Banking, Use Years, and Points- Oh My!- Please help this new member!

[emma'smom]

Well, we just got off the phone with our "guide" and put a deposit down on 160 points at SSR. This is our first purchase so we are DVC newbies. Could someone please explain this whole point banking system to me? How does banking relate to what folks are calling "use year". They said we would receive 160 points for 2005, but say that our "use year" won't begin until Oct, 2006. We don't have a user ID or a PIN or anything. Could some of you experts please provide some insight....thanks!

 

[LisaS]

Welcome home! I suggest you take a look at this website: http://members.cox.net/disneyvacationclub/
It was put together by DIS member VAScubaGuy. Very useful info here, including discussions of Use Year, banking and borrowing, etc.

Also, throughly explore both this forum and the DVC Planning Forum. When I was preparing to join DVC, I spent hours just reading posts here on these forums and got a great education in all things DVC.

 

[abner1776]

I would spend sometime looking over the various sites that DVC'rs send you too but for the moment, you need to verify one thing with your guide.
With a UY of Oct, the 2005 points run from 10/1/05 to 9/30/06. You can bank 100% of your points in the first 6 months of your use year, which means the 6 month window for banking ends...TODAY...3/30/06. As of tomorrow, you will only be able to bank 50% of your points and the other 50% would have to be used by 9/30/06 or you lose them.
Disney generally allows new members to bank 100% of their current year points(2005) up until the day that the contract is final(closes) which in your case will be in about 4 weeks or the end of April. This is a general rule but not cast in stone, so you need to contact your guide and get their assurance that you will still be able to bank 100% of your points after today.
Of course, if you have plans for your 2005 points(or at least 50% of them) between now and 9/30/06, then everything that I have said is... moot.

 

[CarolMN]

Just a clarification -

The 100% banking window for October 2005 points ends tomorrow (March 31) when MS closes for the day.

Best wishes -

 

[dis-happy]

We just added on through MS and have 2005 points and 2006 points coming in August. Since we are within the 6 month banking deadline and I can't use these points until next fall, I asked my guide about banking. She said that for new contracts like that, the banking deadlines do not apply! (she said it was a new policy I believe) Call your guide and ask....

 

[RobDoc]

Use Year (UY) is simply when your points are renewed each year. An October UY means that your points will be available to you on October 1 each year. You will have until September 30 of the following year to use them or bank them. If banked they will be good for additional 12 months.

Usually, with a new purchase thru DVC directly, DVC will allow you to bank the current points even after the banking deadlines (in this case, the October, 2005 UY points are the current points). Members have 6 months after their UY begins to bank up to 100% of their current points, 9 months to bank up to 50% and 10 months to bank up to 25%. No points may be banked in the last 2 months of our UY. The banking allowances are cumulative- so if you had banked 50% of your points in the first 6 months- you won't be able to bank any more later since you are already at 50% (and more than 25%).

I would certainly continue to try to get ahold of your guide to verify your specific situation. If you have already paid your downpayment, you should be in the system and able to make reservations. If you have not yet received your membership number, your guide can provide that too or just call MS and they can look you up by your SS#.

I hope this helps. Banking deadlines and Use Years are difficult concepts to understand at first, since they are not intuitive.

Good luck!

 

[emma'smom]

Thanks...I think we'll be ok as we're hoping to use some of the points this summer (even though I know we'll need to be very flexible about where and when since it is so late) and then bank the rest. We'll most likely use more than 50% this summer, thus we will need to bank less than 50% and haven't missed that deadline yet. Hopefully, we'll be in the system by tomorrow and can try to make some reservations.

Thanks for your quick responses!