How to get out of a time-share (probable scam)
There is advertisement on a local radio station for a company who knows how to get out of timeshares. I just cant remember it right now. But I will at some point and I will post it.
Option #2: You said your (rather) elderly mother. If she is that old...stop paying it. It may kill her credit but does that really matter at this point in her life?
Let them take her to court, the judge may see it is a scam and find in her favor. Worst case....she has to pay what she owes plus maybe some late fees.
Eric
The google has some information. If you go to a company that is going to sell it for your mother, be careful. The sub-scam is that they take your "deposit" and you never hear from them again.
You may be referred to Better Business Bureau (also a useless outfit) to check references of a time share reseller. The first few pages of references may all be positive. Scroll down, and the real evaluations appear.
One outfit advertises on Dave Ramsey and Sirius channels. I don't know about them but Christian Health Ministries advertises on Dave Ramsey. They have been accused of bad business practices. Dave Ramsey's direct advice to callers is fine. But be careful of his advertisers.
There is a lot of fraud in this industry and in the sub-industry that purports to get you out of the transaction.
Begin by reading the contract. What does it say about getting out of the deal?
the time share may go after the estate if they are not paid.....if the entire estate goes to paying a nursing home at some point, time share gets nothing.....
Considering the fact that they signed a contract and the amount of money at stake, I would suggest contacting an attorney.
EricBurbank said:
There is advertisement on a local radio station for a company who knows how to get out of timeshares. I just cant remember it right now. But I will at some point and I will post it.
Option #2: You said your (rather) elderly mother. If she is that old...stop paying it. It may kill her credit but does that really matter at this point in her life?
Let them take her to court, the judge may see it is a scam and find in her favor. Worst case....she has to pay what she owes plus maybe some late fees.
Eric
Thanks for the ideas. Unfortunately, it seems that some of the companies that offer to get you out of timeshares are bigger scams than the original timeshares. My aunt learned this after putting down another large sum. But there may be some legitimate companies out there too, so please do post the info if you come across it!
I thought about your Option #2, but I'm worried that might affect her ability to enter a senior home later.
And for your final comment, I'm wondering if such a company would even bother pursuing her and her payments if she just stopped paying.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
The google has some information. If you go to a company that is going to sell it for your mother, be careful. The sub-scam is that they take your "deposit" and you never hear from them again.
You may be referred to Better Business Bureau (also a useless outfit) to check references of a time share reseller. The first few pages of references may all be positive. Scroll down, and the real evaluations appear.
One outfit advertises on Dave Ramsey and Sirius channels. I don't know about them but Christian Health Ministries advertises on Dave Ramsey. They have been accused of bad business practices. Dave Ramsey's direct advice to callers is fine. But be careful of his advertisers.
There is a lot of fraud in this industry and in the sub-industry that purports to get you out of the transaction.
Begin by reading the contract. What does it say about getting out of the deal?
Yes, we learned about the sub-scam after my aunt attempted to "sell" their timeshare slots to this other company's clients and put down lots of cash for nothing. This is why I'm so wary about what to do next.
I don't think the contract says anything about how to get out of the deal.
jmitw said:
the time share may go after the estate if they are not paid.....if the entire estate goes to paying a nursing home at some point, time share gets nothing.....
This is one of my worries, since it's considered a type of property that heirs can inherit.
joan_crystal said:
Considering the fact that they signed a contract and the amount of money at stake, I would suggest contacting an attorney.
We were thinking that this is probably the next step. Thanks for confirming.
civis said:
I don't think the contract says anything about how to get out of the deal.
That may be the basis for a legal way out. Even your gym contract tells you how you may terminate.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
That may be the basis for a legal way out. Even your gym contract tells you how you may terminate.
Thanks for this idea. There probably is something in the contract but it's either very confusing or so unattractive that it's hardly an option (like paying the total of 20 years of payment). But this is certainly something to look for.
try a general real estate lawyer...not one that only does time shares, especially not one that advertised on TV...you want a small personal law firm....
Found this by Googling. Have no idea who they are but it might be worth a phone call.
bub said:
https://wlos.com/news/local/festiva-travel-club-ordered-to-refund-customers
Thanks for sharing these links. This is what led me to wonder if my mom can just ignore the payment requests assuming that Festiva would not bother to pursue her since their reputation is already damaged.
LOST said:
Found this by Googling. Have no idea who they are but it might be worth a phone call.
Thanks! Definitely worth checking out.
yahooyahoo said:
If you have a copy of the contract, take it to a lawyer asap.
Thanks. It looks like this is probably the best action, if not the easiest.
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My (rather) elderly mother and her sister went on a trip to South Carolina several years ago and, while at the hotel, some group convinced them to sign up for a time-share called Festiva Adventure Club where they presumably could go on trips to various resorts for greatly reduced rates. My mom only told me about it this past week, so I had no idea she has been paying an annual membership fee (over $1000) and perhaps a monthly maintenance fee (which would add up annually to even more than the membership fee, but we can't find any record of payments for this other fee) since at least 2014. From time to time she and her sister get telephone calls offering them a trip at the last minute to some place that doesn't interest them or that won't work with their schedules. They've finally realized that they are very unlikely to be able to use this time-share, and that it's likely a scam, so they'd like to get out of it. The contract is very confusing and suggests that they will have to pay off this "debt" for many, many years. A quick Google search suggests that this organization does seem like a scam, and there are certainly many complaints about them. So my questions are: Does anyone know how to verify if something is an actual scam, and if so, can my mom just stop paying and not be held responsible? Or is there another simple way to get out of this time-share situation without losing much more money? Or do they need to hire a lawyer to figure all this out?
My mother is really not good at solving these kinds of problems and her sister, who offered to try to figure out what to do, just learned that she has to go in for open-heart surgery in a few weeks, so neither of them can really handle this problem at the moment. Of course they are embarrassed that they got themselves into this situation, and they are reluctant to tell their friends and see if anyone they know has any ideas.
Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions that I can pass along.