Paying For WDW Trip Question??

[itzybitzy]

Hi All,

Bare with me if stupid question, but was just wondering if anyone has or was considering paying for some of your WDW trip with your home equity line of credit??? Family wants to go back so badly next year and while there will be some money saved, there still will be about half that would be short. Have a line of credit and know that this isn't the smartest option but just wanted to hear others opinions on this?

Thx - Itzy

 

[marie1203]

No I never consider it. I feel like vacations is something you can afford not something you will go in debt for. Maybe I am just crazy about finances but I wouldn't even touch our saving to go on vacations, we have a separate savings account for vacations only. In this times that jobs aren't secure I wouldn't risk it.

 

[DisneyGrampa]

Hi All,

Bare with me if stupid question, but was just wondering if anyone has or was considering paying for some of your WDW trip with your home equity line of credit??? Family wants to go back so badly next year and while there will be some money saved, there still will be about half that would be short. Have a line of credit and know that this isn't the smartest option but just wanted to hear others opinions on this?

Thx - Itzy

Using your line of credit puts your house at risk. If your other sources of credit are maxed out to the point you want to do this, then, it would be a bad choice; especially if your income stream is at all questionable.
Maybe it'll work out, maybe it won't.

 

[Joey128]

I agree with the previous poster, but I do think that sometimes there can be exceptions. Only you know how quickly you could pay it back. Only you know how secure you believe your job/jobs are (or at least as good of an idea s anyone!).

I think a lot would depend on the ages of your children, how many trips you have already taken to Disney etc.

When my kids were younger they begged and begged to go to Disney but we simply could not afford it. By the time I had saved enough money to go (as economically as we could) my son had already missed the window and he actually was bored to death the whole week. If I had to do it all over again, I think I would have considered borrowing part of the money so he could have experienced that magic when he was 10 or 11 instead of 14. I realize some 14 year boys enjoy Disney, but I think they are often the ones who have gone so many other times that they have developed a fondness for it through experience and memories.

We took our 18 year old DD about 7 years ago because it was part of a trip she had won, and my other DD couldn't go at the time. It was such a neat experience to have enjoyed that week with her before she went off to college. Now our other DD wants us to take just her so we are going in December and we are fortunate that we don't have to borrow the money this time, but if we did have too, I'd be tempted because it may be our last chance to go with her alone before she is finished with college and starts working full time in another city. Some things you just can't get back once that window has passed.

The point being, is i do agree that as rule I would not go in debt for a vacation unless it truly is special circumstances. I hope that helps!

 

[DisneyGrampa]

I agree with the previous poster, but I do think that sometimes there can be exceptions. Only you know how quickly you could pay it back. Only you know how secure you believe your job/jobs are (or at least as good of an idea s anyone!).

I think a lot would depend on the ages of your children, how many trips you have already taken to Disney etc.

When my kids were younger they begged and begged to go to Disney but we simply could not afford it. By the time I had saved enough money to go (as economically as we could) my son had already missed the window and he actually was bored to death the whole week. If I had to do it all over again, I think I would have considered borrowing part of the money so he could have experienced that magic when he was 10 or 11 instead of 14. I realize some 14 year boys enjoy Disney, but I think they are often the ones who have gone so many other times that they have developed a fondness for it through experience and memories.

We took our 18 year old DD about 7 years ago because it was part of a trip she had won, and my other DD couldn't go at the time. It was such a neat experience to have enjoyed that week with her before she went off to college. Now our other DD wants us to take just her so we are going in December and we are fortunate that we don't have to borrow the money this time, but if we did have too, I'd be tempted because it may be our last chance to go with her alone before she is finished with college and starts working full time in another city. Some things you just can't get back once that window has passed.

The point being, is i do agree that as rule I would not go in debt for a vacation unless it truly is special circumstances. I hope that helps!

You make good points-my problem is, primarily with using the line of credit. If you default on regular credit card debt, it's bad. If you default on your equity loan, you lose your house!

 

[dormouse72]

Vacations are important to me - they are my only splurge. Still, I'd rather save up the money before the vacation than have to pay it off after.

My boyfriend is a case in point - he never expected to go to Disney. He never went on vacation anywhere. Knowing I love to travel, he bought me tickets to visit a friend of mine in Miami for my birthday and she wanted to take a drive up so I bought the Disney tickets (which was only fair since he bought the plane tickets). He had such a great time that before we left we were already planning this trip. We got home and immediately started looking at costs. We made up a budget, broke it down into how much we'd have to save per week, target dates about what had to be paid when, and how much we'd each contribute. Suddenly he looked at it all and said "I never thought you could do it like this! I can do this..."

I think that by planning far enough in the future, making realistic expectations (I've always dreamed of staying at the Contemporary but my wallet has other ideas), looking for deals (these boards are great for that ), using codes (I used the code to get the free dining upgrade from a tent site at FW w/ QSDP to a room at POR w/ DDP for just about the same amount of money), and paring all your other spending down to a minimum (I literally write down every dime I spend to keep in my budget), you should be able to go.

If you still can't...well...if (God Forbid) one of my children was dying and wanted to go to Disney, you bet I'd be tapping any source of funding I could get my hands on. Other than that, we'd just have to keep putting our pennies away and keep dreaming about what we'll do when we get there.

