away. Oh well.]
 

pacheco18

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
1,205
Reaction score
0
Points
246
Location
Tucson
Marriott probably knew (the same as the mortgage companies knew) than many of the people it was selling its overprices TSs to would be unable to make the payments. It knew. Its salespeople probably joked about it.

Truest statement yet
I have seen the same thing happen in Mexico where I own luxury condos outright - 300k to 1.2 million price range. The developer financed them at 12% with no income documentation. What do you think is happening now? People are desperate to sell and units are being foreclosed. These people NEVER should have been allowed to purchase in the first place because they could not afford it. Vacation property sales and rentals are in the tank. The timeshare sales pitch was yet another piece of our financial mess.

To the OP - if Marriott won't help you (I doubt they will - too many people in the same boat) you can walk away and allow foreclosure or sell dirt cheap and get out from under. Taking a loss in these times is to be expected. At least it's not foreclosure on your home.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

m61376

Tug Review Crew
TUG Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2006
Messages
7,200
Reaction score
269
Points
518
Location
NY
Resorts Owned
Marriott Aruba Surf Club 2 & 3BRs
First of all- sorry for your difficulties. Trite, but over time hopefully this too will pass and just be a bad memory :( .

Keep in mind that you are not chained to keep that Marriott loan. If you can still afford payments, but would just like to trim those high interest rates, there may be some other options for the short term (if you have a home equity line of credit, 0 or low interest cc's, etc.). Of course, if the timeshare loan and or MF's interfere with your basic living in these hard times, then it may be time to consider extricating yourself from ownership even at a loss. But, if it is just an area of discretionary income that you'd like to save some money on, you should explore other financing options.
 

Latravel

TUG Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
Messages
882
Reaction score
1
Points
16
Location
Los Angeles
One of my friends who bought Timber Lodge the same time as I did was in the same position. She had 2 options that were very good:

1. There is a BofA credit card with no interest for 1 year. She is considering putting her 17K loan on the card and paying back before the year.

2. She has a home equity loan for 2 or 3 % (I think) and she will pay off the loan with the home equity loan. She said something about the payments being written off in taxes? :shrug:

There are other options besides Marriott. It will be something like refinancing your timeshare loan. Good luck!
 

Beverley

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
1,140
Reaction score
4
Points
248
Location
Cheshire, CT
"By the grace of God,..." Sorry to hear of the struggle. As for trying to reduce your interest on the financing, I think it is a good idea to ask. I'm sure you've heard the expression "if you don't ask you don't get".

Actually, I think I may give them a call and suggest that they owe some of us a rate reduction. Here is my thought and justification. We have a time share loan. :bawl: Okay, I've said it. We have financed some of our purchases. We have paid off most of them. :whoopie: Our latest purchase was last April with the sales pitch of all those points we were going to get from financing and going forward for the next 10 years as long as we did not pay up our loan even one day early.

Then what happened?? after signing on the dotted line for the usuary rate of 13.9% (after all the added 3% over and above their usual interest rate was "justified" by all those points) Marriott backed out of their end of the deal by canceling the points on those contracts. :wall: So they should drop the rate at least 3%. Loans just prior to the points incentive were 3% lower...

Beverley
 

jdetar

TUG Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
208
Reaction score
1
Points
228
OP, it is your own fault. You shouldn't have financed it with them if you didn't want to pay their high fees. I've been through the tours and even through the sales process (although rescinding later) and they make it *VERY* clear the rates you are paying, multiple times. Instead of focusing on the PAYMENTS you should be more aware of those terms. Their rates are high because there's a lot of risk for them, they don't do credit check's or anything, so they assume everyone is subprime and price the loans accordingly.

At this point, I hope you have equity in your house (if you own one) that you can take out and payoff the Marriott loan with that. That will lower your payments if necessary, the interest will go way down, and, the interest is a tax writeoff since it's coming out of home equity.

The other alternative as others have stated is to get a new 0% credit card with NO balance transfer fees (watch out for them! sometimes they're 3% or so uncapped) and transfer that balance to the card. The card promo may be 12-15 months depending on what you can find, and you CANNOT make a single mistake, or your interest rate will go really high. Hopefully you can pay this off by the time the promo ends, otherwise you'll want to transfer again to another card. Of course with each inquiry and new line you'll keep taking small hits on your credit score.. but if your credit is good enough now (720+ FICO) this would be a viable option.
 

Jaybee

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
1,301
Reaction score
6
Points
38
Did I mis-read the OP's note? He said, "The wife and her 6 figure salary is gone"...??? I figured his wife was gone, with her paycheck.. Whew! I'm sorry for their predicament, but I'm glad he isn't left to face it all alone.
 
