TRYING TO GET OUT OF MEXICO TIMESHARE

It is a RTU. I bought it from a previous "owner" on redweek and the resort quoted me the 1700 cancelation fee.

Yes, we paid for our membership in full when we purchased it back in the 90's. As I stated in other posts, this was with The Mayan Palace. Beautiful resorts. In the beginning we could book March Break as late as January of that same year. At the end I couldn't book March Break on September 1st of the previous year. Even getting up at midnight on the first possible day to book, using their interactive booking website. No rooms available was what I was told, at any of their resorts. In my estimation they had drastically oversold their memberships, telling you when you joined that by law, they weren't allowed to do so. So, with the involvement of my family lawyer, I got out of my contract without any difficulty at all.

If you also have a paid up membership and are just paying maintenance fees going forward, I see absolutely no reason why you can't just "walk away". I don't think the resorts can do a thing about it. I've researched this and haven't found one instance of a resort coming after you for stopping maintenance fee payments. I read about what they "could" or "may" do, but did they actually do it? You've probably reached the point that I did. I've had enough. Come after me if you want, see you in court, whatever. If it comes to it, get a good, local lawyer to draw up some documents stating your case. I think you'll be okay.

colleeng145 wrote:

Was your membership paid up? I was told by a Mexican lawyer that if your fees are paid in full you can cancel your time share and walk away.

Yes they can put line on property Better to Donate the deed to non profit see what happens ?

roberth1804 wrote:

Yes they can put line on property Better to Donate the deed to non profit see what happens ?

Do you mean put a "lien" on the property? If so, who cares? Most people just want to be rid of the whole sorry mess. Take the property, you just want to stop paying those ever rising maintenance fees. Walking away will do just that.

roberth1804 wrote:

Yes they can put line on property Better to Donate the deed to non profit see what happens ?

The above quoted (marginally coherent) post is nothing more than complete and utter nonsense, for several obvious reasons:

1. There is no "ownership" of anything in a Mexican RTU (right to use) membership. Consequently, no deed exists (it’s only a membership) and a "lien" is not applicable or possible for any such "membership".

2. No entity on Planet Earth will ever accept a donation of someone else's unwanted financial liability and obligations and burden. Why would they ever consider doing such a thing? Short answer --- they never would. That is just a silly and completely absurd suggestion.

We have a network of volunteers to help people with regulatory filings. One member had a complaint against Vidanta. She recruited a Spanish speaking volunteer who translated the member's complaint to Spanish and filed with the Mexican government's consumer protection agency Profeco. Profeco accepted the case, scheduled a hearing and the member was able to successfully negotiate her own settlement. You would not think a Mexico agency would take the side of the consumer but they did. If anyone needs information about this process she is willing to donate her time to answer questions. Yes, you can opt to not pay but she feels a lot better having the matter resolved and the predatory practices they employed are now public record.

Update....I posted quite some time ago regarding our timeshare at the Westin Lagunamar in Cancun. We had an oceanside 2 bdr lockoff that we purchased like 8 years ago. It got to the point that it was just to much to pay and couldn't afford it anymore, the maintenance fee at almost $1,600 yearly was getting to be to much and we weren't able to use it as much as we'd like.

I put it on the market with Redweek and it finally sold for a fraction of what we actually paid for it. The closing took around 90 to 120 days but right before it sold we decided that we couldn't pay anymore on it. So during the process of Redweek and the title company doing their thing to get everything finalized we received several collections calls from the resort asking for payment. Of course I never answered or returned the calls and was never concerned about them ever reporting on my credit report.

They never reported anything to any credit agency during this time. It also got me to thinking that in all the years that I had been paying on this timeshare in good faith, I had never seen anything positive on my credit report either regarding on-time payments on this property......hmmmmmm!

This timeshare was a very expensive lesson for me to learn. The young lady who purchased our timeshare did so for 10% of what we paid for it.....smart consumer. Bottom line I would never purchase another one and get myself into another situation like that again, biggest mistake I've ever made besides marrying my first wife.

This is just my two cents on this subject, you may not get what you want for your timeshare but Redweek can certainly sell it for you and get you out of it if you have the patience and can follow their suggestions on a sale price.

scottf351I put it on the market with Redweek and it finally sold for a fraction of what we actually paid for it.

This timeshare was a very expensive lesson for me to learn. The young lady who purchased our timeshare did so for 10% of what we paid for it..../Q]

Consider yourself fortunate that you even got any money for it. Most timeshares in Mexico sell resale for zero dollars. Heck, some owners "pay" buyers to take it off their hands by throwing in some incentive such as prepaid maintenance fees for the next year and closing costs.

I had never seen anything positive on my credit report either regarding on-time payments on this property......hmmmmmm!

Im in Canada, and I have also noticed on my credit report that when I first purchased and they "checked" my credit there is not an inquiry hard or soft on my report. So chances of a negative report or collections are slim and none in Canada. I have yet to stop making payments and let go of my timeshare but after reading all of this I may. Im gonna be some pissed giving up the money that I have already put out put better than the alternative.

