Are you done borrowing yet?

[Robbie Cottam]

I just joined DVC earlier this year.

I banked a lot of points into 2024 after our initial buy-in.

Still, I am borrowing heavily from 2025 for multiple planned trips in 2024.

I will be borrowing from 2026 for planned trips in 2025.

I'm hoping things will level off at that point

At some point I may have to break down and buy more points, but I'm trying to ride out this initial busy period and see where things land.

I'm curious how long it took you more experienced owners to stop borrowing, or did it wind up causing you to buy more points? I don't want to wind up with too many and being forced to rent them.

This is the first symptom of Add-on-itis

 

[Anal Annie]

I just joined DVC earlier this year.

I banked a lot of points into 2024 after our initial buy-in.

Still, I am borrowing heavily from 2025 for multiple planned trips in 2024.

I will be borrowing from 2026 for planned trips in 2025.

I'm hoping things will level off at that point

At some point I may have to break down and buy more points, but I'm trying to ride out this initial busy period and see where things land.

I'm curious how long it took you more experienced owners to stop borrowing, or did it wind up causing you to buy more points? I don't want to wind up with too many and being forced to rent them.

It kinda sounds like you got carried away with planning too many big trips in 2024. That's a hard one to overcome so early into ownership.

We bought 250 points at SSR in 2006 after a lot of consideration as to how we would use them. At the time, SSR only had 1 booking category (now there's Standard and Preferred) and the DVC point charts were divided into only 5 "seasons" rather than the current 7. (Hopefully someone told you that there could be and have been point reallocations.) We based the number of our points on the idea that if we only traveled in the summer which was the 2nd highest point season behind Christmas & Easter that we'd buy what we needed in order to either stay 2 weeks in a studio or 1 week in a 1-bedroom at those point values. At one point several years ago we did somehow manage to get into what I call a "borrowing hole" for a couple of years and I HATED THAT FEELING. I didn't like being out of points and we couldn't afford to buy more so we figured out how to get ourselves dug out of that deep hole & back on track and now we've evened our usage into trying to just use what we own every year. We did end up traveling less during Covid and banked a small chunk but we mostly used them up this year by having 3 wonderful trips. We're only planning 2 trips next year but with careful planning we should probably still have a few points leftover to bank just a few again.

The way for us to not over-extend is to not get too greedy with our planning and to be grateful for what we're able to comfortably plan with the points that we DO have. We only plan about a year ahead which helps keep us on a points budget. It is easy to get carried away with trip planning when you read about other people who literally own TONS of points and who are apparently never satisfied that they own enough. I can't let myself succumb to the points envy that I could get for the 500 points+ club. I just keep telling myself that our annual dues are manageable right where they are and am happy knowing that over the years we've more than recovered our initial purchase over our 17 years of ownership with trips to every DVC resort including Aulani 2x, Vero, HHI and an upcoming trip next year to VDH.

 

[tx911]

Planning too many trips? What’s that?

I figure as long as I’m borrowing, I know I didn’t buy too many points.

 

[Genie+]

I’m trying so hard not to get too deep into borrowing. Because I know when that happens… add-on-itis

Right now our Sept UY has:

BWV 50/50pts 2025 UY, plus 18pts held on a 2023 UY trip

VGF 118/150pts 2025 UY, plus 244pts held on one 2024 UY trip

It was very tempting to burn through the rest of our 2025 VGF points! Phew I was sweating trying not book the 2BR for four of us (instead of 2 studios DH & I agreed on) and use up another 100pts out of 2025 UY. FOR SURE that would’ve resulted in a Poly contract purchase next year lol. Hard enough resisting the nice 100 pointer I see right now.

 

[pineapplepalms]

Out of curiosity how do you use your points? Expensive times of the year? Multiple rooms? Long/multiple visits? We are over 1,000 and also feel like we could use more, but I know that we are in the minority.

Just got back from a WDW trip, sorry for the delayed response! We added on >600 points in the last year between VGC and VDH, so we hit the 2k point mark relatively recently. I think part of it is that we often stay at point intensive resorts like VGC, VDH, VGF, RIV, etc. and will also upgrade our view (like AUL OV). For example, it was 614 points to stay in a VGC 2BR for 8 nights over the summer. We’re currently doing a few trips at DLR a year, a couple at WDW, and plan to do more AUL trips in the future, so the points get used up pretty quickly.

