Jim, Lanny and Theo,
Thank you all so much for your advice! It's been very helpful and has eased a bit of the anxiety that we've been dealing with.
I've stumbled upon a contract and promissory note with the financing company that perhaps you could help me with?
FINCONPRO (FINCO), the company with which they have the outstanding loan amount that went toward part of the down payment, seems to be affiliated with Sunset Group, but I'm not sure if it's a completely separate company or just in the finance department of Sunset. On the contract with FINCO, there is a section that reads:
"Loan Guarantee - The recipient agrees that if the Credit Line is not paid on the payment due date, the recipient authorizes the RESORT and FINCO to add FINCONPRO S.A. de C.V.'s name and/or its assigns as principal owner(s) to the contract # xxxx being purchased from the RESORT, giving FINCO and/or its assigns the right to cancel the above mentioned contract without notice." "Special Consideration - The recipient of the credit line authorizes the RESORT that, in the case of a cancelation of the contract, for any reason, to return directly to FINCO the full amount of the credit line."
"Note Acceptance - ....Recipient of credit line agrees that, in the event legal action arises in connection with this credit line, the successful party shall recover from the other, responsible and actual legal costs and attorney fees, as governed by the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico."
I'm not sure if I'm reading that correctly, but it sounds to me like if the payments are in default, FINCO has the authority to cancel the contract and take the full amount of the loan back from the resort? If that's the case, I'm guessing the only reason why the people from the resort/sunset are threatening my parents would be because they would lose that down payment? Please correct me if I have misinterpreted that information.
At this point, I think my only concerns are:
-If FINCO is a separate company from Sunset, then I would be more concerned about the threat of collections.
-If my parents continue to cease all payments and communication, and basically avoid the whole situation, would it potentially affect their future ability to vacation in Mexico? Theo, I know you had mentioned about not being able to use the specific resort, which would be fine. I would just hate to see them book a vacation at a different resort in the future and they get flagged or something as soon as they enter the country.
Thanks again everyone!