 

[LauraJean]

No I never consider it. I feel like vacations is something you can afford not something you will go in debt for. Maybe I am just crazy about finances but I wouldn't even touch our saving to go on vacations, we have a separate savings account for vacations only. In this times that jobs aren't secure I wouldn't risk it.

I agree...

 

[serene56]

I would NEVER go into debt to go on vacation. I would hate the bill that I have to pay month after month topay for something that I am no longer using.

 

[Ellielovesdisney]

I think I have to agree with everyone else. I try to pay for my vacations before I go...and any incidentals that month. I love disney, and I love vacation...but I really hate debt. I know times are tough...but save now and have more fun later. (Allears.net has a good essay on saving money on your disney trip!)

 

[kymom99]

Okay, I'll take the opposite stance. My home equity line of credit has a MUCH lower rate than any credit card I have. I carry no balance on my regular cards, but I do have a balance on my equity line. I would rather see someone have a balance on an equity line where the interest is tax deductable. I always charge my vacations and pay them off right away. I pay the deposits off before I leave. If you decide how much you will need to charge and make a plan to pay it all off in a cerain number of months, I don't see what the big deal is.

 

[Dad_Z]

In my opinion that is a terrible idea. You are contemplating securing a vacation by your family's home. Given that it is clearly a luxury and not a need, it's my feeling that you should either save for it or be able to pay off the credit card in full the month that you get the big vacation charges.

Not to get on my soap box too much, but society needs to learn to live within its means. And sometimes that means putting off things that we just cannot afford today.

Have a great trip when you do choose to go!

 

[auralia]

while putting your house at risk seams crazy i remember something from when i was working w/ a very nice older woman a few years back. She had just lost her husband and a group of us were going around saying what our favorite "day or time of our lives was" and we asked her. She thought really hard and said it was when she, her husband and their 2 children went to disney world many years before... the next day she came to thank us, told us how she had been so sad since her husband died and the last few years of his life had been very difficult but that question had helped her so much because it brought her back to when things were happy and she mentioned that she didn't even want to take the trip at the time because it was paid on credit, but that happy memory did wonders at sustaining her after her husbands passing. and she would go back and do it all over again even though they had to take a loan out to do it because it truly was the happiest memory she has.

of course i believe that was their one and only disney trip, but we were all crying by the time she was done telling us her story.

 

[LadyVT]

I believe that only you know if this is a good idea or not. We don't know what your financial situation is, if you have any other debt, how much equity you have in your house, if your house WOULD truly be at risk or not, what your employment situation is, and so on.

My husband and I can't have kids (I met him too late in life), but if we did, we sure would find a way to go as many times as possible while they were still young. On the other hand, we are pretty near DL, and we go a few times a year, and with APs, it is a very affordable trip for the two of us. I know it can be very expensive to go to WDW, and especially with kids.

There have been many, many deals, though, and the travel prices will probably only go up as the economy recovers. You could consider staying off property and using Priceline's name your own price feature. We won't bid more than $50 for a 4-star hotel on there, and we almost always get one (you can search under yuku and bidding for travel for tips on how to do this successfully). You could also consider renting a hybrid for a week or two and driving rather than flying your whole family if you are close enough. Doing stuff like that, you might be able to get the price down so that you don't have to use your equity line at all, or only use a fraction of what you expect.

 

[RMulieri]

No I would never do that , for all the reasons mentioned.A vacation shouldn't be something you go into debt for or spend multiple years to pay off.

 

[Chelley00]

I would never do it. We always pay for our trips in cash, no credit.

Our former neighbors used their HELOC to replace their windows, AND go to Disney. On the way home, they were in a car accident that left one of their kids and the dad seriously injured. With the dad not working, they were unable to make their HELOC payments, and they are now living in an apartment with 4 kids because they had to file bankruptcy. The judge gave them a hard time about using the line of credit for a vacation.

 

[itzybitzy]

Hey - thanks everyone for their reply. Let me ask you this would it matter if it was say only $2,000 out of the HELOC line??? The other amount of the vacation I would have saved up.

Itzy

 

[RMulieri]

I still wouldn't.The economy is just not stable enough.What if you lost your jobs, was unable to work or a financial emergency came up? how would you be able to pay back the money?

 

[DisneyGrampa]

Hey - thanks everyone for their reply. Let me ask you this would it matter if it was say only $2,000 out of the HELOC line??? The other amount of the vacation I would have saved up.

Itzy

Home equity lines of credit are great for those with the resources to pay it off if they run into one of life's roadblocks. From your posts, I get the impression that any of your other credit lines are maxed out, and that the above doesn't apply to you. Better to get out from under your Equity loan, and avoid losing your house if you run into a problem.

 

[Greenfield1984]

We used our line of credit to pay for a trip to disney during the buy 4 get 3 nights free promotion. At the time my daughter was 18 months old so we knew it would be the last chance we could go when she would have free airfare. I then came up with a buget of how long it would take to pay off the line of credit with 6% interest. I came up with it taking only a year to pay it off. Costing us less then $400 in interest which still came up cheaper then if we had to pay for the full 7 days. So in a way i was saving money by paying with credit.

It all depends on how long it would take you to pay it off and how much debt are currently in.

 

[golden6911]

I wouldn't unless there were really extenuating circumstances - like if you knew money was coming in the near future and you would be able to pay it off quickly.