Here's part 6 of a piece detailing very bad financial happenings Bankrate.com readers have suffered:
Time-share scare
My scariest financial ordeal was with a time-share purchase. My mortgage account was sold at least six times and when the payments didn't reach the right company on time, late charges were assessed. Then the mortgage company decided to collect all the late charges and leave the payment past due.
Being a hard-headed man, I stopped making payments and they turned the account over to several collection agencies with different customer names, different account numbers, different balances and different amounts due. They tried to make a shambles of my credit and the people that called were so obnoxious. When I warned them that I was recording the conversation, they immediately hung up.
I made several attempts to get it corrected with the credit bureaus, to no avail. I have decided that even lowering my FICO to 735 is bearable, but I swear, I'll freeze under a bridge before I pay those vampires another cent. My advice: Do not buy a time share. You can rent a really nice place (nicer than what I bought) for far less than what is charged for a time share and its annual fees. My unit was one that I could not even use. I bought it in New Orleans the week before Mardi Gras, and the unit was used as a "hospitality room" for Mardi Gras every year that I owned it and I was never going to get to use it. I was going to get a "comparable" unit to use.
If anyone offers you a time share ... get away from this trap.
Some people just ask for their own financial trouble. All I can do is repeat this advice -- never buy a time share.
Click here to read part 7 of this series.
Free Money Finance recommends Emigrant Direct and You Need a Budget.
I can relate to this story more than you know. I'd love to know what happened as it's been nearly a year since your post. I ended up getting rid of my timeshare (aka financial disaster) via a company called Timeshare Relief. I went every route I could to get rid of the thing. I tried selling it through a reseller (read more fees), I tried listing it on ebay, I tried donating it, hell, I tried giving it away. I was stuck and paying $800 in fees on a property (if you can even call it that) I couldn't use.
I finally got rid of it through Timeshare Relief and none too soon. I don't know what I would have done without them. They really saved me.
I hope you've found a way out!
Posted by: Andy | November 11, 2006 at 08:33 PM