Timeshare Cancellation: What Owners Need To Know Today
Many timeshare owners have either outgrown time-sharing or been priced out by maintenance fees that climb 5% to 12% every year. Time-sharing was a clever program decades ago, built to give the average family an affordable way to travel around the United States and abroad. The world has changed. The fees have not stopped going up.
Did the internet help owners?
Travel has become inexpensive thanks to booking sites, discount travel clubs, and short-term rental platforms. The catch is that this made timeshares a far worse value, not a better one.
Turning weeks into points
Resorts switched from fixed weeks to point systems that oversold properties several times over, which created blackout dates and restrictions for owners who still try to use what they paid for. And when you do get there, you are met with owner update meetings, 90-minute presentations, and pressure to upgrade your points. All of this has pushed timeshare cancellation to the front of mind for more owners than ever.
The exit industry that targets owners
Resorts have effectively held owners hostage with something that was supposed to be relaxing, family oriented, and affordable. The industry has become anything but a vacation, and owners have been hit with fraud and resale scams because resorts refuse to take their own product back. On top of that, exit and “cancellation” companies have flooded the market, charging owners thousands of dollars for the hope of a result with little to show for it. The FTC and CFPB have both warned consumers about these timeshare exit scams.
Will the resort buy my timeshare back?
No. Owners who try to hand the timeshare back or sell it to the resort almost always hit a wall. Resorts are in the business of selling timeshares, not buying them back. That leaves owners stuck while maintenance fees keep rising every year.
Selling a timeshare is an ordeal
Most owners hope to sell and recoup their money, or at least break even. But there is no real market. Listings sit on eBay for as little as a dollar and still cannot find a buyer.
Can you rent it out?
You can try, but you are competing with the resort itself, which rents its unsold inventory online at a fraction of what you would need to cover your maintenance fees. You almost always lose money on the attempt.
Can you stop paying maintenance fees?
Simply walking away and stopping payment is the most damaging option. It can wreck your credit and lead to collections or foreclosure while the obligation, and the fees, keep growing.
Can you cancel the contract on your own?
Yes. Owners have lost thousands on listing, advertising, and renting, and paying an attorney $4,000 to $13,000 to cancel a single contract is out of reach for most. The good news is you do not need to. The resorts have convinced most of the industry that the contract is a lifetime commitment, but it is not.
The truth about timeshare agreements
Owners signed up believing they bought a piece of real estate. In reality, most hold only an agreement to keep paying the resort’s maintenance fees and special assessments, the latter covering everything from property upgrades to storm repairs.
The good part
Every timeshare agreement has an escape clause built in, no matter the resort, developer, or contract. The resort will not tell you this, because if owners knew, the line to get out would be longer than the line to get in. Picture a restaurant with a line of people demanding refunds out front. How long would you wait to eat there? Same concept.
Owners are fighting back
Owners are pushing back, making their voices heard, and demanding their freedom from these contracts. More are choosing to cancel directly with the resort instead of handing money to a middleman.
We can help
There is a better way. Our DIY Timeshare Cancellation Kit gives you the process and the paperwork to cancel your contract yourself. It is an affordable, easy-to-follow, step-by-step path, and most owners complete the cancellation within 60 to 90 days. It works for any resort in the U.S., Canada, or abroad.
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Cancel Your Own Timeshare Contract in as short as 60 days with full support throughout the process.