Banking Question

[Fogelma]

If my points are in Dec Use year and I bank 50% of my points by the 100% banking deadline of May 31, can I bank the other 50% of the points in June?

Thanks in advance for replies.

 

[Dean]

If my points are in Dec Use year and I bank 50% of my points by the 100% banking deadline of May 31, can I bank the other 50% of the points in June?

Thanks in advance for replies.

No, it's cummulative. Once you've banked 50% and the 100% window has passed, you cannot bank any more regardless of when the rest were banked during the year. Same applies to the 25% window. If you banked 25% on day one, once you were in the 25% window, you could not bank any more.

 

[jar]

Can I get some clarification on this because it may significantly change my plans?


I am in contract to buy 150 December use year points and the seller has 144 points from '05 that are included. I expect to close in June. My assumption has been that I can bank all of them by 5/31/06 but after that date, I can only bank 75 of them (either 75 total or 75 more if I bank a small amount right now). Since I am planning a trip in November that will use 92 points assuming availability remains post-closing, I am having the seller bank 52 points right now. I figured that if I can use the other 92, great. If not, I can still bank 75 more (50% of 150) after I close in June and therefore I am only risking the possible loss of 17 points if I can't get the reservation I want.

But if the 52 points I am having banked during the 100% period counts toward the 50% and thus I can only bank 23 more later, then I probably don't want to take the chance and I should ask the seller to bank all of them right now. Since there's only a few days left to ask the seller to do this, I would appreciate some guidance since I don't want to risk losing all of those points.

I hope this isn't difficult to follow.

While I do not have the official member documents, it seems illogical that points you banked during the 100% period would be deducted from the points you are entitled to bank during the 50% period. Under that system, you really don't have any ability to do a partial bank early on and then supplement later as your plans become clearer.

Thanks.

 

[Chuck S]

As Dean said, it is a cummulative total. If you have already banked 50% of your points during the 100% window, you can not bank the other 50% in the 50% window. During the 50% window you can bank UP TO 50% of the total contract, including those points already banked.

So if you banked 50 points of a 150 point contract during the 100% window, you can then bank a maximim of 25 additional points in the 50% window, otherwise there would be no purpose to the window limitations.

jar, I would have the current member bank all the points now, then if you need some before December 06 you can borrow from your Dec 2006 allotment, once banked points can't be "unbanked" but you can borrow from the following year.

 

[jar]

Thanks. While the rule doesn't make sense to me, your advice certainly does. The dilemma I have to think about now is that I actually don't think I'm likely to go in '07. So I was hoping to use most of the '06 points for my November trip and then bank '07 into '08 since it's a small contract that I was hoping to use for a trip every other year. Banking the '06 into '07 and then borrowing '07 back into '06 is doubly defeating. But that might be my best option in the face of uncertainty about whether I will have availability to use points for my November vacation. Something to figure out over the next couple of days.

I presume that if the seller banked 52 points last week, I can still bank the rest prior to May 31?

 

[RobDoc]

Yes, the member has until May 31 to bank up to 100% of the current Use Year's points.

The rule exists as it is to assist DVC with their management of the program.

Members have a full 6 months to bank up to 100% of their points. After that date, they can still bank up to 50% of their total contract points- including any already banked- until 9 months after the Use Year began and may still bank up to 25% of their total points (again, including any already banked) thru 10 months. No banking is allowed during the last 2 months of the Use Year.

I'd look into the advice already made and see if the seller can still bank the remaining points from the current Use Year.

Good luck!

 

[Chuck S]

Thanks. While the rule doesn't make sense to me, your advice certainly does. The dilemma I have to think about now is that I actually don't think I'm likely to go in '07. So I was hoping to use most of the '06 points for my November trip and then bank '07 into '08 since it's a small contract that I was hoping to use for a trip every other year. Banking the '06 into '07 and then borrowing '07 back into '06 is doubly defeating. But that might be my best option in the face of uncertainty about whether I will have availability to use points for my November vacation. Something to figure out over the next couple of days.

I presume that if the seller banked 52 points last week, I can still bank the rest prior to May 31?

Yes, you can bank as many times as you like, up to 100% of your total during the 100% banking window.

 

[CarolMN]

...(snip)....I presume that if the seller banked 52 points last week, I can still bank the rest prior to May 31?

Yes, that is correct.

Best wishes -

 

[DebbieB]

With 150 points, you can bank a total of:

May 31: 150
August 31: 75
September 30: 37 (or 38?)

It would get too confusing if the percentages were of remaining points, which would be a variable number.

 

[jar]

I hadn't thought it would be percentages of remaining points, but that regardless of whether you previously banked and how many you banked, you could bank up to another 75 by the 50% deadline and another 37 by the 25% deadline. This way if you have uncertainty about a trip in the 2nd half of your use year, you can hold onto a small percentage of your points to see if you wind up making the trip. But under this rule, you really can't hold onto any points after the 100% deadline that you are uncertain of your ability to use (unless all you have left is 50% or fewer). I had always figured that each year I would bank all but 75 by May 31, 38 more by August 31 and the last 37 by September 30 to the extent I hadn't used or concretely planned to use my points by then.

But obviously the rule isn't as I thought so I'll just have to arrange my plans based on how the rule is rather than how I think it should be! I am extremely glad to have gotten this guidance on May 27 rather than June 1. I have been reading these boards regularly and had never noticed this type of question before so I consider myself lucky that it was raised now because I wouldn't have even thought the rule was this way. Thank you everyone.

 

[DebbieB]

Keep in mind that too many banked points can throw off the balance of the DVC system. For example, an event like 9/11 could slow down travel and members may bank more points than usual (I don't know that happened, just making an example). So the following year, more points were available to book, making it more difficult to get reservations. By keeping the banking numbers more stable (and limited), this is less likely to happen. DVC also retains the right to limit banking or borrowing (to keep the points system in balance), so there's no guarantee it will always be available.

 

[Cinderpals]

Here's a thought, but I wouldn't count on it.. I would ask 1st if possible before seller banks all points for you.

When I purchased my contract that had existing points, MS allowed me to bank 100% of them past the deadline as a 1-time curtesy. It took longer for me to close on my purchase, and I was past the deadline by the time that we closed.

I was able to "save" my points that way.

 

[jar]

Good to keep in mind. I don't know of my seller already banked the 52 I requested, but it seems that if they didn't, there is no advantage to banking just 52 out of 150 now because it doesn't give me any more points to bank later but it takes away 52 from a potential reservation I can make this year. Seems I should do either all now or none but banking anything less than 50% is unnecessary by May 31.

[by the way, I mis-wrote above -- my assumption was not that I could bank 75 by August 31 plus 37 by September 30. It was that the cumulative total from June 1 to November 30 could be 75 points regardless of prior banking and that the cumulative total from September 1 to November 30 could be 37 so long as it did not exceed the 75 total from June 1 to November 30. But I see it was a wrong assumption. I suspect it won't be an issue for any year other than this one because usually I should know when I expect to go and how availablility looks by the May 31 deadline, except that I can't call MS to find out or book yet this year since I am a couple of weeks short of closing.]