Fairfield Problem

We, mistakenly, bought a FF timeshare a few years ago. In the past few years, we have only used it once! Everytime we call, everything we want is 'sold out,' or not available. They refuse to even waitlist an area like RCI does. We tried to transfer over our points to RCI and it was like pulling teeth with a mule! Bascially, we have paid for nothing! We have been trying to sell it, even at a loss, but unsuccessful. How does one go about giving back a timeshare to the developer? Does this effect one's credit? It's such a rip off and we plan on complaining to the AG in NM, but we are not hopeful of ever seeing a dime back on this! It seems as if the lawyers for the RCI lawsuit should get involved with FF, too!

je38 wrote:

We, mistakenly, bought a FF timeshare a few years ago. In the past few years, we have only used it once! Everytime we call, everything we want is 'sold out,' or not available. They refuse to even waitlist an area like RCI does. We tried to transfer over our points to RCI and it was like pulling teeth with a mule! Bascially, we have paid for nothing! We have been trying to sell it, even at a loss, but unsuccessful. How does one go about giving back a timeshare to the developer? Does this effect one's credit? It's such a rip off and we plan on complaining to the AG in NM, but we are not hopeful of ever seeing a dime back on this! It seems as if the lawyers for the RCI lawsuit should get involved with FF, too!

It is sad to hear these stories and we hear many! Some of the problem is the people hear these sales people talk and halfway through all they can think about is next years vacation!

If most people new what they probably know now there credit card or check book would never come out!

The resort would not think twice of turning you in and ruining your credit! The simple answer is YES!

This is like buying your car then parking it at the dealer and not making payments!

I have heard some people being honest and explaining they can not afford the unit and about to file Bank R and a resort would let you deed it back to them. They don't do this to help you but if it is a good seller they would make quick profit on the unit!

You could just take a week they offer you and book it with your trading company each year and this way you can have your vacation!

Maybe during this time of trading you can learn the resorts game and start getting your weeks! Sounds to me that you might just be waiting to long to request your weeks you would like each year!

I know at my resort I can request my three choices 23 months before the date, now 24 since we just bought second unit! The resort then waits 30 days before assigning your week and then you are confirmed for your vacation!

Were you ever successful in transferring your Fairfield points to RCI points or are you still in Fairfield points?

I check out Ebay timeshares for sale on a periodic basis. It looks like Fairfield points sell quite well there. Probably what you need to do is find out what the going rate for Fairfield points are (per point) and try selling your points here, on Ebay or other listing sites.

I seriously doubt Fairfield will take back your timeshare and if you quit making payments or stop paying maintenance fees your credit can be ruined.

je38 wrote:

We, mistakenly, bought a FF timeshare a few years ago. In the past few years, we have only used it once! Everytime we call, everything we want is 'sold out,' or not available. They refuse to even waitlist an area like RCI does. We tried to transfer over our points to RCI and it was like pulling teeth with a mule! Bascially, we have paid for nothing! We have been trying to sell it, even at a loss, but unsuccessful. How does one go about giving back a timeshare to the developer? Does this effect one's credit? It's such a rip off and we plan on complaining to the AG in NM, but we are not hopeful of ever seeing a dime back on this! It seems as if the lawyers for the RCI lawsuit should get involved with FF, too!

Timeshares are good and bad. Remember that the sales force is in iot only for the money and they are usually a flash in the pan like used car salesman. I own 6 timeshares and love every one. The secret buy what you like and the time period that you like as well. All of my units are manages by Hilton (Hilton Grand Vacation Club) The name speaks for itself. The markup for a new property is quite and the developer usually will not take property back as long as they are still selling weeks. Seems like when they have sold most weeks the begin another phase and you are still out of luck. When you buy the best you can trade for the best. I have always traded for any property and almost any week that I want but one has to know the program real well or you will lose out. In the future buy on the resale market from an owner and you will save a lot. Do not try to buy a unit and expect that it is an investment as prices move up and down depending on Hurricanes, mold etc. The more you generally pay the better trading power you probably will get. Hilton Grand Vacation Club seems too be the best for my dollar and is held in very high esteme by RCI. Hope this help. I own (5) school vacation weeks on the beach on Sanibel Island (Florida)and never lost a dollar. In addition I also own a week in Hawaii. Trading power is the best as these weeks are ones that people want. I did own a Fairfield Property and had to basically give it away for about $1000. after paying about 12,000 dollars. Now I don't even stay in any Fairfield Property. Bad news travels faster than good news.

I was not even able to trade for any property except a studio (no bedroom) in a third rate resort in a poor season. Trading power was horrible for the Fairfield property.

jayjay wrote:

Were you ever successful in transferring your Fairfield points to RCI points or are you still in Fairfield points?

