Bank or borrow?

[MinnieVanMom]

We are just starting to talk about a trip in early March to WDW. My use year is April so a March trip is about the worst time to book for us.

Should I just make the reservation and not look back, or bank all my points then borrow from 2012 for the reservation? Confused as to what to do.

 

[rsschneck]

We also have an April use year for all 4 of our contracts. We always go in March for Spring Break so I know your situation well.

If you have current UY points or banked points use those first. If you borrow points they cannot be put back into the UY that you borrowed them from. If you cancel your March trip and you borrowed points then they would expire by March 31st.

Just make sure to go.

We travel on points 3 or more times per year and it is usually during DD school breaks (Christmas, Spring Break and Summer). March is always the reservation I have to use a a menagerie of points (banked, current and then borrow is what I try to do).

 

[MinnieVanMom]

We also have an April use year for all 4 of our contracts. We always go in March for Spring Break so I know your situation well.

If you have current UY points or banked points use those first. If you borrow points they cannot be put back into the UY that you borrowed them from. If you cancel your March trip and you borrowed points then they would expire by March 31st.

Just make sure to go.

We travel on points 3 or more times per year and it is usually during DD school breaks (Christmas, Spring Break and Summer). March is always the reservation I have to use a a menagerie of points (banked, current and then borrow is what I try to do).

Thanks so much for the help and I feel your pain now to the fullest. It is so hard to book this far yet we had to rearrange to get what we wanted. We have both BCV and AKL with a split stay because we just love going to Honeymoon Island and spending a day/nite over there. I pray nothing happens but we have until Nov. 30 to bank. After that we are committed to the trip. For now we have our DVC and car rental. DH and have a huge trip coming up and will have enough miles then for the free airline tickets, saving us over $1000. We do need to buy AP's but that and the car rental make this a trip for under $1200. Unheard of for us!

 

[CarolMN]

We are just starting to talk about a trip in early March to WDW. My use year is April so a March trip is about the worst time to book for us.

Should I just make the reservation and not look back, or bank all my points then borrow from 2012 for the reservation? Confused as to what to do.

Don't bank and borrow back. That will just make the points you bank less flexible for no gain to you.

If you have to cancel, the returned points will have to be used by 3/31/2012 or they will be lost. Won't matter if the points were originally current 2011 points or borrowed from 2012. Borrowed points can't go back to their original year.

Make the reservation with your 2011 points and then just before your banking deadline (11/30/2011), decide for sure if you will go or not. If not, bank the points. If yes, hope that nothing comes up that will cause you to cancel.

Good luck!

 

[Ksp]

Don't bank and borrow back. That will just make the points you bank less flexible for no gain to you.

If you have to cancel, the returned points will have to be used by 3/31/2012 or they will be lost. Won't matter if the points were originally current 2011 points or borrowed from 2012. Borrowed points can't go back to their original year.

Make the reservation with your 2011 points and then just before your banking deadline (11/30/2011), decide for sure if you will go or not. If not, bank the points. If yes, hope that nothing comes up that will cause you to cancel.

Good luck!

CarolMN is right; don't borrow first - use up your current use year's points/any remaining banked points you may have to use FIRST. If you still need more points to cover the March reservation, then you can borrow from the 2012 use year.

Just did this myself, today. Sad to say, I did have to borrow from 2012 in order to get a 2 BR lockoff at BLT, but I know it will be worth it