What Obama Has and Hasn’t Done for Timeshare Owners

Headlines float around the internet with enticing messages about your personal debt bailout or your credit card relief plan. They imply that the federal government has in some way offered consumers the same type of debt relief that has been made available to big business and the banking industry—but this is simply misleading messaging. You will even find timeshare related articles that suggest that somehow these erroneously named ‘bailouts’ address timeshare mortgages. This is smoke and mirrors talk; no transparency to it.

Here’s what is accurate. Timeshare owners who are struggling to make their timeshare mortgage payment can find some timeshare relief from new governmental programs…indirectly. If you are able to renegotiate your homeowners mortgage (for your residential home, not your timeshare) to a lower interest rate, then you will have more cash flow in your monthly budget to make paying other expenses, including those related to your timeshare, a little easier.

And although credit card companies have always been approachable about payment plans and sometimes about reducing the overall amount of debt if you are in over your head, there is more pressure on them than ever before to work with consumers. If you successfully negotiate a consolidated monthly payment for your credit cards, or even just a lower payment on the ones that give you problems, then again, you may indirectly have more money to use to pay other expenses, including your timeshare mortgage or timeshare annual fees and/or taxes. Additionally, as part of the credit card reform act, your credit card bill should now be easier to read and communicate to you more clearly how much you are actually paying in interest—information that should make it easier for more people to control debt in the future.

Option: Use Your Timeshare as a Vacation Rental

Another alternative for offsetting the cost of your timeshare is to use your timeshare as a rental. Timeshare rental is a vacation accommodations option that is growing in popularity. And as more timeshare companies make renting timeshare easier to do, vacationers are realizing that timeshare rental affords them more space, typically for less money than renting a hotel or motel room.

Timeshare rental can be a win-win because it lets the timeshare owner retain ownership of the timeshare for use in the future while creating some income from it to offset the cost of ownership. If you think timeshare rental is an alternative that can help you, you can learn more here: Rent your timeshare