Help! Timeshare is sinking us

[cbyrne1174]

We bought a Wyndham timeshare before the economy went kaput and we could afford it. Now we aren’t even treading water.
I’m leary of exit companies, they seem like frauds.
Are there any happy Wyndham owners that would like to acquire more points?
I feel so lost. I just found this website…haven’t the foggiest how it works.

There are plenty of happy Wyndham owners that want to aquire more points. Buying them developer is just a terrible way to do it. Happy owners all know better. Sadly, you won't get out of your poor decision without concequences. At least you didn't buy a house at the height of the bubble and are only out $15,000 and not $100,000 upside down on a mortgage.

Here are your choices:

1. Default

2. Pay it off

Choice 1 will hurt your credit for at least 7 years, I personally wouldn't go that route over $15,000. If you choose choice 2, look at the APR that you are paying and see if there is ANY WAY to get it down while you side hustle your ass off. You can Doordash $15,000 easily if you and your partner do it every weekend. Weekends usually yield $20 an hour in my area.

This has risk to it, but if you have good credit and are 100% sure about not letting it hit your credit, then you can always try to just get a $5,000+ limit 0% intro APR credit card and credit card hop to get at least some of the interest down. When the intro period is over, get another card with the same offer and clear and close the one you were previously using. I did that in my mid 20s when my husband kept getting laid off and I didn't want to lose the cars because we needed them for work. I was able to transfer $10,000 of car payment debt to credit card debt with 0% interest for about 3 years. Any other type of personal loan requires proof of income, so sadly credit cards were my only option. I paid both cars off ith no additional interest and am debt free now.

If you go the credit card method, then you will need to stick to side hustling to pay it off before the intro period is over. 2 people can easily clear $15,000 doing food/grocery delivery in a year. If you have a skill that you can freelance with, make an Upwork account and see if you can get a contract. My husband has made around that before with IT contracts while he worked full time elsewhere. I don't know your skill sets but there are plenty of ways to add $7,500 to your annual income each. I'm a teacher is ass backwards FL and make roughly the same as the general manager at McDonalds. I have side hustled $7,500/year easily for the past 5 years. Most teachers in FL have to in order to keep their jobs. I do tutoring, Doordash when I know I'll get at least $2/mile, I used to rent out my Wyndham for around $3,000/year profit (can't anymore without getting account frozen), and pet sitting (Rover.com).

You're just going to have to swallow your pride on this one. I have a science degree that I worked my ass off for and have no issues handing people food or walking their dog. I made a choice so I wouldn't have to waste my entire life making some rich asshole richer by exploiting me. Teaching was the only profession I could think of and having to walk dogs and give people food are the consequences of my poor financial decision of becoming a teacher.

 

[goaliedave]

If you have a loan, it's no different than a car or house with a big loan ... you can't get rid of it. Contact a bankruptcy lawyer for advice.

 

[chapjim]

What do you own, and how much is owed? You could rent it and use the money to pay for part of what you owe. Is it a fixed week or points? Need to tell us more about your timeshare. How big, number of bedrooms etc.

This is not good advice for a Wyndham owner.

 

[rickandcindy23]

This is not good advice for a Wyndham owner.

Exactly what I was going to say. We all know better.

 

[WManning]

If you have a loan, it's no different than a car or house with a big loan ... you can't get rid of it. Contact a bankruptcy lawyer for advice.

Forget about the lawyer it will only cost you more. Stop paying is you best bet not to lose another 15k. Forget about a exit company they are worse then the slick sales guy that sold you a ownership of dreams that is worthless when you go to sell it. Heck Wyndham takes them back for nothing only if they are paid in full.

 

[cbyrne1174]

Forget about the lawyer it will only cost you more. Stop paying is you best bet not to lose another 15k. Forget about a exit company they are worse then the slick sales guy that sold you a ownership of dreams that is worthless when you go to sell it. Heck Wyndham takes them back for nothing only if they are paid in full.

Yea but saving 15k might not be worth tanking OP's credit to them. I wouldn't tank mine over that much if it was between 2 people working.

 

[TUGBrian]

if the credit score is truly the concern, simply transfer the balance to another line of credit and "pay it off".

chances are even a signature loan at a bank or CU would be at a far less interest rate than the loan you took out for the timeshare anyway. this benefits you twofold as it lets you give the ownership back to wyndham (eliminating your annual dues) and lets you set whatever terms of repayment for the loan with your bank or lender of choice.

 

[silentg]

This is not good advice for a Wyndham owner.

Well, let’s hear your advice. I’m not a Wyndham owner by the way.

 

[silentg]

Exactly what I was going to say. We all know better.

Ok, I’m going to stop giving advice. Since you know better what do you suggest?

 

[chapjim]

Well, let’s hear your advice. I’m not a Wyndham owner by the way.

Since you are not a Wyndham owner, best keep to yourself advice to Wyndham owners about how to use Wyndham ownership.

Go to the Wyndham forum and do a search for "commercial use."

 

[silentg]

Ok, I thought this was a friendly forum for advice, guess I was wrong.

 

[sponger76]

Ok, I’m going to stop giving advice. Since you know better what do you suggest?

Well, let’s hear your advice. I’m not a Wyndham owner by the way.

I'm not a Wyndham owner either, but the reason they're saying it's bad advice is that Wyndham has been sending cease and desist letters and penalizing owners it suspects of renting out reservations.

 

[chapjim]

Ok, I thought this was a friendly forum for advice, guess I was wrong.

Advice should be informed. Yours wasn't. Friendly has nothing to do with it.