Last edited:

Garnet

TUG Member
Joined
May 17, 2006
Messages
395
Reaction score
7
Points
379
Location
California
Resorts Owned
Marbrisa 2,31 MNCV 52, MSR 52, MDSV2, FSA
Alright...I can agree with Beverly and wanting a rate reduction-DUE to the POINTS thing and essentially prepayment penalties. But with as many TS as you have, why buy direct?:eek: Promise yourself-no more financing. For all the interest you pay, you spend the money elsewhere for a cushier retirement (more timeshares :) ) or more fun on vacation. And never, ever finance something with a prepayment penalty. OK-enough.

Now for something maybe a little more constructive. Right now on Oprah.com you can download Suse Orman's new book 2009 ACTION PLAN. Especially for the OP, with wife and salary gone-hopefully this will give you some great info. I haven't read it myself-YET. Generally, I really, really respect Suze Orman. The only thing I think she said the other day was to pay down high interest credit card debit before saving at least 8 months living expenses. (Normally the recommendation is to have 3-6 months living expenses in savings....in these tough economic times she thinks 8 months is better, I agree.) Depending on how much you have saved now, and what industry you are in, I might work on saving up first. Sorry, I know a bit off topic. Hopefully helpful for those in difficult financial situations.
 

ukgrcowner

newbie
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
uk
I completely agree with this post.

The posters in this thread who are pushing back against OP are missing something. OP isn't asking anyone to forgive the loan. It's also in Marriott's best interest to keep OP paying the note regardless of the rate. Lot's of foreclosures will hurt Marriott and the HOAs of the properties already managed by the owners.

We NEED people to keep paying their maintenance fees.

I totaly agree it is neccersary to push for a lower rate on loan payments because if we cannot pay the loans we cannot pay the hoas which in turn hurt the whole property and business model created. I'm completely of the oppinion that greedy corporate america of which marriott is part will not drop the loan rates even though it is seeing alot of pain mainly from the ts market. The only way to sort this is to keep the defaults to the minimum and the mf's paid.
 

KathyPet

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
1,684
Reaction score
6
Points
38
Location
No Va
WF2,
A TS is not a necessity it is a "nice to have". If you cannot make your payments due to your new circumstances you need to get out from under the burden of the time share. Can you sell it for what you owe? That at least will allow you to get out from under the loan and the MF's. I have no problem with homeowners renegotiating with their lenders to lower their rates. These are their homes for goodness sakes and people need to have a roof over their heads but a TS is a different matter entirely. If you can't pay for it and can't sell it then stop paying for it. Perhaps if you get 3 months behind Marriott might be willing to modify your loan. If not then let them foreclose on it. Like I said it's a timeshare not a home.
 

ukgrcowner

newbie
Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
uk
WF2,
A TS is not a necessity it is a "nice to have". If you cannot make your payments due to your new circumstances you need to get out from under the burden of the time share. Can you sell it for what you owe? That at least will allow you to get out from under the loan and the MF's. I have no problem with homeowners renegotiating with their lenders to lower their rates. These are their homes for goodness sakes and people need to have a roof over their heads but a TS is a different matter entirely. If you can't pay for it and can't sell it then stop paying for it. Perhaps if you get 3 months behind Marriott might be willing to modify your loan. If not then let them foreclose on it. Like I said it's a timeshare not a home.

very true but you would think that amrriott would want to keep foreclosures down to a min as they are looking to sell all there loans to get them out the sh*t.
 

KathyPet

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
1,684
Reaction score
6
Points
38
Location
No Va
If you try to negotiate a lower interest rate and your payments are up to date you will probably find Marriott unwilling to talk to you. If, however, you are two-three months behind on your payment you might find them a lot more willing to consider a loan modification. I know it sounds stupid that they won't consider helping you if your payments are current but might negotiate if you are behind in your payments but that it the way it is. They appear to have more incentive to deal if you are behind because they don't want to foreclose.
 

Dave M

TUG Lifetime Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
Messages
12,242
Reaction score
12
Points
623
Location
Sun City Hilton Head, SC
Unfortunately, in most cases, Marriott will not be willing to negotiate the loan terms. That's because Marriott typically packages and sells most of its loans to loan servicing companies. Thus, Marriott won't have the authority to negotiate terms if your loan has been sold. Marriott usually discusses its loan sale program in its annual report.

Thus, if you find out that Marriott has sold the loan, you'll have to deal with whatever entity currently owns the loan.
 

rthib

TUG Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2005
Messages
1,973
Reaction score
644
Points
473
Location
DFW, TX
How do you think Marriott pays it's salarys

So Marriott decided to lower everyone interest rate -
Then it will have less money and will then need to layoff other people's wives and cut their salary's.
Those people will not be able to purchase "x" or demand that their debt be lowered - and those company will lay off those peoples wife.
And so on and so on.

Let us not forget the law of unintended consequences.
 
Top