Add on contract with a different use year

[tgropp]

I just purchased a 50 point add on contract at the VWL with a Feb use year. I already have an existing 100 point contract there with a Dec use year. I waited and tried to get a contract with a Dec use year but nothing ever came available. Is there anything special that I should know about different use years and what contract should I use first, bank first or borrow from first. I am sure that there are other owners that are in a similar contract position as I am. Any suggestions if there are any would be appreciated

 

[CarolMN]

Since you have two different use years, DVC will treat them as totally separate membershps - you'll even have two different membership numbers.

That means:

You cannot combine points from the contracts for a single night without doing a transfer between them. So for example, you can book 2 nights from one contract and 3 from the other and have them linked to make one 5-night stay. What you can't do is use 5 points from one contract and 10 from the other to book a single night (assuming one night costs 15 points. I just made the number up for illustrative purposes). You have to do a transfer between contracts to combine them to pay for a single night. That uses up your one transfer per use year per contract for both contracts. So plan accordingly.

Also, you will need to keep track of each contract separately for banking because the banking deadline will be different for each one.

Be sure to figure out which points will expire first and have MS use them up first. You'll need to be especially careful that MS does what you intend - my advice is to figure out where you stand before you call MS and ask for a point status before you hang up after every call. If their status doesn't match yours, get it resolved right then and there. Lots easier than waiting until after something bad happens.

 

[disneynutz]

If you would have asked before you bought I would have said DON"T DO IT.

The benefits don't out weigh the problems. We have two UY's and I will be selling all of the contracts in one to make things easier.

 

[rodserry]

I agree. It was a real pain when we had 2 UYs. We ultimately sold one of the weeks to avoid it. There are no tricks except I would recommend keeping a spreadsheet and careful track of your leftover points each year for each account since you can't combine them.

 

[Buckeye Fan]

One would be easier to have one UY, no doubt. But I hate my Aug UY. I purchased a Dec UY on purpose to give us other options. So, with that said...

* Watch your banking deadlines.
* Remember, you are allowed to transfer in or out of a contract once per UY. I have read where MS has allowed exceptions to this rule if the person owned both contracts, and was trying to make a reservation. I sure wouldn't count on that, though.
* You can book nights individually, which is what I've done. If you do this, you don't have to combine points anyway.
* You have to be very specific with MS on exactly what you want to do when making a reservation. When you call in and provide a member number, they won't even know the contract exists unless you tell them. Sometimes if they do a name search, I think they see both.
* Your contracts will show up separately on the MS website. Still under the same ID, but you will have to go into each of them separately to see reservations. There's not one comprehensive view.

Hope that helps! Congrats on your purchase. Having two just takes a little more work an thought.

 

[dcfromva]

I have 4 different UY's. I think having different UY can be beneficial (maybe not so much withthe same home resort, though) if you only use the points at your home resort and you use banking and borrowing to make up the points you need. If you are planning to use both for one reservation then it is much trickier, you would have to do a point transfer or link the ressies.

Another thing to think about: we'll have to see what happens with the new "improved" Wait List rules which say, "Effective Feb. 1, 2009, Members may have a maximum of two active wait-list requests per Membership, per use year."

If I am reading this right, you might be better off having different UYs if you find yourself in need of using more than 2 WL's...

 

[Deb & Bill]

My smaller different UY contract gets transferred into my larger contract (same resort) nearly every year. I use my once a year transfer in to the one and out of the other.

 

[tgropp]

Just a quick question. When I do a transfer from my 50 point contract to the 100 point contract, can banked and/or borrowed points be involved? A scenario would be. Can I bank this years 50 points and then next feb transfer 100 points to the other contract? Thanks

 

[RobDoc]

Just a quick question. When I do a transfer from my 50 point contract to the 100 point contract, can banked and/or borrowed points be involved? A scenario would be. Can I bank this years 50 points and then next feb transfer 100 points to the other contract? Thanks

No, banked and/or borrowed points cannot be transferred. Transferred points can be banked by the new "owner", but baned points have never been able to be transferred. You could transfer the 50 points from this year into the other account and then bank those points and then transfer another 50 next year.

Enjoy!

 

[Buckeye Fan]

Doc, I'm really new to this.

So...I have 150 VB points - Dec UY.
390 points (2 separate contracts - same member number) - Aug UY.

If I read your comments correctly, why wouldn't I transfer 150 points into my Aug UY, or 390 into the Dec UY once a year? Sounds I could bank without issue, and I could transfer once per UY, so there wouldn't be an issue there either.

