Banking & borrowing of points questions - AGAIN sorry

[BoardwalkSuzy]

#1 - Can points be banked 2 years in a row, or do they have to be used the very next use year?
#2 - Can points be banked, say from 2010, to 2012, skipping a year, in anticipation of trip 2 years away?
#3 - Changing reservations to another resort at 7 month window. Say we reserve villa at home resort at 11 month reservation window. This reservation requires 250 points for a week stay. Say at 7 month window, we want to try for a different resort, lucky we find a villa there and reserve it, but it only requires 225 points at the new resort. Can we make the change using the same points from the original reservations, and if so, do the extra 25 points left over go back to our account if still within the 8 month window for banking, or do they go back into a holding account?
#4 - Is there an official PDF document that details point use and banking policies?
#5 - From which years can you borrow - next use year only?
#6 - What if you purchase points resale that already has banked points, when do those need to be used - the next use year, and can they be borrowed against?
#7 - Does Disney provide incentives for add-on points at another resort, and will they match your current use year with your DVC home resort where you already own. I was told not, but have read otherwise.
#8 - Why are there 4 use months that don't exist? Do most use year correspond with opening dates of these DVCs?
#9 - Are there any rumors in rumor mill for contract extensions for BCV or BWV, like OKW got? Why did OKW get the contract extension?

I'm waiting on 350 points contract to pass Disney ROFR for BWV Dec use, and deal comes with additional 350 banked points from 2009 Dec use year. Just wondered when they need to be used by, or if can be banked another year perhaps. Up front, with the extra year of points thrown in, and if get 2 contracts at 2 different resorts, I may have to use a lot of points right away (good and bad problem to have). Just want to know if could bank some of those points a 2nd year, or maybe rent them out.

 

[RobDoc]

#1 - You can only bank current points. If you have points that were banked from the previous year, they cannot be banked again. Borrowed points cannot be banked.

#2 - No, banking points extends their use for one Use Year. If you have a March Use Year and banked your 2009 points into 2010, they must be used by February 28, 2011 or they will expire.

#3 - Anytime a reservation is canceled , the points are returned to the contract to be used, banked or transferred based on the usual restrictions for banking/transfer. In this case, you would be canceling one reservation and making another. Any "extra" points will just be returned to your account. The only variation here is if the reservation is canceled within 30 days of arrival where they would be returned to your account as Holding points.

#4 - Yes, you can download the Member Guidelines in pdf format right from the Member website.

#5 - You can borrow points one Use Year year ahead of the Use Year of the reservation you want to make.

#6 - If a resale is purchased with banked points, they will expire at the end of the Use Year into which they were banked. They cannot be borrowed. Points banked from a December, 2009 Use Year (the current Use Year) may be used from December 1, 2010 - November 30, 2011 and will expire after that date. I would certainly verify that the points banked are from the 2009 Use Year and not points banked from 2008 into 2009. (If that's the case, they will expire on November 30, 2010.)

#7 - Add-ons purchased direct from DVC will have the same Use Year as your original contract. There are some incentives available for add-on purchases - usually at the resorts currently being actively sold. (At this time, I think there are incentives available for AKV, BLT and VGC.)

#8 - DVC has never explained the reason for not having January, May, July or November Use Years. These Use Years do not correspond with opening dates of DVC resorts.

#9 - There is no suggestion from DVC that any other resorts will be offered extensions. There are plenty of internet rumors/wishes, but nothing has been announced by DVC.

 

[bumbershoot]

Let me take a crack at a few of these. If I'm off, people will correct me and you can throw my answer in the trash.

If the Dec '09 use year contract has points banked, that means they will be available December '10 through November '11. It means that nearly as soon as they got those points in Dec '09, they banked them...if they had not banked them, you could use them before this December.

Once points have been banked, you can't change them. Once points have been borrowed, you can't change them.

So with this contract, you will have to wait until Dec '10 to use them, and you can't unbank them or rebank them for use from Dec '11 through Nov '12.

You can only bank points into the next UY. With a December UY, it's even more complicated-feeling, b/c almost your whole UY is in the next calendar year. Whereas we have a February use year, so our '10 points are for use from Feb '10 through Jan '11. If we bank them, then we can start using them in Feb '11 through end of Jan '12.

Do you see the difference with a Dec use year? Complicated-feeling.


The member website might have a document, and you might get a document, I'm not 100% sure. BUT it has clear statements on it once you sign in... I log in, go to My Membership, click on My Vacation Points.

Now we have some points banked from '09, which are now usable since it's after Feb '10. And we have current points. So on the page, in red, under Alerts, I see:

You may bank up to 100% of your Vacation Points for Member ID number lalalalalalala until the end of September 2010.

And then it tells me when I can book a cruise, that I can make a Home Resort reservation for vacations starting on or before Feb 19, 2011, that I can make non-home resort reservations checking in on or before Oct 19, 2010, and then...

This Use Year's remaining Vacation Points for Member ID number lalalalalalala will expire on the last business day of January 2011

With that info, once you have the account and can see it, it's hard to make a mistake, as long as you routinely check the site (or take notes or put it on your calendar and check your calendar) to make sure you're not about to hit a deadline.

 

[BoardwalkSuzy]

So much to learn, and so much is subject to change too. Whew! Hopefully, after get log-in ID for DVC once I get to be a member, I'll be able to get a better visual picture of what is going on then! Thanks for replies!