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Bluegreen Vacation Club Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited, Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit in Florida by current and former members of the military.
- What: The plaintiffs claim the vacation home financing company overcharges current and former service members in violation of federal law protecting them.
- Where: The plaintiffs want to represent military members nationwide.
Timeshare company, Bluegreen Vacation Club, overcharges members of the military and veterans in violation of federal law, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit was filed in Florida on Tuesday by lead plaintiffs Emmanuel G. Louis, Jr. and his wife Tamarah C. Louis. They allege that Bluegreen Vacation Club failed to disclose the true interest rate they and other members of the military were charged when they took out financing with the company — a violation of the Military Lending Act (MLA).
Bluegreen Vacations is a company who finances loans for consumers to purchase interest in its vacation timeshare memberships nationwide.
According to the claim, Bluegreen failed to determine whether Louis was a covered borrower, and failed to disclose a Military Annual Percentage Rate (MAPR), disclosing to the couple and other Class Members an annual percentage rate (APR) that was significantly lower than the true MAPR.
The MLA and MAPR that is part of it were enacted to protect members of the United States Military from an epidemic of predatory lending that endangered military readiness and impacts service member retention, the claim reads.
Service Members Pay More Than They Should for Bluegreen Vacation Club
In December 2020, Louis, Jr. — an active-duty member of the United States Army — and his wife Tamarah Louis obtained financing to purchase a “Bluegreen Vacation Club” membership, which is a timeshare interest, from Bluegreen in Florida.
To obtain the financing, they entered into the Bluegreen Owner Beneficiary Agreement with Bluegreen, that was subject to MLA requirements. However, they allege, Bluegreen failed to provide any of the mandatory MLA disclosures to the couple of their rights pursuant to the MLA.
In the “Purchase Terms” in Bluegreen’s standard form Owner Beneficiary Agreement with the couple, the total amount Bluegreen financed was $10,350.00 and the annual percentage rate was stated as 16.990%, the claim shows. No MAPR was stated on any document provided to the couple.
“Bluegreen’s failure to provide the MAPR resulted in Plaintiffs’ MAPR being higher than the APR that they thought he was paying,” the claim reads.
“As a result, Plaintiffs thought they were paying an interest rate of 16.990%, but in reality, their concealed MAPR was much higher.”
As a result of Bluegreen’s MLA violations, the couple has suffered actual damages because they paid money to the defendant based on an illegal contract without the benefit of the MLA disclosures and are entitled to rescission of contract, the allege.
“Upon information and belief, Bluegreen’s business practices that fail to comply with the MLA are not limited to its Florida locations, instead, it is a nationwide scheme in that it fails to make any inquiry to determine a borrower’s status that would prescribe MLA protections,” the lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiffs want to represent anyone covered by the MLA that entered into an agreement with Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited. They are suing for violations of the MLA and seek certification of the Class, damages, enjoinment, interest, legal fees and costs, and a jury trial.
The timeshare company is no stranger to legal action. In 2016, a class action lawsuit accused Bluegreen Vacation Club of using “hard sell” tactics and misinformation to convince consumers to enter into timeshare contracts.
Have you signed up for Bluegreen Vacation Club? Tell us about your experience in the comments section below!
The plaintiffs are represented by Janet R. Varnell and Matthew T. Peterson of Varnell & Warwick, P.A.
The Bluegreen Vacation Club Class Action Lawsuit is Louis, et al. v Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited, Inc. Case No. 0:21-cv-61938-XXXX in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida Fort Lauderdale Division.
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61 thoughts onBluegreen Vacation Club Overcharges Military, Vets, Class Action Alleges
I was never offered a military rate when I joined, and now I’m 100% disabled and can’t travel and trying to get out of my contract.
