Found out information, feel bad about purchase...

[jddgfd]

Sorry, just want to get opinions from the experienced crowd here. When we signed up for our timeshare we had discussed paying off the full amount with credit cards (0% intro cards that we could use to pay off entire amount over the next year or 2 to not incur the ridiculous 15% financing they offered) and was told multiple times that this would be possible by our sales person and the associate that did the paperwork with us.

In the intervening weeks we applied for and got the 0% interest cards to use and I called today to make the payment in full on the cards and was told that they do not accept credit card payments for any additional principal than currently due, and they will not let me pay off the entire amount.

This is not what we were told and I would not have signed up knowing we were stuck with the 15% APR loan in effect costing us thousands of dollars in interest, also due to being told that we would be able, we applied for credit cards which will have an effect on our credit scores at this time, and now the credit cards are necessary.

I don't really know what to do at this time. I am expecting a call from the supervisor of the customer service people and the owners associate that told us that we would be able to handle our loan this way. I wish we would have known about the rescinding (which was not disclosed to us at all verbally but was buried in the binder of paperwork).

Has anyone ever experience being told they would be able to make payments/pay off the loan in a certain way and then being told later that that is not an option?

 

[Bill4728]

Since this is a general question and not about one system I'm moving this to the buying and selling board

 

[taterhed]

Sadly, the 'if it's not written, it's not guaranteed...' rule applies. I've run into this issue when buying cars (trying to nab the rewards cash). "oh, I'm sorry, but $4k max on any form of credit card....." There isn't much you can do usually.

Besides, they'd end up billing you the CC funding percentage anyway.
There are some sources of funding... maybe other Tuggers will reply with some.

I'll spare you any sour-grapes advice about financing TS's etc.... I'm sure you'll find a better source of funds and learn to love your time with family/friends. Welcome to TUG. This is the best place to learn how to maximize the use, enjoyment and ownership of your TS!

 

[bogey21]

See if you can get the 0% money transferred into a checking account. Alternatively see if the 0% Credit Card Provider will give you a couple of checks with which to access the 0%. Many do. Where there is a will, there has to be a way!

George

 

[bnoble]

You probably cannot do this directly, even though you were told you can---as noted, verbal representations generally don't mean much in the timeshare sales business. However, there are some people here at TUG who know a lot about how to make credit cards work for you, maybe someone will come up with a clever idea.

In the meantime, don't beat yourself up about this purchase. Most people who own timeshares bought from the developer, and timeshare owners in general are a pretty happy lot. Stick around and learn how to get the most out of your ownership, and enjoy your vacations!

 

[Passepartout]

Don't beat yourself up too bad over this. Instead, ask yourself, "What did I learn today?" Check your math. If you were in financial condition to pay off zero % interest credit cards " in a year or 2", you can send the lender additional funds earmarked to principle. It won't be without some interest cost, but it will not be 'thousands'. Just don't fall into the trap of paying the minimum due.

Jim

 

[gmarine]

I would check your contract to see what it says about credit card payments and pre payment of principal.
Regarding taking a cash advance from the credit card that offers 0%. Its almost a certainty that it wont be permitted or if it is permitted there will be an additional cash advance fee. However, a cash advance fee will still probably make it worthwhile to do providing the promo interest rate applies.

 

[WinniWoman]

Normally cash advance interest begins the moment the check is cashed until it is paid in full, in addition to a fee, so be very careful if you decide to use this method. I would call the credit card company to find out the dirty details.

 

[am1]

All good advice but probably better advice can be given in this situation. Maybe stop paying completely.

 

[colatown]

HGVC doesn't charge anything for paying more than the minimum and there are probably others. You do have to call them to do it.

 

[dioxide45]

HGVC doesn't charge anything for paying more than the minimum and there are probably others. You do have to call them to do it.

Many of these kinds of loans through the big timeshare companies don't have prepayment penalties. The issue the OP is having is trying to prepay using a credit card.

They probably would have been fine to make the purchase on credit card, however paying off a loan with a credit card is usually problematic.

 

[jddgfd]

Thank you all for the advice.

That is why we asked about specifically using a 0% card to miss the interest and was told we can do 45 day same as cash to avoid accruing interest while we obtained the needed cards.

Thought about calling the credit card companies to see if they would provide transfer checks, the one time 3% fee associated would be a lot better than the 15% APR for the loan.

The primary reason we wanted to do the 0% initially,even though we will plan on paying it off over the next year or 2, is we are getting married in June and are funding our wedding, so extra money is currently going to that so don't have the extra funds to put toward the time share til June when we were going to redirect our funds to pay off the time share and it would be nice to not accrue interest. That was our main argument with the salesman about why now wasn't a good time for us to purchase and the ability to put it on a 0% interest card was the only reason we did purchase at this time. That is what is really the frustrating part.

And the 15% APR for a year will be well over $2-3 and if it does have to go up to 2 years will be close to the $4k+ range in interest. That is not insignificant especially when told by the owners associate and the sales person we would be able to use credit cards to pay off the loan.

 

[WinniWoman]

Again- be careful with cash advance checks. They may not be zero percent interest and the interest might start accruing immediately.

 

[Bailey#1]

Again- be careful with cash advance checks. They may not be zero percent interest and the interest might start accruing immediately.

I believe this is the case! So OP be careful!

 

[dioxide45]

Often balance transfer checks that you get with a new credit card will have 0% interest on them, however they do usually carry a balance transfer fee. Even if the balance transfer check has an interest rate on it, they are often better than that of the actual card they are for. Sometimes like 3.9% or close to that. The credit card companies us that to try to gain market share. Always best to check the terms of any balance transfer checks with the credit card company. Though never take a cash advance at an ATM.