I check out Ebay timeshares for sale on a periodic basis. It looks like Fairfield points sell quite well there. Probably what you need to do is find out what the going rate for Fairfield points are (per point) and try selling your points here, on Ebay or other listing sites.

I seriously doubt Fairfield will take back your timeshare and if you quit making payments or stop paying maintenance fees your credit can be ruined.

There is a god. We did not buy FF

bentley, how far in advance are you searching for a trade? The best trades are when weeks and points are deposited early. Are you trying with Fairfield or RCI?

bentleyh wrote:

I was not even able to trade for any property except a studio (no bedroom) in a third rate resort in a poor season. Trading power was horrible for the Fairfield property.

je38 wrote:

We, mistakenly, bought a FF timeshare a few years ago. In the past few years, we have only used it once! Everytime we call, everything we want is 'sold out,' or not available. They refuse to even waitlist an area like RCI does. We tried to transfer over our points to RCI and it was like pulling teeth with a mule! Bascially, we have paid for nothing! We have been trying to sell it, even at a loss, but unsuccessful. How does one go about giving back a timeshare to the developer? Does this effect one's credit? It's such a rip off and we plan on complaining to the AG in NM, but we are not hopeful of ever seeing a dime back on this! It seems as if the lawyers for the RCI lawsuit should get involved with FF, too!

My name is Mathew and I am a Remax agent who specializes in time share resale. And to the best of my knowledge you can let the resort forclose on your property. Yes it does effect your credit , however you have to ask your self if the point off your credit is is more important than paying fees on something yo cant use. It is sad to hear situations such as yours and un fortunate that it happens to more and more people every day.

Mathew Bolles

removed contact information - marty

In my humble opinion there's not much worse than having your credit ruined. Ruined credit can follow you the rest of your life.

BTW, mathewr3, does your company charge an upfront fee. If so we don't condone doing business with any such company. We suggest if one chooses any resale company to find one that charges no upfront sales fee, no upfront marketing fee, no upfront advertising fee, no upfront fee, period. The fee should come AFTER the sale and not BEFORE.

If your company charges no upfront fee then please feel free to list your company in the 'No Upfront Fee Resale Companies' in the Buying, Selling and Renting forum here.

mathewr3My name is Mathew and I am a Remax agent who specializes in time share resale. And to the best of my knowledge you can let the resort forclose on your property. Yes it does effect your credit , however you have to ask your self if the point off your credit is is more important than paying fees on something yo cant use. It is sad to hear situations such as yours and un fortunate that it happens to more and more people every day.

Mathew Bolles

jayjay wrote:

bentley, how far in advance are you searching for a trade? The best trades are when weeks and points are deposited early. Are you trying with Fairfield or RCI?

bentleyh wrote:

I was not even able to trade for any property except a studio (no bedroom) in a third rate resort in a poor season. Trading power was horrible for the Fairfield property.

I attempted to search with RCI the day I paid my maint fee. Trading Power was zip for Fairfield Property in Newport hode Island. Sales Rep. sold it as Red Week. Off the record RCI rep. told me that at best my 2 bedroom red week was tradable for a studio and said it would be traded as pink (off the record) not red. I currently own 6 Hilton (Hilton Grand Vacation Club) resort properties and have received every request that I have traded for. When you buy the best you can trade for the best. I get anything in Mexico, Rome, Canada, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Scottsdale,. NYC or Florida. I learned early. Buy the best from a Name with a high standard.

What does the RCI wishbook (catalog) say your Fairfield week is rated?

bentleyh wrote:

I attempted to search with RCI the day I paid my maint fee. Trading Power was zip for Fairfield Property in Newport hode Island. Sales Rep. sold it as Red Week. Off the record RCI rep. told me that at best my 2 bedroom red week was tradable for a studio and said it would be traded as pink (off the record) not red. .

Sound like you bought a FF week - that was the first error. Fairfield (now Wyndham) has been moving away from the week based timeshare model for over a decade. If that isn't the case and you bought - or converted to - points then I hope you purchased resale. FF has seemingly made it a corporate goal to devalue resales of FF points while at the same time raising the cost of retail points. That means the minute your right to rescind a retail purchase ends (usually 5-10 days) you have lost at least 70% of the value - maye more. So the only logical thing to do is to only buy FF (Wyndham) points on resale where they are a bargain. The FF system itself (points - not weeks) is a great one. We have had no problems in over 12 years of using it getting the resorts, times and unit sizes we wanted at the ever growing number of great resorts Wyndham has to offer. We've also had good luck using small amounts of point deposited into RCI to get good trades through them. It sounds like you have a FF week which does not trade well either through the FF FAX (weeks) system OR RCI. If you have FF Points then you need to study how to use tham as they offer a great way to vacation in our experience. Good luck.

