How do I exit a Timeshare ownership

You will find the internet, radio and TV flooded with companies claiming to provide you a way to get you out of your Timeshare, you quite literally cannot throw a rock without hitting at least a half-dozen of these outfits they have become so popular. The dirty little secret is that all of these companies charge hundreds if not thousands of dollars to "help" you do something you can do yourself for free in most cases!

You might ask how these companies can do business like this? The answer is simple:

Owners don't find Timeshare Users Group first to get the truth!

How do I get out of my Timeshare?

Every single Timeshare owner has 3 options available to them to get out of an existing Timeshare ownership:

Find a new owner on the resale market

Give the ownership back to the resort/Developer

Stop paying/walk away

Every solution provided by the companies you see advertising the ability to get you out of your timeshare uses a variation of one or more of these 3 solutions despite these same solutions being available to every single owner you are charged a staggering amount of money for these companies for these solutions you can do yourself, in many cases completely free of charge!

The fact is, all of these companies share something in common with the salesperson who sold you the Timeshare in the first place, and that is they rely on you not doing your research and believing everything they tell you at face value! If you were told the whole truth that you will find here in this free guide, you would never pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to these companies!

Giving Back a Timeshare

The best kept secret from Timeshare owners today, and the one thing these exit companies want to keep you from knowing, is that there are a significant number of Timeshare systems that offer official deedback/surrender programs that allow you to simply give back your unwanted Timeshare to them!

There are a few requirements for many of these deedback programs however:

Your ownership must be paid off

You cannot be delinquent in your maintenance fees

Note: Exit/Cancellation companies LOVE it when owners in these systems contact them for help, as they know full well they can successfully get you out of your timeshare by utilizing these programs (many of them are free) on your behalf while charging you hundreds if not thousands of dollars for said help! Rest assured that every one of these systems is well known by all exit/cancellation companies, and you can see why they would neglect to mention these when you call them for "help"!

If you own in these following systems, you can contact them to inquire about their official deedback programs!
Diamond Resorts, Wyndham, Worldmark, Holiday Inn Club, Bluegreen, Capital Resorts, Shell Vacations, Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton/Westin/Vistana, Welk, Westgate all have active surrender programs for owners! It just takes a simple phone call or email!

This is such an important detail, we actually created an entire youtube video to cover it! Check it out here:

Additionally, Here is a link that provides contact information and details for all current official deedback/surrender programs available for owners: Official list of all Timeshare resort deedback programs. Note that while not all of these are free, you can most certainly call or email any of these programs to inquire about your options at no charge. Getting the truth is what is important so you can make an educated and informed decision!

Giving away an unwanted Timeshare

Option one, which is the most difficult involves you offering your Timeshare up for sale on the resale market for a single dollar in the hopes of attracting a buyer you can transfer the ownership to! Most timeshares sell for between 0 and 10% of their original retail sales price, so offering it up for free is far more common than you think! In fact you can find countless hundreds of active resale ads for resorts all over the world being offered for free to any willing buyer by owners who just want out.

The obvious downside to this is that there is no real expectation of finding a buyer quickly, as it could take weeks or months to find someone who is looking to pick up an ownership at your resort/point system and discover your ad!

TUG provides a free guide with tips and tricks on how to give away your timeshare without having to spend a dime out of pocket, we urge everyone to read this article and execute these options as a FAR better solution than paying some random company a fortune in the hopes they can actually help you!

You can find this info here: Give away your Timeshare for free and have your ad up in mere minutes in front of thousands of potential buyers.

Stop paying for Timeshare

This solution is something we are leery to suggest, but have come to realize that in many situations its least of the bad options available to some owners!

While we do not advocate this strategy, and urge all owners to try options 1 and 2 above, it is important to know the truth about all of your options!

With that said, note that EVERY timeshare owner has a 100% guaranteed way to end their ownership, and that is to stop paying. When owners claim there is no way to actually get out of a timeshare, what they really mean is that there is no way to get out of a Timeshare without certain financial penalties or repercussions! Just as with defaulting on any other major financial obligation, in many cases there are consequences for your actions and the severity of those consequences varies wildly based on the situation!

This is also so hot a topic, we have a youtube video that covers it too! Check it out here:

There is a significant difference between defaulting on your annual maintenance fees, and defaulting on a loan balance or mortgage, the latter of which is likely to result in a far more aggressive reaction by the creditor/lendor who loaned you the money in the first place!

For owners whos Timeshare is paid off, defaulting on the maintenance fees will indeed end your ownership, and eventually result in foreclosure of the ownership and more often than not a ding to your credit if the resort chooses to report the default.

Choosing this option is not to be taken lightly, and never as a first step! However the cold reality is that many Timeshare owners face financial/social/health related hardships that prevent them from being able to meet their existing obligations, and the choice of putting food on the table or paying rent, and paying your annual Timeshare Maintenance fees is not always a clear or easy decision!

It is also important to remember that the resort itself is not likely the one to suffer, but instead the remaining owners at your resort that will have to make up the costs of not only yours, but all other non-paying owners which in most cases is a significant amount of money! Most resorts provide a line item in each years maintenance fee for "delinquencies" to denote the amount of unpaid maintenance fees that must be absorbed by the remaining paying owners!

TUG also provides an in-depth guide on this subject available here as it is one of the most common questions we get these days! What if I stop paying for my Timeshare?

Editors note: many of these upfront fee exit/cancellation companies ALSO utilize this strategy without actually telling you! This is a dirty little secret buried within some of their contracts that allows them to refuse to offer you a refund should you not follow thru with their entire "strategy". After all, defaulting is a 100% guaranteed way to exit your Timeshare, how awesome is it if I charged you thousands of dollars and then told you to stop paying? Deal doesnt sound very good anymore does it?

What if I still owe money?

Unfortunately this is a very ugly (and common) situation that many owners find themselves in after buying a timeshare recently

As mentioned above, defaulting will indeed end your ownership, but with a loan balance attached it is a very real possibility that the creditor who provided you with the loan is going to do a good bit more than simply report the default to the credit agencies.

One option many owners take is to pay off or transfer the loan balance to a separate line of credit depending on the amount/balance leftover.
However there is one universal truth, there is no magic solution that will simply make a legitimate loan balance disappear or be forgiven. Throwing good money after bad is an even worse choice!

The final word on getting out of an unwanted Timeshare!

Despite what any other company tells you (remember, these companies rely on misleading you in order to get your business, telling you the truth is not profitable in the Timeshare industry), there are no hidden secrets or strategies to allow you to exit your timeshare, every one of these is known and available to any owner without you having to pay a dime!

We urge any Timeshare owner who has reached the end of their Timeshare lifetime to investigate these options to get out of their unwanted Timeshares!

Come check out our free Timeshare owner Discussion forums! if you have any additional questions or concerns! There are thousands of other Wyndham owners on this forum who answer questions all day every day!