We were caught at Cabela’s and the lady told us that it is a great opportunity all we had to do was pay the one time fee of $179 and we would get a four day stay paid. When I tested positive for Covid, I called to get it rescheduled and because it was within the 14 days she said they needed to charge us another $125 and then I told her I would like to cancel it and she informed me I would have to pay an additional $200. I told her it isn’t safe to go with Covid and she said that wasn’t her problem and I should just wear a mask. I was never told that I would owe more money if I had to cancel. The woman I spoke to was rude and not helpful. When we signed up the lady said if you don’t use it than you are out the money we paid and that was that. I was okay with that because I had no intention of getting sick and needing to reschedule.
I’m having the same problem except I paid 299.00 for my package and they keep charging me $25.00 every three months to extend the reservation and ignoring the fact that I’m under medical care and cant travel. This is sad and inhumane. I have stress everytime I get an eamil saying “you package is about to expire” knowing I cant travel right now. They have horible business practices and should be held accountable to some standards of the disability act.
Hi Blue Green took advantage of me in Feb. 2020. They used pro bass store. Promise me a 3 Nights airfare included, carival boat vacation travel for 5 days, and 2 other trips that I never recieved. Once I purchased it Covid 19 came. I had already put 10 % down on. And then paid 6 thousand more. But could not use any of the plan because of covid 19. I had Onwership Orientation that I couldnot make. every month kept paying my monthly bill. Then when september came they ask me for a lot of mantinace fees. Which I could not use any of the travel or so called trips that was promised. I lost those promised trips that they gave me. I still paid my monthly bill and my maintanince fee so I would not be Hassled. I kept calling and reaching out to the corporate trying see how my free trip could be restored and extended, but they would hang up on me or give me another number to call. But i would keep paying my monthly bill. So when 2021 came I paid the rest of the time share off. So I was stuck 8000 points that I was about to lose. So they extended the points for a few months. I tried to used them and wasnt allowed to use them at any of there existing 210,000+ Owner, Memorable vacations. I paid whole bunch of maintanace fees again. Now here it is Aug 23, 2022. And the want me to pay fees over1200.00. And you have a collection company called Pinnacle Recovery.Now I was up under the Pandemic. No trips, No explanation, and No comfort … Just robbing me and other people in this world that work honestly for things the deserve from a company with bad character.
Sorry about the global pandemic that bluegreen caused. I have been a member since 2017 and it is a great company to be a part of, yes during the pandemic travel was shutdown just like everything else. October 2020 I have had no problem using my points and have enjoyed my many stays so much I have bought more points. Yes maintenance fees are a pain but if you had a second home would you not pay taxes and insurance on it, that is basically what the maintenance fees are. When I bought I was given free stays, no airfare since they don’t own planes or cruise ships. They do offer them at a discount rate much like priceline. And if you had called them mid 2020 all points where saved without the normal fees. Don’t talk down on the company because you did not use your gifts in a timely manner they were not available for ever. Use them or lose them, no ones fault but your own.
My late husband (a veteran ) and I purchased in 2006 and had untold hard times booking a stay , they up sold us again in 2007. A lot of pressure . Never told about military rates .
After he passed I am trying to transfer ownership to my daughter and they wan 500 dollars for each purchase to transfer . Had to get Atturney it’s a mess !
We were told how easy we could book vacations and pushed into purchasing a package. Then Covid happened right after and we couldn’t go to the new owner orientation. Over year later we finally got it set up and was told we didn’t have enough points to book anyplace we wanted to go and was told we needed to buy another deal. This should be a crime!! We have not used this since we have purchased it except to convert to choice . It is the most difficult thing to try to use and you can never book place you want to go. We want to get out of it but that’s as difficult as trying to use it!!
My mom is a Marine Widow. She was taken advantage of and sold this garbage. She uses 1/2 her monthly income to pay for this and all the fee associated.