To save points, since our kids are still little, we’ll sometimes book a 1BR instead of a 2BR if it’s one of the newer/refurbed resorts that have the Murphy beds in the living room. Since we have 3 kids and the youngest is no longer under 3, we need to book a 1BR or larger at resorts that have a hard limit of 4 (like VDH) in a studio, but TBH we just love the amenities and space in the larger villas at this point and prefer them to the studios for family trips.

 

[MartyParty]

I just joined DVC earlier this year.

I banked a lot of points into 2024 after our initial buy-in.

Still, I am borrowing heavily from 2025 for multiple planned trips in 2024.

I will be borrowing from 2026 for planned trips in 2025.

I'm hoping things will level off at that point

At some point I may have to break down and buy more points, but I'm trying to ride out this initial busy period and see where things land.

I'm curious how long it took you more experienced owners to stop borrowing, or did it wind up causing you to buy more points? I don't want to wind up with too many and being forced to rent them.

We were ok not to borrow 2015 till about 2021. Then in 2022, 2023, and now 2024 (yes just started the year), we've had to borrow. All started when we went from 1 bedrooms to 2 or 3 bedrooms. The room choice has been the trigger for us.

Also, we book a couple of last minute trips and had to go with more premium room views requiring more points.

 

[tx911]

Just got back from a WDW trip, sorry for the delayed response! We added on >600 points in the last year between VGC and VDH, so we hit the 2k point mark relatively recently. I think part of it is that we often stay at point intensive resorts like VGC, VDH, VGF, RIV, etc. and will also upgrade our view (like AUL OV). For example, it was 614 points to stay in a VGC 2BR for 8 nights over the summer. We’re currently doing a few trips at DLR a year, a couple at WDW, and plan to do more AUL trips in the future, so the points get used up pretty quickly.

To save points, since our kids are still little, we’ll sometimes book a 1BR instead of a 2BR if it’s one of the newer/refurbed resorts that have the Murphy beds in the living room. Since we have 3 kids and the youngest is no longer under 3, we need to book a 1BR or larger at resorts that have a hard limit of 4 (like VDH) in a studio, but TBH we just love the amenities and space in the larger villas at this point and prefer them to the studios for family trips.

You live in a different world than I do, in a very good way

 

[tx911]

We were ok not to borrow 2015 till about 2021. Then in 2022, 2023, and now 2024 (yes just started the year), we've had to borrow. All started when we went from 1 bedrooms to 2 or 3 bedrooms. The room choice has been the trigger for us.

Also, we book a couple of last minute trips and had to go with more premium room views requiring more points.

I guess the fact that I’m borrowing like crazy now doesn’t bode well for avoiding addonitis

 

[MerlinandtheMouse]

We’ve used all our 2024 pts… with an August UY so it was all borrowed…and the only trip we have booked currently is for next week In my defense it’s a very point heavy trip (5nts in a RIV 2bdrm and 4nts in a RIV 1bdrm)!

Unsurprisingly, we have 3 resale contracts in the works right now

 

[Genie+]

I guess the fact that I’m borrowing like crazy now doesn’t bode well for avoiding addonitis

We’ve used all our 2024 pts… with an August UY so it was all borrowed…and the only trip we have booked currently is for next week In my defense it’s a very point heavy trip (5nts in a RIV 2bdrm and 4nts in a RIV 1bdrm)!

Unsurprisingly, we have 3 resale contracts in the works right now

Exactly what I expect to happen to us

The year that we borrow all the points available is the year DVC makes another sale!

 

[wench]

I’ve been borrowing since I bought in 10 years ago. Of course as a single mom on a budget at the time, I could only afford to buy 100 points. I’m finally ready to buy again & will be getting 150 points at VDL. I figure I’ll probably still be borrowing consistently, but we’ll see….

The only time I ever “caught up” was during Covid. After that I went straight back down the rabbit hole of borrowing.