<<Sound like you bought a FF week - that was the first error. Fairfield (now Wyndham) has been moving away from the week based timeshare model for over a decade.>>

Not necessarily. I have bought (via resale) two fixed weeks within the FF system, one at Flagstaff and another in Williamsburg. We have been very happy with the experience, both staying at these resorts and trading with RCI for very good weeks in Hawaii and Europe.

I hope you can make the most of what you bought and that if you decide to sell it, you don't get hooked up with an "upfront" seller.

Yvonne aka TimeshareVon

jayjay In my humble opinion there's not much worse than having your credit ruined. Ruined credit can follow you the rest of your life.

BTW, mathewr3, does your company charge an upfront fee. If so we don't condone doing business with any such company. We suggest if one chooses any resale company to find one that charges no upfront sales fee, no upfront marketing fee, no upfront advertising fee, no upfront fee, period. The fee should come AFTER the sale and not BEFORE.

If your company charges no upfront fee then please feel free to list your company in the 'No Upfront Fee Resale Companies' in the Buying, Selling and Renting forum here.

mathewr3 wrote:

My name is Mathew and I am a Remax agent who specializes in time share resale. And to the best of my knowledge you can let the resort forclose on your property. Yes it does effect your credit , however you have to ask your self if the point off your credit is is more important than paying fees on something yo cant use. It is sad to hear situations such as yours and un fortunate that it happens to more and more people every day.

Mathew Bolles

In my humble opinion there's not much worse than having your credit ruined. Ruined credit can follow you the rest of your life

Ruined credit will follow you the rest of your life only if you are planning to live less than seven years. Federal law requires all credit reporting agencies to remove negative information after seven years. I can immediately think of many things worse than ruined credit including the death of a child, cancer, 9/11, and the list is long. Certainly ruined credit is bad but most credit grantors will take into consideration the factors that caused you to stop paying the maintenance fees. These factors could include poor management by the resort including failing to maintain an adequate reserve to make timely improvements thus having to charge a special assessment fee that exceeds the fair rental value of the unit in order to refurbish property. A special assessment fee in excess of the rental value effectively renders the property worthless meaning you can't give it away. I know from experience. A credit score in excess of 700 is not seriously hurt by a ding from a timeshare management company if that is the only negative on the report. I don't advocate walking away from responsibilities but by the same token advance age, declinging income, and a worthless unit can force a person to make such a decision.

CGA

carvana wrote:

Certainly ruined credit is bad but most credit grantors will take into consideration the factors that caused you to stop paying the maintenance fees. These factors could include poor management by the resort including failing to maintain an adequate reserve to make timely improvements thus having to charge a special assessment fee that exceeds the fair rental value of the unit in order to refurbish property. A special assessment fee in excess of the rental value effectively renders the property worthless meaning you can't give it away. I know from experience. A credit score in excess of 700 is not seriously hurt by a ding from a timeshare management company if that is the only negative on the report. I don't advocate walking away from responsibilities but by the same token advance age, declinging income, and a worthless unit can force a person to make such a decision. CGA

I beg to differ with you. Resorts don't care what your excuse is for not paying your maintenance fees as they've heard it ALL. Those fees are their bread and butter. Maintenance fees are no different that any other bill you owe (car, house, credit card, electricity, gas, etc).

When you sign on that dotted line to buy a timeshare you are then responsible for maintenance fees forever including after your death (the responsibility is then passed on to one's heirs) or until it's sold.

I would like to ask why you think a debt you owe can just magically disappear due to a variety of excuses? Sorry, it doesn't work that way in real life.

I owned 9 timeshares at one time so I know from what I speak concerning maintenance fees. Some resorts where I owned would start charging interest if you didn't pay by a CERTAIN DATE.

carvana wrote:

A special assessment fee in excess of the rental value effectively renders the property worthless meaning you can't give it away. CGA

Special assessments are a part of timeshare ownership. The resort doesn't care what your rental value is after such an assessment and they don't care if you render the property worthless. They expect owners to pay special assessments on top of maintenance fees, period. And if you don't they will turn your name over to a collection agency.

jayjay wrote:

carvana wrote:

Certainly ruined credit is bad but most credit grantors will take into consideration the factors that caused you to stop paying the maintenance fees. These factors could include poor management by the resort including failing to maintain an adequate reserve to make timely improvements thus having to charge a special assessment fee that exceeds the fair rental value of the unit in order to refurbish property. A special assessment fee in excess of the rental value effectively renders the property worthless meaning you can't give it away. I know from experience. A credit score in excess of 700 is not seriously hurt by a ding from a timeshare management company if that is the only negative on the report. I don't advocate walking away from responsibilities but by the same token advance age, declinging income, and a worthless unit can force a person to make such a decision. CGA

I beg to differ with you. Resorts don't care what your excuse is for not paying your maintenance fees as they've heard it ALL. Those fees are their bread and butter. Maintenance fees are no different that any other bill you owe (car, house, credit card, electricity, gas, etc).