 

[silentg]

I don’t belong to Wyndham.Only HIVC, my other timeshares are independent and fixed. I have exchanged and rented them with many successful results. I don’t claim to be knowledgeable about timeshare systems but I never would put another person down on a public forum. Furthermore, I don’t see you offering any advice at all except to tell me I’m wrong.

 

[sponger76]

I don’t belong to Wyndham.Only HIVC, my other timeshares are independent and fixed. I have exchanged and rented them with many successful results. I don’t claim to be knowledgeable about timeshare systems but I never would put another person down on a public forum. Furthermore, I don’t see you offering any advice at all except to tell me I’m wrong.

I think renting is just a particularly touchy subject for Wyndham owners right now because of how aggressive they've been recently in going after suspected renters. They don't want to see a Wyndham owner get in trouble by following advice to rent out units.

 

[troy12n]

I don’t belong to Wyndham.Only HIVC, my other timeshares are independent and fixed. I have exchanged and rented them with many successful results. I don’t claim to be knowledgeable about timeshare systems but I never would put another person down on a public forum. Furthermore, I don’t see you offering any advice at all except to tell me I’m wrong.

Well, there you go. Since you are not a Wyndham owner and don't know the ins and outs of how our system operates, it's probably a good idea if you just didn't try to give advice, especially on the subject of renting.

Wyndham has gone to great lengths recently to eradicate owners from renting. Most of us owners see this as a good thing. The only ones who don't are the ones who bought millions of points with the express intent to rent them and become wanna-be slumlords. Contributing to the problem of unit availability. Jim falls into that category.

Most of the rest of us applaud Wyndham for taking a stand against the scourge of renting in our system...

But back to my original point, you probably need to stay in your lane and sit this one out...

 

[goaliedave]

Yea but saving 15k might not be worth tanking OP's credit to them. I wouldn't tank mine over that much if it was between 2 people working.

Exactly. Every person is different. Talk to a professional to fully understand your options and consequences. Bankruptcy trustees in our town do free intro meetings.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Ok, I’m going to stop giving advice. Since you know better what do you suggest?

Wyndham could cancel the confirmation on these people, if they add a guest name. That is what's happening to owners right now. It's been an absolute disaster with Wyndham. Wyndham has the power to cancel guests. That would be a new problem for the OP, unfortunately.

I feel for the OP, but $15,000 is not going to break anyone. Work out a payment plan with Wyndham and then give it away after you pay for it. Many of us have overpaid for timeshares and just sucked it up. It's painful, but you do what you have to do to not take a credit hit.

 

[SteveinHNL]

Wyndham could cancel the confirmation on these people, if they add a guest name. That is what's happening to owners right now. It's been an absolute disaster with Wyndham. Wyndham has the power to cancel guests. That would be a new problem for the OP, unfortunately.

I feel for the OP, but $15,000 is not going to break anyone. Work out a payment plan with Wyndham and then give it away after you pay for it. Many of us have overpaid for timeshares and just sucked it up. It's painful, but you do what you have to do to not take a credit hit.

This is some good advice right here. Whether $15K is a lot of money varies from person to person. But as has been pointed out, it is not an insurmountable sum to pay, although it may certainly be inconvenient, a hassle, and even miserable, to do what's necessary to pay it. But taking on a bankruptcy or a credit hit in lieu of paying $15K is something that I think almost everyone should really think long and hard about before doing it.

 

[troy12n]

As far as advice to the OP, it sucks that you are going through this, I dont know what your situation is, but if a foreclosure is the only way out, then there you go... if you are both unemployed there's no way in hell you are going to get financing to restructure, and right now, rates are crazy anyway. Maybe cut your losses. I know you don't want to hear it, but it is what it is...

I don't think it's my place or anyone else's here to make a comment like "everyone can come up with 15 grand", that's an incredibly obtuse statement to make, especially if they are unemployed

 

[rickandcindy23]

I don't know @troy12n. I drive a car that is 19.5 years old, and I love it even still. Our kids make fun of me for owning an old car with 208,000 miles on it. Not one of our kids owns anything older than 2018.

It's not that I cannot afford a new car, it's that I choose to spend my money in other ways.

Foreclosure can be costly and could keep the OP from owning a home or a needed car at some point. There are consequences to walking away. It's not a decision to take lightly.

 

[silentg]

Why aren’t any of you upset that Wyndham has such control over how you choose to use your timeshare?
Telling you no rentals ? Do they allow exchanging? I know I’m out of my lane, but I’m curious?

 

[bnoble]

Of course many people are upset. Why do you think otherwise?

 

[cbyrne1174]

Why aren’t any of you upset that Wyndham has such control over how you choose to use your timeshare?
Telling you no rentals ? Do they allow exchanging? I know I’m out of my lane, but I’m curious?

We can more than likely rent out 2 reservations a year once the dust has settled. We're allocated 2 GCs per year.

 

[goaliedave]

As far as advice to the OP, it sucks that you are going through this, I dont know what your situation is, but if a foreclosure is the only way out, then there you go... if you are both unemployed there's no way in hell you are going to get financing to restructure, and right now, rates are crazy anyway. Maybe cut your losses. I know you don't want to hear it, but it is what it is...

I don't think it's my place or anyone else's here to make a comment like "everyone can come up with 15 grand", that's an incredibly obtuse statement to make, especially if they are unemployed

Yes, a lot of people can't see others' perspectives, only their own, they used to live in their own world pre-internet but are now harmful. Always seek professional advice.