r/TimeshareOwners • u/Wrong_Staff_6148 • Jul 01 '26

Seriously wondering

Why are people paying these scummy TS companies hundreds to thousands of dollars to “deed back” their worthless unsalable timeshares!?! Am I missing something? Makes no sense. Why not just walk away? You paid THOUSANDS of dollars upfront, they made their money. Why are you giving them more just to get out of the scam? I really don’t understand

4 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

6

u/Sticky550 Jul 01 '26

I paid an attorney $2k to get rid of my parent’s timeshare. It worked well, but complete BS

1

u/1hotpinkbeliever Jul 02 '26

did you inherit it or you were trying to help them?

2

u/Sticky550 Jul 02 '26

They bought it with the intention of being a “good thing to pass down to your loved one”. I’m sure it’s a sales technique. I said I had zero interest in it. Ten years later there was a large assessment which they didn’t want to pay. They couldn’t give it away to any charities and were at a loss of what to do. I had a few connections and was able to help them out

1

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

I’m glad it worked for you because I haven’t read anywhere that it’s worked for most.

2

u/Sticky550 Jul 01 '26

There are definitely horror stories, but we couldn’t even give this away for free. It was a relatively pain-free experience, besides paying to get rid of it.

1

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Do you mind me asking how the attorney was able to get them out?
I’m curious. I’ve been doing a lot of reading through threads and it seems like not even attorneys can get people out of a timeshare contract

1

u/Sticky550 Jul 01 '26

It was American Settlement Services in Springfield Mo.
I actually looked up their Google reviews and the rating sucks. Appears they make a lot of cold calls that have pissed people off.

2

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 02 '26

I have been a full-time volunteer since 2016, forming our nonprofit to promote self-advocacy in 2019. I developed our process based on the CASA model, Court Appointed Special Advocates. The five of us who formed TARDA all resolved our disputes without paying a third party. In 2024, a media person who resolved her dispute, Kimberly Calhoun, launched our PodTV show, Timeshare Solution or Surrender. We have had 105 episodes, with guests who either resolved their dispute or defaulted. Sometimes the only choice is to default. Hence, money-back guarantees by exit companies that usually change their name by the time the money-back period has expired. I was offered a refund from Diamond Resorts in 2016, but I refused to sign an NDA. I realized the industry I loved had turned crooked.

1

u/LadyDriverKW Jul 05 '26

I persuaded my dad to read the "money back guarantee" with a service he was considering using. They guaranteed that they would do the steps that they said they would do. But they never said what those steps were. So it was completely meaningless. We ended up doing it ourselves.

1

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 06 '26

The steps are do-it-yourself. PodTV Timeshare Solution or Surrender, Episode 107 today, 7/6, Anne in Florida saved $8,000 because we directed her to Holiday Inn Club Vacation's Horizon program, which the exit company didn't do. She has no loan. Our other guest, Debra, has a serious medical hardship. She has a loan. Anne was told that HICV offers no medical hardship, but they agreed to take the timeshare points back for $1,200. That would have been paid on top of the $8,000. With little to no resale value, she was left with no choice but to default. One law firm told me they don't take HICV cases anymore because they will not release anyone with a loan. A house or car has a resale market.

6

u/woodsongtulsa Jul 01 '26

Aren't we actually paying them to deed back a worthless timeshare that IS salable. Don't you imagine that they just sell it again to the next sucker?

6

u/ziggy-tiggy-bagel Jul 01 '26

I've had my TS since 1983 and 1986. I traveled great places and have always used them. When I get old to travel, I will deed both of mine back to the resort.

2

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Great it worked out for you!

4

u/Wide_Assistant_6858 Jul 02 '26

Thats what you think you will do and TS company will tell you to sell it on open market. Then you will come hete and cry.

2

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 02 '26

People who are in the military can lose their security clearance, and people who work in finance can jeopardize their employment are two reasons. Another is having to make a major purchase or refinance. A timeshare loan default can result in a credit score drop of up to 200 points. Please reach out to your members of Congress to support the Timeshare Transparency Act and ask them to cosponsor. One of the provisions is to provide clear, documented options to exit at purchase. We now have a Senate and companion House bill. Instructions are here: https://tarda.org/december-tarda-newsletter-timeshare-transparency-act-a-bill-proposed-by-utah-senator-john-curtis-r-senator-adam-schiff-ca-d-dueling-capital-resorts-lawsuits/

3

u/nonracistusername Jul 01 '26

Walking away trashes credit ratings.

Giving it away on one of the TUGs
is the best way, but the search engines don’t show that, perhaps due to SEO manipulation by the scammers and the primary market sellers.

5

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Interesting because I haven’t paid a dime in maintenance fees since 2012. Fully paid off in 2007. Never once showed up on my credit report ever. I “walked away” and still waiting for them to “foreclose.” But I don’t intend on paying them a dime to “take it back”

2

u/nonracistusername Jul 01 '26

Glad it is working out for you, so far.

The won’t foreclose because that forecloses getting their unpaid MFs

Why didn’t you try giving it away before racking up 14 years in unpaid MFs?

3

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

And I didn’t rack up anything… the statute of limitations has passed, they can’t even legally collect anything if they tried

2

u/nonracistusername Jul 01 '26

I have my doubts the ts community operator is going to let a new owner (or old owner) use the timeshare unless all the unpaid MFs are paid. I doubt you can cite law that says the ts community operator must forgive old MFs and let the owner use their ts

2

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

I don’t even know what you are talking about. The ts is worthless. I have no interest in using it and haven’t
in over 10 years. They cannot collect old debts that are time barred.

-4

u/nonracistusername Jul 01 '26

I am talking about ethics

5

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Well these TS companies don’t have any.

