Use year does not affect when you can go (anytime of year) or when you can call to reserve (11 months out at home resort or 7 at others). The banking/cancellation issue is the only one that can affect choice of use year and it goes like this via example:
1. Assume you have a March use year. That means points go yearly into your account on March 1 of each year and your use year ends at the end of Feb the next year.
2. Effective Jan 1, 2008, the new banking rule will be that you can bank any or all of your use year points from a current use year into the next use year at any time up to 120 days before the end of that current use year. Thus, with a March use year, you will have essentially until the end of October of the use year to bank any or all of your points into the next use year. Between beginning of Nov and end of Feb you cannot do any more banking.
3. When you cancel a reservation, all of your points go back to the same status they had before you reserved except that if you cancel 30 days or less before date of arrival, all points in that reservation go into a holding account and must be used by end of the applicable use year in which you had the reservation. Thus, the banking rules can have no effect if you cancel 30 days or less before date of arrival because the holding account rule already eliminates any possible banking.
4. Now assume you call in February 2008 and use points to be issued March 1, 2008, for reserving a January 2009 trip. You get to mid-November 2008 and then realize that you have to cancel. You are not affected by the holding account rule because you cancel more than 30 days out. However, you are affected by the banking rule. Because it is Nov 2008 when you cancel, you are beyond the eight month period to bank any points. Those points go back into your account as March 2008 points and have to be used by Feb 2009 or be lost because you cannot bank them.
5. Now assume that instead of a Jan 2009 ressie, you make a July 2008 ressie with those points you are getting March 2008. In May 2008 you learn you have to cancel. You are not affected by the holding account rule because you are cancelling more than 30 days out. You are also not affected adversely by the banking rule -- those points go back into your March 2008 use year and you have until end of Oct 2008 to bank them all.
6. Thus, the examples show how your ability to bank upon cancellation can be affected by your use year in comparison to time of your trip. If you go at the same time every year (and plan to do so long into the future), you should consider getting a use year that begins sometime shortly before you usually go. In fact, you can actually choose any use year that begins eight months or less before time you usually go and still be safe under the banking rule. In your situation if you usually go in March, then a March use year does the trick, as does any use year that begins between August and March (there is no July use year). Note, however, that for many the choice ultimately becomes irrelevant over time because they may start out going the same time every year but, as families age, the time of going to WDW starts to vary
