Better a banker or borrower be?

[rascalmom]

Ok - so I'm not Shakespeare! But I have a question for our more experienced DVC members.

We bought a 150 point SSR contract & a 120 point add-on last Spring. Our points became available September 1st. We are planning on taking our first trip "home" on points over Christmas break 2006. My eleven-month booking window is just around the corner, so I need to start planning.

The trip will take more than our 270 points - so I will either need to bank my 2005 points & combine them with 2006 points, or use 2006 points & borrow from 2007. We will want a least a 2-bedroom villa - as we will be taking at least one set of dgp's with us.

Which is better, banking or borrowing, or does it matter?

 

[spiceycat]

once you start borrowing it is hard to stop.

so I would bank you points.

yes - it may mean not going until your BIG trip - or it may be going on a just couples trip in a studio - you know to get the outlay and everything before you also take dgp with you.

 

[CarolMN]

They are both good!

Without banking, there could be no borrowing.

Without borrowing, there could be no banking.

As long as the system is in relative balance, DVC can offer both. DVC reserves the right to suspend both.

Best wishes -

 

[bicker]

I prefer to borrow. If I bank, I run the risk of having too many points left to effectively use.

 

[jel0511]

I have to say that we're habitual borrowers. And I agree, once you start you can't stop. YOu're always in the hole....... For us it started over an extended family vacation. With about 4 addons since our original purchase, we're still borrowing from 2007 to book out 2006 vacations.

 

[married@wdw]

There isn't really a good or a bad side to borrowing or banking. It's all about what's best for the way you travel. If you don't plan on going to WDW at all until your December '06 trip, then bank those 2005 points to use. Otherwise, you'd either lose the 2005 points or you'd have to rent them out.

If however, you want to take a trip before then, figure out how many points you'll need for that earlier trip and bank what you have left for the December '06 trip. You can borrow anything else you may need for December '06 from your '07 points.

Also something to think about -- are you going to be travelling to WDW frequently? If not, something else you could do is rent your 2005 points to have cash for your December '06 trip, then use '06 and borrowed '07 points for the room. We've never rented out point though.

We are in a constant state of borrowing now and are VERY OK with that. We figure eventually there will come a time when we don't have the points to take the trip we want to take. At that time, we'll either pay cash or stay home. But we've already paid for our DVC points, so we should use it if we can because who knows what will happen tomorrow (not to be pessimistic or anything -- just realistic. Life can take tragic turns!). My husband jokes quite frequently that when it comes to DVC, it's best to die borrowed to the hilt (we're only in our early 30s, so I'm really thinking we'll be paying dues our the last year of our contract with nothing to show for it)!!!

 

[Daitcher]

Borrow is the way to go unless you have to bank those 2005 points. We always borrow. The last year of the contract we might not have anything left but oh well, I'll be 80 or so by then. Who knows if I'll be around or healthy enough to travel. Happy travels.


DAVE

 

[d-r]

I believe strongly in the borrowing. Heck, we stay mostly a year ahead. It isn't like borrowing money and paying interest. If you borrow, you don't run any risk of your points expiring and not using them. You are basically borrowing against that last year, and by then, who cares. There could be an argument about taking a big family group and having the points, but doing that is what got us a year ahead in the first place. With dvc you have to plan in advance anyway, it isn't like you are going to book five 2-bedrooms for the upcoming weekend.

 

[chips]

We bought 200 points in 10/03. The use year was April. The contract had a full years points banked. We had a two bedroom in 3/04 and 4/05 for 700 points total. We weren't able to get anybody to go with us for 4/06 and we are staying in a studio for 181 points. In two and a half years we will have used 881 points. It is hard to know for sure how you will use the points. If you come up a little short you can rent some extra points. We pretty much go only in the Spring. However that could change also. We almost didn't make it this year. When you use borrowed points you are using points you haven't paid dues on yet. When you bank you've paid dues on points you haven't used.

If you take your vacation after your use year, you will always have next year points to borrow until the contract expires.

Also, one of the couples who shared the two bedroom just bought dvc. It looks like we will split 350 points in half for 175 a piece in 2007. The 200 points has worked out great.

We like having "too few" points. We don't have to worry about renting extra points.

 

[JimMIA]

We do both -- bank early in our use year, and borrow late in the use year -- as a strategy to avoid losing points. Obviously, with banked points, you have to be careful to bank by the deadlines, and not to bank too many points (whatever that is for your needs).

Borrowing works well for us because our vacation plans are pretty well chisled in stone. If yours are not, I'd be careful about borrowing late in the use year, because a cancellation could put you in a serious "use or lose" situation.

With either approach, you have to understand that it's a final, one-way transaction that can't be reversed.

 

[JodyTG]

We mostly borrow. We figure that if we don't have any points to use the last year we'll be too old to care. Sometimes we don't go, so we bank those points. It'll probably even out in the end.

 

[SWVA BGSU Fan]

I'm in the minority on this view. We are new members and have only taken 2 trips. We plan to take a year off every 3rd year from the parks and attempt to go to Vero or Hilton Head for 3-5 days. The points not used would then allow us to have a longer stay the following years and even upgrade to a 2 bedroom for our trips to the World.

We've got our 3rd trip home planned for June. We are staying at BCV (OKW is our home) and looking forward to it.