 

[raygo123]

See if you can get the 0% money transferred into a checking account. Alternatively see if the 0% Credit Card Provider will give you a couple of checks with which to access the 0%. Many do. Where there is a will, there has to be a way!

George

That is what we did. Knowing there was a chance we may buy more points, I found, before we left on vacation, a deal where I could get 0% for 10 months on my first merit card up to my credit limit. I also applied 2/3 of the purchase to my existing Chase card, and the balance on the Wyndham card, which we signed up for the day of purchase for double points and 6 months at 0%. Took the first merit money and paid off the Visa, and then the Wyndham card within the 6 months, and by 4/20 will pay back first merit. So yes find a card that will transfer funds to your checking.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Kapolei]

There are many different variations of balance transfer checks. Some have allowed deposit directly into a checking account. Don't know what the current trend on this is. As to terms, usually the best offers are targeted. The best I have seen recently is 1 year 0% with 2% fee.

Other short-term low cost financing I have seen in recent years, is credit union personal loans. I have seen very low rates. Some research here might yield something acceptable. Good luck.

 

[presley]

I don't really know what to do at this time. I am expecting a call from the supervisor of the customer service people and the owners associate that told us that we would be able to handle our loan this way. I wish we would have known about the rescinding (which was not disclosed to us at all verbally but was buried in the binder of paperwork).

Has anyone ever experience being told they would be able to make payments/pay off the loan in a certain way and then being told later that that is not an option?

If it isn't in the written contract, you don't have a legal leg to stand on. However, if you want out of the contract, be aggressive and don't let up on hounding them to let you out since they lied to you at the sales pitch. You'd need to blast them on social media and file a complaint at the BBB. Maybe they will let you out of the contract. Maybe not.

If you want to keep the contract, you could probably get a personal loan from a credit union for less interest, but that would be a lot higher than the 0% credit card game. Most credit cards will issue checks that can be used for anything with the one time processing fee (3 - 5%) and a 0% offer for a year or whatever. If they are new credit cards, you will probably have to call to ask for the checks if you are in a hurry.

 

[GreenTea]

Has the loan actually funded? If not you maybe could pay it that way. Once it funded, I doubt they will take a card for any more than the minimum monthly payment. You can pay additional, usually, with cash.

If you want to get out of the 15% interest, look at Lightstream, a decision of SunTrust Bank, to see about a loan for this. The rate will be lower for certain without the complication of running out of time on 12 months zero interest on a card.

 

[jddgfd]

Am waiting to hear back from the Owners Associate that I signed the contract with. I have tried calling three times in the last two days, so will see if I hear back today (called this morning and verified she is suppose to be in today). I wish they would have said we could pay in full with credit card that day because that would at least have given us the option of paying it on our current cards that day and then do a 0% transfer (Slate card has a great offer for 0% fee and 0% interest for a length of time) but since that is not what we expected we opted to get other cards that, if I can get the transfer checks (have them for one of the cards) is a 3% transfer fee with 0% interest same as the intro length, will call the other card company as well.

It just seems like a stupid thing to lie about instead of discussing the realistic options to actually help the consumer. When, if, she calls today and depending on the outcome I may call my friend who is a lawyer just to see what her thoughts are on a litigation letter/firmness regarding wanting out of contract due to blatant misinformation by 2 associates after we expressed one of our primary concerns was the interest rate.

Will keep you update, thank you all for the feedback and suggestions. I have also looked into lendingtree and other personal loans, that way, not great interest rates but better than the 15%.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Stop calling the idiots ... they will NOT ANSWER or RETURN YOUR PHONE CALLS. No good will become them if they return your call. Phone calls will NOT lenghten your rescind window ... wait for a call back will have that window CLOSE on you.

They got their commission checks spent but IF you are still in the rescind window ... RESCIND.

Any deal they made for you will be there in 6 weeks or 6 months .. might even be a better deal.

 

[thebestinsales11]

I hate paying interest, but if i do have to carry a balance I use the barclay ring. Interest is 8.25%. 2 months ago our 25 yr old daughter needed a car. Sadly, her credit isn't were it needed to be for great interest rates. I did a cash advance at our bank with the barclay ring and it only costed $1. There balance transfer fee is also zero.

This maybe a good option for you and pay it down quickly?

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/ba...id=BCSBA0815PRD&publisherid=&advertisementid=

 

[jddgfd]

I am outside of the rescind period, which is why I haven't done that.

I will look into the barlcayring, thank you for that information. The Owners Associate that I worked with is going to talk to the accounting department to see if they will make an exception for me paying with a credit card to pay off the amount in full. She says its a new policy that started recently just due to the increase fee in credit card usage.

 

[Talent312]

Merchants who accept a CC are charged fees by the CC companies, thus reducing their take in each transaction. Of course, they pass this cost on to consumer thru mark-ups (which everyone pays). Loans don't have these fees built-in, so the lender would have to eat the fee. Government agencies that accept CC's for fixed amounts usually charge a convenience fee to the user (or use a 3rd party processor who charges the fee), commonly 2.5 - 3% of the transaction.

However, a balance transfer check is a different kettle of fish. The merchant would get the face amount of the check, and the CC-holder would pay a fee for the convenience.

The OP could offer to cover the lenders cost of the transaction or use a B-T check. A few year's back, I paid-off a car loan with a B-T check when the card issuer ran a zero-fee, 0% interest promotion.
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