TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin FORECLOSURE

Good Evening- This is my dilemma- Tomorrow I have to pay almost 6500 dollars for my 2 weeks at the Flamingo. Of course we have not been been back for almost 3 yrs. As Seniors we are concerned about going this yr. We own fixed weeks(29 and 30). WE have discussed turning back our Time Share. It will cost us almost 6000 dollars to accomplish.
this task. I called Diamond Foreclosure dept today. They said leave your number and someone will get back to you. That was 8hrs ago. By not having The Timeshare it will open up more flexibility for our future visits.So any thoughts of going the foreclosure route. Thanking you inadvance.

Below is a recent similar discussion.

LINK

My personal opinion is to just walk away as there is NO WAY you should pay that amount to get out of the mess. What constitutes the amount you owe? Is it back maintenance fees? Special assessments? The amount sounds like a lot for 2 weeks.

I can only repeat what was posted on past threads. READ your original agreements. If your resort is requesting any exit, transfer, or other created costs or assessments that are not in your original agreement, you are not responsible for them. Be prepared for a threat to "negatively impact" your credit status. If any action of that sort is taken (it is usually a bluff), simply dispute it.

Don't pay anything, An attorney that I know send them a letter of cancelation and never heard from them again.
That was before Diamond was asking for the MF and a $1000. cancelation charge.

Unless you financed your weeks or gave them your social security number, they cannot impact your credit report. Just walk away. If you did finance or they have your social security number and they post something to your credit report, you can dispute it, and it probably won't cause you any problems getting credit.

In should have added I bought these weeks in 1991- Paid off along time ago.

As was stated earlier, read your contract but there is NO WAY I would pay the kind of $$ they are indicating to get out.

You don't owe them nothing , just walk away period.

This information was exactly what I was looking for today.
I’ve been an owner at RP for 21 years. We checked in on Saturday January 9... it was a “st” show.
The place is NOWHERE NEAR READY TO BE taking guests never mind our money.
I’ve held in with them through all the Irma aftermath, and frankly excuses.
I really thought when we got back in the place would be fabulous .
The market isn’t open, the beach is still a construction site. They put new Palapas on the beach..guess what, they don’t even create any shade. They are built to high and not wide enough. I’m sure that will cost plenty to fix that.
The storage area in the unit is great if you want to hoard can goods for about a year. The shelves are so small I don’t even think you could store paper towels there. I could go on but bottom line..I’m done. We left on the 10th and at Simpson Bay Resort.
I have 6 or so “weeks” banked because I paid all the maintained fees for the last couple of years. I’m going to lose that. Ya know what? I don’t even care. I won’t give them another dime.
One more thing..Flamingo looks the same...

Thanks for the report, sadly, it does not surprise me. Very sad.

Even though you paid off the amount you financed to purchase the weeks, if they have your social security number from that transaction, then they can report your default on the terms of your timeshare agreement to the credit bureaus. However, you can dispute that, and most lenders will take that into consideration when making credit decisions. I'm a retired banker who handled lending and credit administration for over thirty years, so I'm speaking from a place of knowledge.

Walk away; don't pay them another dime.

As others have said, don't pay them a freaking dime. If they put something on your credit report, dispute it. But don't pay those bloodsuckers a dime. Oh, and don't get sucked in by one of those companies that you pay to help you get out of these things.

Nowhatched--sorry to hear that. Royal Palm used to be a great place, before Diamond got a hold of it..

I find 6500 for 2 weeks MF off the charts unless you owe back payments. I own 4 weeks at flamingo and my total MFs were less than that and 3 of my weeks are 2 bedrooms. Your original contract was through Sunterra and those contracts provided for forfeiture with a minimum fee of 200 and all MFs paid.

I am going to post this as a separate topic. Thanks.

I bought a week at Royal Palm many years ago from a previous owner. All maintenance fees have been paid and I have 4 weeks banked. When you say to "just walk away", can I assume it isn't necessary to notify Diamond of my intention to forfeit my unit and not pay any additional fees in the future?

Not sure if they have my social security number but not really concerned with them affecting my credit history. We are 70 and will not need future bank financing but don't appreciate the negativity on our credit. I would prefer not having to deal with harassing phone calls or litigation in the states from Diamond. We love SXM and prefer to now have the flexibility of renting options in the future.

Thanks in advance for any comments offered.

If you bought on the secondary market from a private seller they would not have your SS number.

Good news for those Folks.

Thanks Scuba. Am I obligated to notify them in writing of my intentions?

Don't take this as legal advice. I can't give advice unless I have been formally engaged. That said, I am a PA real estate lawyer. My former partner was general counsel to one of the premier time share developers in North America. The comments above are all spot on. I would not do anything other than see if a wholesale operator has any interest in taking your unit for free. That is unlikely. So, what I would do is sent the company a change of address using your lawyer's address. If they try to impact your credit of threaten you with a suit. Threaten them with a counter suit for mismanaging the community and anything else you can think of. They will tell you there is a arbitration clause which requires you to arbitrate. Call their bluff. They have to put up money to arbitrate. I will tell you that in a fight between a time share operator and a senior citizen, guess who has the advantage??