July 31, 2013 signed up just for the two hour Blue Green time shares free weekend and we stated repeatedly “WE DONT WANT TO SIGN FOR SOMETHING WE WILL NOT GET TO US” but the just went on and on to the point of playing musical chairs with each and every salesperson then they stated “oh your both veterans WE HAVE A SPECIAL for active duty, reserves and veterans! It’s purchase price of 9,000 with small interest rate that they stated we could not see until they mailed us our billing cycle then made promises of points we would get each year well guess how many times we have used Blue Green timeshares ZERO and still at the ORIGINAL 8,000 points they supposedly GIFT us with though to make any points you must us your timeshare or pay cash to keep them every year and are deleted after original purchase date the next year.
That 9,000 since purchase date of 07/31/2013 is know that would add up to not costing anything at Big Cedar in Missouri were pressured into signing and the sales people did not mind being nasty. Told us it would be like owning shares in hotel and would be a great money maker for rent out our dates and people charge thousands that pretty much pay off our 9,000 but to date can’t give days away because most know how they LIED CHEATED STILL TO SELL TIME SHARE BY COMMISSION!
We were put up in town at hotel so did not even get to stay in the resort to peruse the resort to see if we would even want to purchase but that never happened. Oh was late one payment and they raised payment by 5% not counting the Maintanace fees we have to apply for the monthly payment on top of the regular purchase payment. Original Maintanace was bad enough but they raise it every year.
Very year we go no where because we cannot afford to monthly payments+Maintanace every six months because we have to get the payment plan and they charge to us the payment plan+mandatory yearly membership dues= NO MONEY LEFT TO EVEN PURCHASE FUEL TO DRIVE THETWO OURS TO GET TO RESORT.
The onetime we tried to reserve my husbands vacation week 6 months ahead nothing open for our own timeshare and we really could not afford to travel to another resort.
Then Covid-19 pretty much stopped the world from traveling but did Blue Green offer any type of payment relief with work hours cut in half or closed to stay at home and just get base pay no overtime that we had when we first signed for that nightmare.
So July 31, 2022 will be 10 YEARS and still not paid off it’s a never ending cycle of throwing our military Retireement and my 100% disable veteran into Blue Green vacuum of getting nothing but bills.
Finally, we are both in out early 50s but we will NEVER get to actually retire even after we pay off Ti share because they took our retirement NEST EGG!
So please can we sight up for law suit for all their deceptive practices that we may die before we can pay it off then even if we leave to family member they inherit Maintanace fees membership dues not get only dates from work to vacation because NO ONE RENTS TIME SHARES AND IF THEY DO THEY EITHER OWN THEIR OWN OR FEEL SAFER GETTING PLAIN HOTEL RESERVATIONS!
Oh and you have to love the consulting companies that you end up paying for the resort to get the timeshare back for FREE!
So we’re exactly is the veterans discount or not charging an interest rate that keeps you paying on time share for 20 years!
Thank goodness I’m keep everything just like every document or scrape of paper they used to cone all of us into a mortgage you won’t live to own!
We were misled in how BlueGreen works. We were under the impression that we could book vacations easily, but as it turns out we can’t. When we tried to get help from BlueGreen, they just said we were “undersold” and they could help us buy more points. We were told that BlueGreen financed our “mortgage” , but I have NEVER seen a statement or information about our loan. I looked it up on the website, and it never worked. The BlueGreen salesman i Myrtle Beach claimed it was financed through “Uncle BlueGreen”, but it is actually financed through a different company. I called BlueGreen, and they said they had no record of us having a loan through them, but funds come out of our account each month. I was finally able to find the lender and see some of our account information. Not only are we paying someone other than we were told we were paying, but we can’t use the points as we were instructed.
We need help. My husband is a retired Marine and we are both now teachers. We can’t afford to throw our money away.
Hi, my wife and I also was taken to the cleaners, I have a lawyer working on it currently. But High Pressure sales tactics even after we said no many times and even mentioned in 5 years possibly. Need more help possibly to get out of this scam that Florida has allowed to citizens. The Governor needs to get involved and understand how timeshares make slaves out people with these style contracts.
Please contact me if you take on a class action I feel robbed by these people
Same case as everyone else on here. Has anyone heard positive feedback from this site or anyone involved?
Thanks,