When you sign on that dotted line to buy a timeshare you are then responsible for maintenance fees forever including after your death (the responsibility is then passed on to one's heirs) or until it's sold.

I would like to ask why you think a debt you owe can just magically disappear due to a variety of excuses? Sorry, it doesn't work that way in real life.

I owned 9 timeshares at one time so I know from what I speak concerning maintenance fees. Some resorts where I owned would start charging interest if you didn't pay by a CERTAIN DATE.

JayJay, a little more care in reading my post would have answered your questions for you. I agree that resorts don't care what your reason is for not paying but my point is that credit grantors, those from whom you seek credit including a home loan or a car loan, will consider the source of the ding on your credit as well as other extenuating circumstances. One ding by a resort on an otherwise perfect credit report does not equate to a "ruined credit".

As far siging on the dotted line agreeing to pay maintenance fees, I doubt that you ever actually signed on a dotted line agreeing to pay maintenance fees when you purchased your nine timeshares. What happened is that your warranty deed referred to the declaration on file with the county clerk that indicated you were purchasing the timeshare subject to the declaration. That is, you were required to pay the maintenance fees because of that declaration on file but not because you signed on some dotted line agreeing to do so.

Surprise, surprise, yes debts do just go away. There is something called the statute of limitations. Check with your attorney and you will be surprised to learn that the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense when applicable (that is, when statute has run) in every state in the union. Also, Federal law requires all three major credit reporting agencies to drop negatives from your report after seven years. Their failure to do so can result in heavy fines from the Feds. Again, check on that statute with your attorney prior to responding to my post. Knowledge is power.

CGA

Hi Fairfield is not all bad. I own two properties totaling 459K,000 points, I bought one from the developer and one on the internet. My cost was about $20,000. This year 2007, I will vacation 40 days, in a one bedroom condo, 21 days in a two bedroom condo and 14 days in a 3 bedroom condo for a cost of 441,000 points. By doing exchanges, my cost was $1640 for exchanges, $1800 for maintenance, and $300 for taxes. Let's say I could get !0% interest on my investment if I invested the money, that is $2000. The total is $5740. $5740 divided by 75 is $76. 54 per night for my accomodation. If I convert the 2 and 3 bedroom units to one bedroom equivalents based on the point value differences, I arrive at 100 days of one bedroom eqivalents. This produces a cost of $57.40 per day. If I get nothing for my properties after ten years, then I might have to add $2000 to the total. That will cost me $20.00 per night for the 100 days of one bedroom equivalents. I SAY BARGAIN CITY!!!! I have recently stayed in excellent hotels, Hilton, that charge $154 per night, that don't compare to what I get through the Fairfield program. Obviously, I am retired to vacation 75 days a year, but If you buy wisely, when you retire you can have a great time. Stan.

Hi. As part of the above, I recently stayed at a Santa Fe, New Mexico condo that charges $215 per night for a one bedroom condo. It was my most expensive Fairfield point exchange. Assuming that I never recover a dime for my properties in ten years, my effective cost was about 35% of the fair market value of the property's rental. I consider that a good deal. Stan.

carvana wrote:

As far siging on the dotted line agreeing to pay maintenance fees, I doubt that you ever actually signed on a dotted line agreeing to pay maintenance fees when you purchased your nine timeshares.

We were aware that maintenance fees were due each year for our 9 timeshare purchases ... that declaration is mandatory and anybody who knows anything about timeshares is aware of that declaration.

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Surprise, surprise, yes debts do just go away. There is something called the statute of limitations.

I've never heard of a statute of limitations on debts owed. The only thing I'm aware of is debts being deleted after bankruptcy (depending on chapter).

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Again, check on that statute with your attorney prior to responding to my post.

I have no reason to check with an attorney since we've always paid our bills on time and we've never expected society or our fellow timeshare owners to foot the bill should we decide, for whatever reason, to quit paying our bills or fees.

When someone quits paying their maintenance fees it then falls to fellow owners in the form of higher yearly maintenance fees for them.

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Knowledge is power.

We are in agreement that knowledge is power, but you have a lot to learn concerning timeshares.