Exit Vistana Timeshare Help

[dawsonar802]

Hello,
I am reaching out in hopes for some advice here. Last September we went to a presentation at Sheraton and were pitched Vistana. We declined several times, but after being there for close to 3hrs with our daughter and the sale pitch getting sweeter and sweeter, we ended up purchasing. Shortly after purchasing my wife had some health problems and had to leave her job. We are not able to use the timeshare and to be honest it is so confusing on how to even do anything with it. We felt like there were quite a few lies on what we would be able to do with the points as well. We tried exit services but since there is a loan they will not help.

Out of frustration back in May we found Wesley Financial and again were not going to go through with using them, but they made some great points on if we keep paying the service fees and they go up 5% a year we will have paid an outrageous amount. We are now awaiting next steps from them, but it was a cost of $8k. If they cannot cancel for us, then it can be refunded, but so far we are not happy with their services. They would not tell us one way or the other but we need to decide on if we keep paying on the loan and maintenance fees or stop paying. They would only say that not paying it has helped get a cancellation, it I assume it will hurt our great credit.

Can anyone share any advice? What happens if we get a refund from Wesley and then pay off the Vistana loan? Can it be sold at that point to recoup the loan payoff or is it worthless? Thanks in advance.

Andrew

 

[DeniseM]

Tough Love: You are not going to get a refund from Wesley. They are going to give you some sample letters to send off, and that's about it. These "rescue" companies cannot do anything legally to break your contract - they just want your money.

Your timeshare has little or no resale value, so selling it and paying it off is not an option.

Your only real option is to default on the loan, and eventually, Sheraton/Marriott will foreclose & take it back. If you aren't worried about having great credit for the next 7 years or so, that may work for you.

If the timeshare is just the tip of your financial iceberg, you should consult a legitimate credit counselor about the big picture and what your options are. With your wife out of work, bankruptcy may even be an option - but you need to talk to someone reputable about it.

 

[dawsonar802]

Fantastic. Well that is about what was expected I suppose. It is crazy to me that this is even legal, but I am sure with all the various loopholes they get around it.

Does anyone know what the impact on a credit score would be? Is it 50, 100, 300 points, etc… When you say if the timeshare is just the tip of the Iceberg, do you mean if there is more debt, etc…? I mean if we can get out of the loan and be up maybe taking a hit on credit of a few hundred points, that would not be terrible. But I had read that since it is a foreclosure that it would stay on for 7yrs and impact other loans, etc.. I would for sure dispute it with the credit agencies but not sure if that would really do much or not.

 

[DeniseM]

That's why I wrote: If you aren't worried about having great credit for the next 7 years or so, that may work for you.

YES: do you mean if there is more debt, etc…?

 

[dawsonar802]

Thanks. If anyone has been through this and can speak to how much it will impact credit, that would be great. But if there are no other options to get out of it, then the option to not pay the loan seems to be the only one. Credit scores are mid to high 800’s so having 100 or 150 point impact may be doable but if it is something like 300 or more, then that would not be ideal.

 

[dioxide45]

Worst of all, when you default and Vistana forecloses, Wesley will consider that a successful timeshare exit. They can do nothing for you that you can't do yourself for free. It costs you nothing to default. Have you already paid Wesley the $8000?

 

[dawsonar802]

Yes, unfortunately we already paid Wesley. :-(..

 

[WorldT]

Yes, unfortunately we already paid Wesley. :-(..

How is this even legal? These guys advertise everywhere and they are not doing anything for these folks. But I digress.

Not sure how many points the foreclosure will impact your score. Keep in mind that some lenders may chose to ignore timeshare related debts on your report. You have to ask yourself, what am I going to be doing in the next few years that requires a pristine credit history?