Borrowing

[goofy78]

Hi! I have a question regarding how far in advance you can borrow points. Say for instance with a December UY I get 2016 points. I want to rent those out. I don't plan on going until 2018. I also decide to rent out 2017 points which I think I can do for a trip in 2017 by borrowing. I go to book my 2018 trip in November 2017. Can I borrow my 2018 points?

 

[drusba]

Yes is the answer. Whether you can borrow from a future use year depends on when you will be at WDW, not when you make the reservation. A 2018 trip taken before Dec 2018 would be in your Dec 2017 use year and you can borrow for it from your Dec 2018 use year.

 

[goofy78]

Yes is the answer. Whether you can borrow from a future use year depends on when you will be at WDW, not when you make the reservation. A 2018 trip taken before Dec 2018 would be in your Dec 2017 use year and you can borrow for it from your Dec 2018 use year.

Thank you! Hypothetically could I rent out my 2018 points in 2017 by borrowing those too? And borrow my 2019 points for my trip in 2018? I guess I'm just wondering is there a rule for what UY points you can borrow and when? I'm sort of confusing myself but just want to be sure of the rules of borrowing. I see people say to get three times the points you can bank one year and borrow another year. But could I borrow two years worth to get four times the points?

 

[Marionnette]

Thank you! Hypothetically could I rent out my 2018 points in 2017 by borrowing those too? And borrow my 2019 points for my trip in 2018? I guess I'm just wondering is there a rule for what UY points you can borrow and when? I'm sort of confusing myself but just want to be sure of the rules of borrowing. I see people say to get three times the points you can bank one year and borrow another year. But could I borrow two years worth to get four times the points?

December UYs are hard to wrap your head around. That's because the year in which you can actually use those points falls mostly in the next year.

Try to visualize your points as being in buckets. Each bucket is a UY of points. The buckets from today until the end of the contract are all full right now, but you can only have access to a few of those buckets at a time.

• We are currently in the Dec. 2015 UY. I know. It's hard to understand but that's how it goes. The Dec. 2015 UY runs from Dec. 1, 2015 to Nov. 30, 2016.
  
• You have the previous UY bucket (which in your case -and mine- would be Dec 2014). Those points, could have been "poured" into your Dec. 2015 UY. That's what happens when you bank your points into the next UY. That would have had to have been done by August 1, 2015. August 1 is the banking deadline date for December UYs.
  
• You have the current UY, which is the Dec. 2015 UY. Yes, I wrote 2015 and that's not a typo! Those points could have been "poured" into the Dec. 2016 UY before the banking deadline. Otherwise, they expire on Nov. 30, 2016.
  
• And you have the upcoming UY, which is Dec 2016. Those points will be available for any stay that starts after Dec. 2016 and are good until Nov. 30, 2017 unless they get "poured" into the Dec. 2017 bucket.
  
• And finally, you have the 2017 UY bucket, which you can "pour" into your 2016 UY bucket (borrowing) for any stay beginning after Dec. 2016 and ending before Nov. 30, 2017.

You cannot borrow from 2 UYs into the future. Your Dec. 2018 UY points can be borrowed into your Dec. 2017 UY BUT those points cannot be used for a stay that begins prior to Dec. 1 2017. So right now, you cannot access those points for any stays since we are not inside that 11-month window. Come Jan 1, 2017, you would be able to book a stay starting Dec. 1, 2017 and you can borrow from the Dec 2018 UY to complete that reservation.

ETA: There is a way to use 4 UYs of points but it involves booking a stay that spans your UYs. For a Dec. UY, that would mean staying at the end of Nov. thru the beginning of December. This is generally not recommended because if you have to cancel at the last minute, 2 year's worth of points are basically lost.

Using a Nov. - Dec. 2017 stay as an example:

• Bank 2015 points into 2016 UY. Book a stay that begins in late November and ends on Nov. 30, 2017.
• Bank any remaining 2016 points into Dec. 2017. Book the rest of the stay using the banked 2016 points, all of 2017 points and borrow 2018 points to complete the reservation.
• You will have 2 different reservations but you can call Member Services to ask them to link the reservations so that you will not need to move.

 

[CarolMN]

Thank you! Hypothetically could I rent out my 2018 points in 2017 by borrowing those too? And borrow my 2019 points for my trip in 2018? I guess I'm just wondering is there a rule for what UY points you can borrow and when? I'm sort of confusing myself but just want to be sure of the rules of borrowing. I see people say to get three times the points you can bank one year and borrow another year. But could I borrow two years worth to get four times the points?

