Original Message:
Re: Effect of Timeshare Relief Team, Timeshare Exit Team, etc. advertising on the for-sale-by-owner resale market (by Bonnie P.):
As with any industry, there are Timeshare Exit scams out there. After speaking with some people we met on vacation in Branson a couple of years ago (and kept in touch with) we were referred TLS (Timeshare Legal Service in Branson, Mo.) We did one of their free consultations and we took advantage of a mortgage elimination program that went into effect within a few weeks of our signing up for the program. We owed Bluegreen almost $14,000, plus our fees of around $2200 a year. We paid 1 more monthly installment payment on the mortgage and then we were told to stop making payments. After that we never heard anything else from the resort about being late, foreclosed on or collections threats. Then we got a letter saying we were no longer owners. No negative credit reports, no collection calls or letters. Nothing. It did cost us to get out of our timeshare but I'm glad we did it before we paid $14k plus yearly MFs only to find out that NOTHING we were promised during the "Owner Update" meeting (which was actually just a high pressure sales presentation) was actually true. Our friends that had done an upgrade told us their experience and it sounded very much like what we were going thru- never can stay where we owned (Big Cedar Wilderness Club) Fees go up EVERY YEAR, plus some people getting "special assessments (up to $3000 for whatever reason!) It's just a money trap! I regret ever going to the 1st presentation. The free tickets were offered definately were not free! It's impossible to sell your TS, the renting out doesn't even cover the fees! Thank God we didn't pay off the rest of the mortgage! We didn't even know about the cancellation period or the maintenance fees going up. We understood it would only go up a very small amount every year. So we are expecting like $25 a year increase. Not the case. Also, the interest rate is NOT 15-20%, the APR is but the actual interest was just under or just OVER 99%! We finance $18,000. If we would have paid it off, it would have cost us $38,000.00 total in mortgage payments! How is this legal???