Updated February 2024: Advocate Financial Services’ web url has changed. It is now afstimeshareeducation.com.
A timeshare can be a considerable burden. It may sound like a great idea when a slick salesperson is presenting at a posh resort, but many buyers soon face escalating fees and unavailable weeks. Then they realize the contract is for life and there’s no way out. Advocate Financial Services says they’ll advocate for you to help find a way out. Is it true?
Let’s take a closer look.
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Who Is Advocate Financial Services and What Do They Do?
Advocate Financial Services describes itself as a timeshare advocate. The company is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) lists Mr. David Bates as Executive Marketing Director and Ms. Martha Guzman as President. The BBB states that the company was incorporated in 2011 and the BBB file was opened in 2012.
Documents filed with the Florida Division of Corporations state that Advocate Financial Services was incorporated in 2011, with Martha Guzman as President and Registered Agent. In 2021, Martha Guzman was replaced by Rosselin Duarte, described as Registered Agent and Manager.
Advocate Financial Services is licensed by the Florida Department of Consumer Services and is insured and bonded.
What They Do
Advocate Financial Services describes itself in these words.
If you would be able to get rid of your timeshare and get your purchase price back, would that be of interest to you?
Our timeshare consulting firm has been working with the best timeshare lawyers since 2011 helping thousands of timeshare owners cancel their timeshare contracts and eliminated Millions of Dollars in timeshare financial obligations.
If you were induced into buying a timeshare, need to settle an outstanding timeshare mortgage, or need to settle monies owed to the timeshare company, we may be able to help!
Source: Advocate Financial Services website
Advocate Financial Services does not describe its services in detail on its website. One thing is clear: this is not a timeshare exit company. You will not pay Advocate Financial Services.
So what does this mean for you?
If you contact Advocate Financial Services, they will provide you with advice and assistance free of charge. They will review your contract, ask questions, assess your situation, and discuss your options with you. If necessary, they will refer you to an attorney, a mediation company, or a debt settlement company that can help you get out of your contract.
Advocate Financial Services is a business, and since you’re not paying them, they have to be getting money from someone else. They don’t say who. We assume they receive commissions from law firms, mediation companies, and debt settlement companies in exchange for their referrals.
Can You Trust Advocate Financial Services?
Will Advocate Financial Services deliver what it promises? Looking at their website, we don’t see any major red flags.
It appears that this is a service that matches timeshare owners who want to get rid of their properties with lawyers who specialize in timeshare exits.
The company even agrees to waive the consultation fee, so you have nothing to lose by listening to their sales pitch.
One question mark is the absence of any disclosure of how the firm makes money. There is nothing inherently wrong with a commission-based model — we’re assuming they work on commission — but it makes it difficult to assess a company’s overall success rate.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives Advocate Financial Services an A+ rating. This indicates that the company is highly responsive to complaints on the BBB site.
We have not found any record of lawsuits or regulatory actions against Advocate Financial Services.
Online Reviews
Online reviews of Advocate Financial Services are very positive. The BBB page has 15 customer reviews with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars. The company consistently responds to all reviews, positive and negative.
Some sample positive reviews:
Reviews on Google are also overwhelmingly positive, with an average of 4.3 of 5 stars from 12 reviews.
There are also a few negative reviews on the BBB and Google pages. In each case, these seem directed less at the company than at one individual, David Bates. Mr. Bates also gets extremely positive reviews from other clients and was forthcoming in an interview, so there may be less evidence of a problem with the company than of a personal grudge.
We are not in a position to determine the authenticity of these exchanges or to rule on who’s telling the truth, but prefer to judge based on customer insights that focus on the business or its results. Even if the reviews are authentic, they indicate a clash of personalities rather than a problem with the business or its services, and every individual can have a bad day.
Advocate Financial Services will waive the consultation fee and there’s no obligation to retain the companies they recommend.
Free consultations are a way to assess both the options a company offers and their interaction style. If you don’t feel comfortable with the person you’re talking to or the company they work for — and this goes for any company — you should end the conversation and look for another option. No company is the right fit for everyone.
What’s Good About Advocate Financial Services
- Free initial consultation
- Referrals to companies that will work for you, not for a timeshare exit company
- Free services with no obligation to retain recommended companies
- Numerous positive reviews
What’s Bad About Advocate Financial Services
- May have an incentive to refer you to companies paying higher commissions
- They don’t disclose their income model on their website
- Some negative reviews
Advocate Financial Services’ Website
The Advocate Financial Services website contains a great deal of relevant and generally accurate information.
Advocate Financial Services is a timeshare consulting firm with over 20 years of experience helping people just like you cancel timeshares using experienced timeshare attorneys who focus on timeshare law.
We understand it isn’t easy to trust anyone in the timeshare industry. We have been rated the Top timeshare cancellation firm in the U.S. for the last 7 years and have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. We are here to help you cancel your timeshare contract.
afstimeshareeducation.com
The Testimonials page contains customer accounts of the company’s services. These are difficult to verify but generally positive.
Social Media Presence
The Advocate Financial Services Facebook page contains a good range of information about the company, but it has only 5 likes and 6 people following it. The page was updated regularly from 2016 through 2019, but the most recent post was in October 2019. None of the posts have any visible reader engagement.
The company has a Pinterest page with numerous links to its blog posts and a YouTube channel with two videos.
The Bottom Line
Advocate Financial Services appears to be one of the more reputable players in a timeshare exit landscape riddled with questionable actors and outright scams.
The main point they make on their website — that you will be best served by dealing directly with attorneys, mediation companies, and debt settlement companies yourself rather than through a timeshare exit company — is sensible and well presented. Their advice and referrals are free, and there is no obligation to work with the companies they recommend.
There are several options to get rid of your timeshare. You can always seek out your own lawyer, mediation company or timeshare exit company, but if you have no idea where to begin or how to find the best companies, a referral may be precisely what you need.
FAQs
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) lists Mr. David Bates as Executive Marketing Director and Ms. Martha Guzman as President. The incorporation documents filed with the Florida Division of Corporations list Martha Guzman as a Registered Agent and President. In the 2021 annual filing, Ms. Guzman’s name was replaced by Rosselin Duarte.
The Advocate Financial Services office is located at 5100 NW 33rd Ave, Suite 249, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
Advocate Financial Services office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
We can find no record of the AARP or any other group endorsing Advocate Financial Services.
You can reach Advocate Financial Services by phone at (866) 519-7368 or at info@advocatefinancialservices.com.