Hi We have the same situation i live in canada i wanted to to know if you actually had just walked away with this timeshare? Did it actually hit your credit score? And record? Please let me know will appreciate your reapknse. Thanks

Hi. I'm from Canada also. I walked away from paying maintenance fees to my Mexican resort in 2011. I didn't owe anything on the initial purchase buy-in. All payed up. No impact on my credit score. None. I let them know that I was finished with them. Prime reason for walking away was I could never get the week or weeks that I wanted, even if I tried booking six months out. Never heard a peep from them. My advice...walk away.

jaghardwoodf wrote:

Hi We have the same situation i live in canada i wanted to to know if you actually had just walked away with this timeshare? Did it actually hit your credit score? And record? Please let me know will appreciate your reapknse. Thanks

Hi, Thank you for your response i really need to know how the experience with people whos from Canada. You know how importants the impact of having a record on our credit score. Plus we will be purchasing a house this year and i dont want this to become a problem.

Our timeshare is just new since August 2019. And we had only payed from that time to this May. I had to blocked my card so they stop chaRging me i find it is just too much .. they threatened me to send it to the collection !!! it's better to invest in a car than this i made a big Mistake getting timeshare the Dummest thing i Did! I felt like we were hypnotis at that time.

Please if theres Any Canadian here!!! Let me know what happen ?

Omg I’m actually going through the same Issues with a Mexican timeshare but administrated by resort.com international. Main office also located in Vegas. I too was pushed to drink champagne they got me Drunk and tricked to signing. I went on a trip to mexico with two other people who were my friends at the time....I’m not the primary account holder though, and I have no clue We are no longer friends so I have no clue. I have paid so much already on this BS. I called today and told them my concerns as I’ve also been affected by Covid-19 and lost my job. They said all I had to do was pay the maintenance fee On the account and have the other members sign a name removal letter then get it notarized and mail it back. I’m in the process of doing this now. I have a consult with a lawyer tomorrow to make sure I’m doing things right.

I edited a book and wrote the Foreword for Everything About Timeshare, Before, During and After the Sale. The author is a former sales agent, executive, and contract reviewer who worked all over Mexico and the Caribbean. You can find him on Linked-In. Wayne Robinson is also a former Navy journalist. He is on Malaysia time so take that into consideration when waiting for a response.

The Yucatan Times published this article about warning Canadians about buying a timeshare in Canada. This sent Ontario Canadians through the roof because it is far worse buying a timeshare in Ontario than Mexico as you can be in a coma and they wait for you to die and then sue your kids and grand kids for past due maintenance fees. Wyndham's Carriage is almost bankrupt. Only because of this they retained the strategic accounting firm BDO Dunwoody to offer an exit.

https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2019/10/canada-issues-travel-advisory-for-high-pressure-sales-tactics-used-to-sell-timeshares-in-mexico/

I have heard from several Canadian who bought in Mexico. One was ready to pay an exit company $6999 of which $1999 was finance charges. I made one phone call and the resort took it back. Not all Mexico timeshares are bad. Vidanta and Krystal are really bad. RedWeek has threads on both.

Lauriev73 Did you have any luck contacting a lawyer?

You made a financial obligation to the time share company. If yu do not pay the collections agencies will try to get the money owed back. Your credit report will reflect the bad credit mark for 7 years. The end result is they foreclose on you get the time share back, you lose the money you invested into he time share and your credit score is lousy for a long time.

Non profits don't want a timeshare because they are a liability. You will be hard-pressed to find a charity that wants a timeshare in the middle of a pandemic, especially a Mexico timeshare.

Profeco is the Mexico Consumer Protection Agency. One of our volunteers had great success working through Profeco. She now answers questions for others. Rarely does anyone need an attorney to resolve a timeshare dispute, and there are additional dangers attempting to work with a Mexico attorney.

I edited a book for an expert on Mexico timeshares. He worked all over Mexico and the Caribbean. He volunteers his time to offer an opinion. He has worked for every resort I asked him about.

It is very different resolving a dispute in Mexico than if a US citizen disputes a contract purchased in the US. I have followed many Mexico timeshare disputes and resolutions. Even the Yucatan Times understands Timeshare sales are a problem in Mexico.

I don't care anymore. They can do what they want. I won't be going back to Mexico any time soon due to Covid and I hope they go bust.

"They can do what they want....and I hope they go bust."

Who are "they"?

Fwiw, MEXICAN timeshare operations seldom exert any significant collection efforts and they very rarely bother with any negative credit reporting. To repeat, this statement applies to MEXICAN (not U.S.) timeshare operations. The Mexican entity may be more aggressive if they happen to also have a business presence in the U.S., but the fact of the matter is that most don't.

Remember, Mexican timeshares are really nothing more than right to use (RTU) "memberships". There is no actual ownership of anything at all, no deed, no "equity" of any kind, nothing on which to "foreclose" even after fees go unpaid. The Mexican operations, unless they also have a U.S. presence and U.S. affiliates, simply cancel the RTU "membership", keep whatever money has been paid to date and call it a day, waiting for the next "lucky" customer to come along who is willing to sign on the dotted line while there in Mexico in "vacation brain" mode.