How to get rid of a Timeshare in 2021 Without Being Scammed

You’re probably relieved to know that there are different ways you can get rid of a timeshare in 2021. You should choose an appropriate approach depending on the nature of your timeshare, i.e. the kind of resort developer you have a contract with, the kind of timeshare you bought, your mode of payment, the date you bought the timeshare, etc.

It’s true that the timeshare exit industry has been eroded with scams. Notwithstanding, there are many legitimate and secure ways to put a total end to paying timeshare maintenance fee. Let’s start with the easiest approach.

1. Exiting During the Rescission Period.
The easiest way to cancel your timeshare is to rescind your contract while you’re legally eligible to do so. The United States’ laws in most states allow timeshare owners to cancel their contract and get a full refund within four to fourteen days after buying a timeshare.

As such, we urge you to check your contract to confirm if you are still qualified to use this legally backed approach. If you are, you need to act swiftly before the period elapses. We expect that your resort developer included the process of rescinding your timeshare in your agreement document because the law mandates all resort developers to do so. But if your developer has defaulted, feel free to reach out to them to ask for the procedures.

When you receive the timeshare rescission guide, confirm your resort developer’s rescission period to know if you are still eligible. If you are, follow the instructions to cancel your timeshare and get a full refund. Generally, you will need to send an official letter (electronically or via postal service) which contains your name and registration details to your resort developer to inform them about your decision to rescind your timeshare. You can then sit back, get a refund, and say goodbye to maintenance fees.

Meanwhile, you can seek a legal redress if your resort developer’s failure to include rescission instructions in your agreement document led to your ineligibility. For instance, if your rescission period elapsed while you are trying to get a rescission guide from your developer who was supposed to have included the instructions in your contract when you bought the timeshare, there’s a high chance a law court will help you get justice.

If you are no longer eligible for this option, which is probably the reality of most people reading this article, we’ve got you covered! Just keep reading to learn other effective ways of getting rid of your timeshare.

NOTE: Ensure you confirm whether your state’s or country’s law has a provision for rescission before contacting your resort developer.

2. Leverage your Resort Developer’s Deed Back/ Take Back Program
A deed back or take back program is an escape route timeshare developers offer timeshare owners who can no longer afford to pay their maintenance fee. With this program, financially handicapped timeshare owners can return their timeshare to their resort developer after providing evidence to the timeshare developer. Interestingly enough, you might still get some of your money back if your resort developer gets a new owner for your timeshare.

To be eligible for this program, you must have fully paid for your timeshare and owe no maintenance fee irrespective of your financial condition. If you have a good financial record with your resort developer, you can contact them to know if you are eligible for the deed back or take back program.
Kindly note that not all resort developers offer this program. So, it’s important you verify if your developer has this option before you start worrying about your eligibility status. Below are resort developers that offer deed back or take back programs.

(All my efforts to get an updated list of resort developers offering a deed back program yielded no positive result. Should I use the list in the competitor’s article?)

3. Advertise and Sell the Timeshare Yourself
This is supposed to be the easiest way to get rid of a timeshare since it involves only three processes: advertising, negotiation and sale/ownership transfer. However, it’s becoming more difficult to sell a timeshare because prospective buyers have wrong impressions about owning a timeshare. This is mainly because financial experts like Dave Ramsey always warn their followers against buying a timeshare which is considered a waste of money.

Despite this problem, you can sell your timeshare successfully without any hassle if its terms are favorable to potential buyers. For instance, it’s very easy to sell a timeshare with flexible locations. It’s also easy to sell a timeshare whose fee has been fully paid as and when it’s put up for sale.

You can sell your timeshare yourself by advertising it on websites like:
• RedWeek – (Premium)
• Timeshare Users Group (TUG) – (Premium)
• Ebay – (Premium)
• Advertise my Timeshare – (Free)
• Craigslist – (Free)
• My Resort Network – (Premium)
• Kaola – (Free)
• Facebook – (Free)

We recommend you start with Facebook, Kaola, Craigslist and Advertise my Timeshare because these platforms allow you to list and advertise your timeshare for free. This means that, with patience and the right advertisement strategy, you can rest assured you will sell your timeshare on any of the platform with zero risk of fraud.

You can consider any of the paid options above if neither Facebook nor Craigslist attracts a buyer. Spending a lot of money trying to sell your timeshare is not ideal, so, you may want to avoid platforms that charge an exorbitant fee for timeshare listing/advert placement.

While we’re confident you’ll be able to sell your timeshare yourself on one of the aforementioned platforms, we don’t want to rule out the possibility of the need to hire a professional to get rid of your timeshare. In this case, we strongly recommend that you hire a timeshare exit company rather than an individual to be on the safe side.

4. Hire a Timeshare Exit Company
You can hire a timeshare exit company to help get rid of your timeshare if none of the previous approaches work for you. Experienced timeshare exit companies work with attorneys who understand the process of terminating timeshare contracts better. As such, a competent exit company might get you out of timeshare maintenance fee faster.

There are many factors you should consider when choosing a timeshare exit company. One of these factors is the cost of hiring the company, including how you’re expected to pay the service fee. We recommend hiring a timeshare exit company that uses escrow to accept payment.

Escrow helps you to avoid timeshare scams, and it motivates the company to get rid of your timeshare as soon as possible. You can read more about escrow (link to the escrow article will be inserted). You can also consider hiring a timeshare exit company that charges a low upfront fee if the company has a genuine track record of success in timeshare cancellation. Avoid timeshare exit companies that request a high upfront fee as well as companies with bad track records.

The process of hiring a timeshare exit company typically starts with a free consultation where you discuss details of your timeshare contract with the company you intend to hire. Most reputable timeshare exit companies will reject your case if you stand no chance of getting your timeshare cancelled. So, you can rest assured that a reputable timeshare exit company will get rid of your timeshare if it accepts your case.