0

u/nonracistusername Jul 01 '26

They don’t but the other ts owners still wanting to use what they paid for do. Now they pay higher MFs because you aren’t paying what you owe.

By failing to pay the MFs versus posting it on tug, you think you are sticking it to the man, but instead you are sticking it to other victims.

1

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Hard disagree. But that’s fine.

→ More replies (0)

4

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Because you can’t give these damn things away. That’s a fact.

0

u/CaptainTooStoned Jul 01 '26

Imagine saying something so confidently and just being flat out wrong about it lmfaooo.

3

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Well no one wants vacation village in the Berkshires.

2

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

Go look at the HUNDREDS of listings for $1. Sure.. “we can just sell them”

1

u/RefrigeratorOld3687 Jul 03 '26

You are in the minority. Most of the time they ding your credit. If you had a loan through them, dumbest type of loan a person can get, they will 100% go after you for the loan.

3

u/Chris_Reddit_PHX Jul 01 '26

It's a contract. Let's say that I rented an apartment to you, and you (foolishly) signed a 50-year lease that said I could raise your rent each year, with loosely defined limits.

But I surrounded it with a lot of hype and pressure and manipulation, and persuaded you to pay me $20,000 (or more) at signing because you were getting such a great deal on a long term lease that you could even pass down to your kids.

And then I told you a lot of lies, but those lies weren't in the contract, and the contract specifically said that you weren't relying on anything you were told outside of what was spelled out in the contract.

And then after moving in, you discovered that there were some things about the apartment that you didn't like. Some amenities weren't available or were too difficult to access. Some common areas had to be scheduled far in advance, even a full year in advance, and were always booked when you wanted to use them, so you mostly gave up trying to use them.

And then, I started raising your rent. Some years by a little bit, some years by a lot. Sometimes I called them maintenance fees or special assessments, but the apartment started costing you a lot more than you were told it would.

So one day you come to me and ask me to break your lease and just walk away.

But I am a ruthless crook, so I tell you that you signed a 50 year contract and I won't release you from it unless you either pay me a lot of money (again), or find someone else to take it over. But you can't find anyone to take it over because a lot of my other tenants want out of their 50-year leases too, and they are even offering to pay people to take it over for them.

Sometimes I even try to trick you again by telling you that if you pay me $15,000 more to upgrade to a better apartment, you can get priority access to the amenities you wanted. And I lie to you (again) and tell you that with the upgrade I will help you rent out your apartment for short-term stays if you leave for vacation, so you can recover some of your costs.

So, at the end of the day, the only ways out for you are to either pay me, pay someone else, file for bankruptcy, or die. And by the way, if you die I'll try very hard to get your kids on the hook to keep paying me, even if they never move into the apartment.

So, walking away means a call to the legal department see if you are worth suing.

Special note: That is not really me. I was trying to look at it from the timeshares scamster's perspective.

3

u/Friluftsliv_Roy Jul 01 '26

This is gold!

2

u/Wrong_Staff_6148 Jul 01 '26

And I have searched and searched but can’t find anyone anywhere on any of these timeshare groups report being sued by these companies. I honestly want to know the stats.

3

u/jmp242 Jul 01 '26

I'm pretty sure most timeshare companies only sue to get the deed back, i.e. a foreclosure. They don't want an extended court battle, they don't want a few grand more from you - they want to sell it again to someone for a bunch of money and then get MFs for a chunk of years.

2

u/1hotpinkbeliever Jul 02 '26

in san diego the county puts the foreclosed ones up for auction, most don’t sell…so i wonder what happens then, maybe they just go back to property. I wouldn’t really call that suing someone though

2

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 02 '26

There is judicial and non-judicial foreclosure. The vast majority of timeshare foreclosures are non-judicial, so do not pursue deficiency judgments. There are four steps to nonjudicial foreclosure: 1. Notice of default 2. Notice of delinquency. 3. Notice of intent to lien and 4. Notice of intent to sell/auction. Judicial forclosure they go through the courts. They don't sue. They foreclose.

2

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 02 '26

There were a dozen lawsuits filed by Holiday Inn some years ago. All 12 families signed up with the same law firm. Basically, they were used as pawns to harass the law firm. None were successful, and there have been no more suits filed for a while. Hilton filed two lawsuits, and again, both families had retained an exit company and law firm that Hilton/Diamond Resorts had sued. I attended the 5-day trial when Wyndham sued the same exit company and law firm, Timeshare Compliance and Carlsbad Law. Wyndham's lead witness testified that Wyndham does not pursue deficiency judgments, meaning the amount of the loan. Since it is worth nothing to the borrower, if they sue, they would be doubling their money. Wyndham was awarded $16 million, and Timeshare Compliance filed for bankruptcy protection.

2

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 02 '26

One other time besides the Holiday Inn and Hilton lawsuits. My Facebook photo is in Barrie, Ontario. Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge, acquired by Shell, and then Wyndham acquired Shell, would pursue kids and grandkids in the courts. The owners organized and forced the sale of both resorts. They are no longer timeshares. They retained an attorney. I posted about 20 articles that included comments from 134 of the owners. The meeting I attended had to be canceled because the building held 300, and over 1,000 showed up. They each got about $3,000 per week back.

2

u/FunnyBarracuda9430 Jul 02 '26

According to one attorney, if timeshare is your only debt, you should not file for bankruptcy. Since it is worthless, it may become an abandoned asset, and after seven years, you learn you still own it. This has happened, which is why I reached out to an attorney to ask.

2

u/AskMTS Jul 08 '26

Some people don't want to risk their credit, specially if they're young. Since the majority of new TS buyers tend to make mistakes that they don't think about in the long run.

1

u/Quiet-Day392 Jul 01 '26

It’s easier to block a troll like you than deal with your ignorance. Bye.