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Cancelling timeshare

KCTC

newbie
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
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Location
Saskatchewan, Canada
We have a timeshare we purchased through Wyndham at Star Island in Orlando. We no longer want to keep it, how do we go about cancelling our contract and giving it back? or can we? Any advice would be helpful. Regretting buying it, but caved in to the pressure.
 
We have a timeshare we purchased through Wyndham at Star Island in Orlando. We no longer want to keep it, how do we go about cancelling our contract and giving it back? or can we? Any advice would be helpful. Regretting buying it, but caved in to the pressure.



I think we can better assist you if you can provide the date that the contract was signed.



.
 
We bought it October of 2014. We haven't used any points yet.



I'm afraid you own it, and can't cancel the contract. The best option is to try and unload it thru a legitimate sale.

Suggest you list it here on TUG for a reasonable price. Another alternative for a quick sale would be to place onto EBay.

In any event, I think it's safe to assume you will be selling at a loss; a BIG loss.





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You can only "cancel" a timeshare purchase within a few days of purchase. After that it is like any other contractual obligation - there is no canceling.

Unfortunately, unless it is paid off, it's very unlikely that you can sell it, because you probably owe more than it's worth on the resale market.

If it's paid off, you may be able to sell it, but you will get a fraction of what you paid on the resale market.
 
Sure. Sell it or give it away. Since you've owned it for longer than 5-7 days you can't cancel your ownership any more than you can just turn in your house to the mortgage company and eliminate the bills.

You can list it free on the Bargain Deals sub-forum here on TUG, or join TUG for $15 and list it in the Marketplace in the red stripe above. When it has a new owner, you'll be free of your obligation.

Jim
 
If you owe $$ on it:
Your only realistic option is to default and suffer a foreclosure (or offer it to the lender in lieu of).

If you don't owe $$ (or can pay it off):
You may be able to give it back (if they'll take it) or try to sell it for next to nothing...
Check out close auctions on e-bay to get an idea of prices.

Alternative:
You could, instead, make use of it. At one time you thought it was a good idea.
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owe on it?


In that case, you have some difficult choices. The finance company and/or resort management won't simply cancel the contract. You had 5-7 days after you bought to do that without penalty. After that, you are committed.

You can simply stop paying. That will surely result in a black mark on your credit, and a hit on your credit score. We can't know how serious it can be, but may result in not being able to make major purchases, higher interest rates, inability to get employment in certain industries. This can last 7 years after the foreclosure, and THAT may be years down the road.

OR, you might consider paying it off, using it. Or renting the week(s) you own to reduce your cost. You will not get enough in rent to completely pay your loan payment and maintenance fees, but you can apply what you get toward those.

OR, when you bought the timeshare, you saw value to your family in owning it, providing memorable vacations for your family. Many, many TUGgers bought from the developer just like you did. Almost half, in fact. They soon found TUG, realized that timeshares have little to no resale value, and persevered to pay them off, use them the way they intended. Most of us added more weeks at resale- some for free- some folks have even been paid to take them- thereby reducing the per-week cost. We treat timeshare as a hobby. It can get a bit addictive, because they are so easy to buy, and so fun to use.

Good luck with your decision. It isn't an easy one, and doing nothing has serious consequences.

Jim
 
Any advice would be helpful. Regretting buying it, but caved in to the pressure.

The other piece of advice that is usually offered here is to watch out for the many scams that are aimed at TS owners like you, especially of ones in Orlando.

There's the infamous upfront fee resale scam. In a nutshell, they phone up owners of TSs claiming they can/will sell or rent your TS for a king's ransom. You just have to pay them some advance fee or tax. Scam.

The other one is where they claim they can get you out of your TS (even if you have a mortgage or maintenance fees owing) and end all obligations. Some do the "Viking Ship" scheme.

The best advice has already been given. Either continue paying, try to use it, and get some nice accommodations while on vacation or default with the risk of credit hits. Your call.
 
Luckily I am not in the situation of owning a timeshare that I did not want BUT if I were then this is what I would do. Typically when I give advice I try to put myself in the shoes of the person.

Most of these give it back companies I have seen are scam artist I wouldn't trust em.

