The Timeshare Trap: How I Got Out of It

... because I got trapped into a timeshare. The poison that I chose was WorldMark by Wyndham and their floating timeshare plan. I was young, I was optimistic and I was stupid. I let the sales man flatter me into thinking I DESERVED a vacation property (or in this case, the credits for it so I could use them where they had resorts). Then I lost my job. I was stuck with a payment that was killing me. Fortunately my car was paid off. I tried selling my timeshare. I got scammed out of $1500 trying to sell with companies that lied about saying they would sell them. What I am sharing now is a summary of how I personally got out of the trap. I do not guarantee that this will work for you, but I do know it worked for me. I also know that if you are thinking about buying a timeshare that I have one piece of advice. NEVER EVER EVER BUY A TIMESHARE! Even if you have millions of dollars, don't waste your money! Period.

I tried selling the timeshare, but I owed more on it that it was worth. IF you do not owe more that it is worth, try selling at Timeshare Angels. They sell based off of the fair market and are honest. They never ask for money up front. If any business offers to list your timeshare for a price, it is a scam. It doesn't matter if they are listed with the Better Business Bureau. List only with companies that are paid AFTER the sale is complete.

I spent 3 years scraping together money to pay off the debt one payment at a time. For the first time EVER I had collection calls and I was late on payments. I was ashamed. I hit it from family. I worked overtime trying to get enough money to pay a little extra. THAT WAS MY BIGGEST MISTAKE!

With the advice of some experts on timeshares, I realized that I need to let the payment go past 90 days over due. I followed that advice. I then called WorldMark and said, :"My credit is shot already. This timeshare is worthless. If you send this to the credit bureaus as defaulted it will do nothing more to me than I can't handle. Here is the deal. I am willing to settle for a portion of the amount owed." You will have to talk to a supervisor. You may have to deal with a collection agency like I did (in fact if it hasn't been sent to a collection agency and they won't play ball then wait until it is sent to one). Once they have agreed to do this GET A SIGNED LETTER sent to you that verifies that the debt is paid in full! I got a letter with a typo and I insisted that that was corrected before I would make the last payment. Once you have this confirmed, get a credit report about 2 months after the debt is paid off (most credit unions offer this for free if you are a member). If the debt is still showing as not being settled then you MUST contact the collection agency AND the timeshare company to have it corrected. If you follow this you will be able to get rid of that dead weight that is killing you and your family.

First, you need to understand that this way that I mention is not a way to regain the money you lost. This is cutting off the dead weight. If you are holding out to get some money back, good luck. That is what nearly killed me. There is an economic term called sunk cost. The idea is that it is already invested and you can't get it back. Realize that the money you have already spent is a sunk cost and then cut loose the debt that is killing you.

Second, let me give you some information about me. I settled the debt in January 2011. In March 2011 I did the credit report and found the credit agencies were not updated on the debt's status. I called and had them correct it. As of the writing of this article (End of August 2011) I am free. Because of sound financial advice my credit score has recovered and was in the low 700's last I checked (which was July). I am not saying that this will happen to you, but I am saying that this is a possible solution to you timeshare demons.

Feel free to leave feedback and best of luck become free from the slavery of debt.