You can only borrow points when you are actually making the reservation that will use them. (If you later cancel that reservation, the borrowed points will expire at the end of the use year into which they were borrowed).

The use year into which a reservation falls is the current use year for that reservation. For example, to pay for a for a vacation that falls within your 2016 use year, you could use any points that you previously banked into 2016 from your 2015 use year, your 2016 points and if you still need more points you could borrow them from your 2017 use year.

You can only bank one year ahead and can only borrow from one use year ahead, so that's how "up to 3 years of points" could be available to you for one vacation. (There is a very narrow exception to the "up to three" option that could make up to 4 years available, but the actual vacation dates would have to start in one use year and continue on to end in the next use year. That very rarely happens for most people).

If you haven't already, take a look at this thread - it should help you understand a little bit better:

Understanding Use Year

 

[drusba]

Always remember that your use year is identified by its beginning date, You are currently in your Dec 2015 use year which ends Nov 30, 2016. You could borrow points for a trip in Nov 2016 from your Dec 2016 use year but not Dec 2017.

 

[goofy78]

December UYs are hard to wrap your head around. That's because the year in which you can actually use those points falls mostly in the next year.

Try to visualize your points as being in buckets. Each bucket is a UY of points. The buckets from today until the end of the contract are all full right now, but you can only have access to a few of those buckets at a time.

• We are currently in the Dec. 2015 UY. I know. It's hard to understand but that's how it goes. The Dec. 2015 UY runs from Dec. 1, 2015 to Nov. 30, 2016.
  
• You have the previous UY bucket (which in your case -and mine- would be Dec 2014). Those points, could have been "poured" into your Dec. 2015 UY. That's what happens when you bank your points into the next UY. That would have had to have been done by August 1, 2015. August 1 is the banking deadline date for December UYs.
  
• You have the current UY, which is the Dec. 2015 UY. Yes, I wrote 2015 and that's not a typo! Those points could have been "poured" into the Dec. 2016 UY before the banking deadline. Otherwise, they expire on Nov. 30, 2016.
  
• And you have the upcoming UY, which is Dec 2016. Those points will be available for any stay that starts after Dec. 2016 and are good until Nov. 30, 2017 unless they get "poured" into the Dec. 2017 bucket.
  
• And finally, you have the 2017 UY bucket, which you can "pour" into your 2016 UY bucket (borrowing) for any stay beginning after Dec. 2016 and ending before Nov. 30, 2017.

You cannot borrow from 2 UYs into the future. Your Dec. 2018 UY points can be borrowed into your Dec. 2017 UY BUT those points cannot be used for a stay that begins prior to Dec. 1 2017. So right now, you cannot access those points for any stays since we are not inside that 11-month window. Come Jan 1, 2017, you would be able to book a stay starting Dec. 1, 2017 and you can borrow from the Dec 2018 UY to complete that reservation.

ETA: There is a way to use 4 UYs of points but it involves booking a stay that spans your UYs. For a Dec. UY, that would mean staying at the end of Nov. thru the beginning of December. This is generally not recommended because if you have to cancel at the last minute, 2 year's worth of points are basically lost.

Using a Nov. - Dec. 2017 stay as an example:

• Bank 2015 points into 2016 UY. Book a stay that begins in late November and ends on Nov. 30, 2017.
• Bank any remaining 2016 points into Dec. 2017. Book the rest of the stay using the banked 2016 points, all of 2017 points and borrow 2018 points to complete the reservation.
• You will have 2 different reservations but you can call Member Services to ask them to link the reservations so that you will not need to move.

You can only borrow points when you are actually making the reservation that will use them. (If you later cancel that reservation, the borrowed points will expire at the end of the use year into which they were borrowed).

The use year into which a reservation falls is the current use year for that reservation. For example, to pay for a for a vacation that falls within your 2016 use year, you could use any points that you previously banked into 2016 from your 2015 use year, your 2016 points and if you still need more points you could borrow them from your 2017 use year.

You can only bank one year ahead and can only borrow from one use year ahead, so that's how "up to 3 years of points" could be available to you for one vacation. (There is a very narrow exception to the "up to three" option that could make up to 4 years available, but the actual vacation dates would have to start in one use year and continue on to end in the next use year. That very rarely happens for most people).

If you haven't already, take a look at this thread - it should help you understand a little bit better:

Understanding Use Year

Thank you both! These remarks completely answer my question!