Scenario two is a WORSE CASE SCENARIO

Scenario One
See if I were within the window still to exercise buyers remorse for the state I purchased the timeshare in. If this did not apply I would move to Scenario two.

Scenario Two
If I owned a timeshare where I owed $20,000 or something bonkers like that and to my knowledge a lot of timeshare companies will not allow resale unless you have a warranty deed owing $0 so reselling this in most cases would NOT be an option if this applies. I would default on the timeshare and have it foreclosed ruining my credit and prior to doing so try to position myself where I wouldn't need a loan for a very long time and wait for the FCRAs statue of limitations for reporting the bad mark to fall off.

Scenario Three
If I owned the warranty deed owing a $0 balance on the timeshare and there was some resale value DVC timeshare etc then sell it for money try to recoup some of the money back out of it.

Scenario Four
If the timeshare was paid off and I had the warranty deed and there was no resale value I would see if the resort would take it back in some instances they do if it is paid off.

Scenario Five
If the timeshare was paid off and the resort would not allow deedbacks. Also the timeshare had no resale value then I would try to give it away for free. If really desperate I would try to offer an extra incentive like paying next years maintenance fees allow free usage for one year and pay closing cost etc.

Be very skeptical of give it back companies I personally wouldn't trust any of them. If you bought a timeshare from a resort I would say once burnt lesson learnt and try to not fall victim to other scams.
 
In a reply to my go to post on the above to further address the op DeniseM is spot on with her reply.

I am very very sorry. My best advice moving forward is stay on tugbbs read and educate others to not buy a timeshare direct from the developer it is always better to buy resale.

I do not know how much you owe on the timeshare, but usually there is very little resale value in these things.
 
If you owe $$ on it:
Your only realistic option is to default and suffer a foreclosure (or offer it to the lender in lieu of).

If you don't owe $$ (or can pay it off):
You may be able to give it back (if they'll take it) or try to sell it for next to nothing...
Check out close auctions on e-bay to get an idea of prices.

Alternative:
You could, instead, make use of it. At one time you thought it was a good idea.
.

My idea because you own it, stay there once, or trade it once, or rent it out. But if you rent it out it would be easier to tell renters how it is to stay there, knowledge of what you have,and have done, makes it easier to rent or sell. If you trade ,when you do try to sell,can tell others in your add where you traded to and the value of the trade. I have a few weeks I want to give away, but have made lemons into Lemonade. ( sorry for that analogy folks),! I trade then can share where it trades to. Orlando/kissimmee is difficult because so many other timeshares are here being given away and it is an easy place to trade into for folks who have timeshares other places. Good luck! BTW I had an Aunt who stayed at Star Island and we visited her there, she liked it!
Silentg
 
You've received good advice here. It's not an easy thing to dispose of a timeshare, especially when there's money owing on it. But one thing does cross my mind that may impact your situation.

AFAIK, there's never been a definitive answer or an actual firsthand experience posted here on TUG of whether a Canadian who defaults on a US timeshare purchase actually experiences fallout on their credit, which is a pretty big motivator to not just walk away.

Please don't take this as my suggestion that there wouldn't be any fallout or that they can't both impact your credit score and/or sue. I've taken a look on Google, and there seems to be some empirical "evidence" that US credit history doesn't transfer that readily to Canadian credit reporting agencies but that information is worth what is paid for it - nothing.

It's a conundrum that I've tried to follow up with various posters, but never really been able to get an answer for. If you're truly desperate, it might be worth looking into with an expert who specializes in debt assistance.
 
Now learn something

Thanks for all the advice. I am thinking we will keep it.

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

Here now do not compound you situation, get to know the rental part of timesharing if you have enough points to do that, or ask advice about using your timeshare online here, many are here to help. You now need to get the most out of it. Is it points based? and if so how many you bought? If you don't mind me asking
 
,<snip> I am thinking we will keep it.

Don't know your original purchase price, how much money you initially put down as a deposit, or how much you still owe --- all of which is of course important and relevant, but if you're willing to absorb the loss of any and all sunk money to date so far, you could at least ask Wyndham to release you from the contract and loan. Odds of success are admittedly slim, but likely worth a letter and a few postage stamps to at least inquire.

Default is of course an option to completely stop the bleeding immediately and permanently --- but certainly not without collection and credit consequences. :shrug:
 
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