What would be the downside(s) of that? Also, if I tranfer 390 points from Aug to Dec, when would those points expire? Still July 31 of any given year, or would they cancel in November? Lastly, would banking deadlines stay the same (March/July) or would all those points move to July?

Thanks!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Doc, I'm really new to this.

So...I have 150 VB points - Dec UY.
390 points (2 separate contracts - same member number) - Aug UY.

If I read your comments correctly, why wouldn't I transfer 150 points into my Aug UY, or 390 into the Dec UY once a year? Sounds I could bank without issue, and I could transfer once per UY, so there wouldn't be an issue there either.

What would be the downside(s) of that? Also, if I tranfer 390 points from Aug to Dec, when would those points expire? Still July 31 of any given year, or would they cancel in November? Lastly, would banking deadlines stay the same (March/July) or would all those points move to July?

Thanks!

The only issue would be WHEN you would use the transferred points. They still retain UY as well as home resort. So as long as you use the points after the UY starts, but before they expire, you should be ok.

 

[disneynutz]

Another issue is that MS and their computer system doesn't do transfers well.

We currently have 70 points that were transfered from our April UY to our Oct UY. According to MS they show up in our Oct 2008 & 2009 UY's. They don't know why and when they try to use them the computer tells them that the 2008 entry is invalid and they are really 2009 points.

 

[RobDoc]

Doc, I'm really new to this.

So...I have 150 VB points - Dec UY.
390 points (2 separate contracts - same member number) - Aug UY.

If I read your comments correctly, why wouldn't I transfer 150 points into my Aug UY, or 390 into the Dec UY once a year? Sounds I could bank without issue, and I could transfer once per UY, so there wouldn't be an issue there either.

What would be the downside(s) of that? Also, if I tranfer 390 points from Aug to Dec, when would those points expire? Still July 31 of any given year, or would they cancel in November? Lastly, would banking deadlines stay the same (March/July) or would all those points move to July?

Thanks!

My comments were in response to the scenario where someone wanted to transfer banked/borrowed points from one contract to another - and that can't be done.

We have 4 different contracts (4 different Use Years) at 2 resorts and I have never done a transfer. I have made a number of reservations using points from more than one contract by simply reserving some nights from each contract I want to use. If end up with a few stray points, I will either bank those into the next Use Year or borrow from the following year to be able ot reserve a single day and use up the stray points (I define stray points as too few to reserve a single day). I've never needed to transfer any points to/from any contracts abd have ,fortunately, never lost any points to date.

If you need to use points from both contracts for something like a cruise, then it might be worthwhile transferring one into the other to handle the entire reservation all from one account - and I wouldn't hesitate to ask MS to do that if necessary.

The transferred points are supposed to retain their original Use Year and Home Resort status, but MS has usually been generous about allowing transferred points to be banked beyond the usual banking deadlines. All of these things are subject to change - and many have changed over the years.

Originally, transferred points could not be banked at all and the one transfer per year rule was in place. Later, multiple transfers could be done, but that was changed back a couple of years ago. The change allowing transfers to be banked was changed a number of years ago too (and remains at this time). Transfers have always been limited to either into or out-of the contract, but never both in the same Use Year.

I can't really think of a downside to transferring as in your scenario - it's just an accounting activity for MS to handle - but in most situations I don't really see a big upside either since most transactions can be handled via multiple accounts without much problem or risk. As I mentioned earlier, it might be worthwhile to transfer for a cruise reservation or one of the other non-DVC options, but in most cases, DVC reservations can be managed using mutiple contracts without need for transfer.

YMMV!

 

[Buckeye Fan]

...I can't really think of a downside to transferring as in your scenario - it's just an accounting activity for MS to handle - but in most situations I don't really see a big upside either since most transactions can be handled via multiple accounts without much problem or risk. As I mentioned earlier, it might be worthwhile to transfer for a cruise reservation or one of the other non-DVC options, but in most cases, DVC reservations can be managed using mutiple contracts without need for transfer.

YMMV!

My only thought is it takes away all the complexities (or most of them) associated with two separate contracts. All points go into one pot, and the worst thing you have to worry about is if you still have separate banking deadlines and/or expiration dates. It solves the issue of pooling points at the 7 month window. Just something to consider.

Thanks for your response. I appreciate the information. You're the best!!!

 

[tgropp]

A Big Thank You to all who have given me advice. I am sure that I will work around the issues when I go to use the points.