Can someone better explain to me UY?

[Crazy4Disney06]

Can someone please explain UY and what difference it makes in making reservations? Are you able to make reservations at the 11 month window even you currently have no points but your new UY will come before your reservation?
The contract we put an offer on has an April UY. I looked into so many things regarding DVC club that I overlooked the importance of UY a bit.......now I am a bit confused. We tended to travel to WDW in the fall.

 

[disneynutz]

You can only bank your points during the first 8 months of your UY. If you need to cancel or postpone a vacation, doing so during these 8 months allows you to bank and use the points in the next UY.

If you don't use the points or bank them you forfeit them.

Picking a UY just prior to your favorite vacation time gives you the best protection.

Bill

 

[Deb & Bill]

Can someone please explain UY and what difference it makes in making reservations? Are you able to make reservations at the 11 month window even you currently have no points but your new UY will come before your reservation?
The contract we put an offer on has an April UY. I looked into so many things regarding DVC club that I overlooked the importance of UY a bit.......now I am a bit confused. We tended to travel to WDW in the fall.

forget about January being the start of the year. Your year now starts in April and goes until the end of March. If you don't use your current year points by the end of March, you lose them.

You can make a reservation for the next UY as long as you will have enough points to make the reservation. So currently you are in your April 2011 UY. During the first eight months, you can bank your points into the next year. If you wait until Dec 1, you can't bank them anymore.

If you want a reservation starting on April 1, 2012, you can make that reservation on May 1, 2011 because you will have the points in your account as of April 1.

Your only problem, if you have a reservation that you have to cancel in December, you can't bank those points into the next year once you hit Dec 1. But you could bank them Nov 30.

 

[luckyman_apd]

UY is the month when you points for that year come available. If you have a UY of Jan, then 2012 points start on Jan 1. You have 8 months to bank them. If you decide after the 8 month mark that you can't use your points (August in this case) you would then have to use all your points for 2012 by Dec 31 2012 or you would lose them.

So if you have a Sept UY, then your points for 2012 won't be available until September. Count 8 months including Sept and you would have to decide by then to bank them or not (April 2013 in this scenario).

Ideally you want a UY at or just before the month(s) you plan to vacation. Me, I can only travel Summers or November, so we bought a June UY. This way, if we have to cancel a vacation planned in the summer or Nov, we will still keep our points and be able to bank them. For us, December would have been the WORST UY for us.

Edit.......Didn't see the part about April being your use year. I wouldn't used that in the examples

 

[drusba]

Use year determines when your points become available for use, the first day of the use year, in your case April 1 every year.

It does not not determine when you can go, anytime of year, or when you can call to reserve, always 11 months out at home resort or 7 at others. An example:

You have an April use year and want to go in December 2012, beginning December 9 for a a seven night trip. You could call today and reserve that trip at your home resort because you are 11 months out and you can use points that become available April 1, 2012 which will be your "current" use year points for that trip since the trip takes place during your April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013 use year.

Many recommend that you get a use year that begins shortly before you usually go each year. But that has to do with the risk of cancelling a trip not when you can go or when you can call to reserve. The advice exists because you must bank points by end of eighth month of use year and thus if trip is near end of use year and you have to cancel you may be unable to bank the points. Example, come April 2012, you reserve March 2013 time using points from April 1, 2012, beginning of applicable use year. If come January 2013, you have to cancel, you won't be able to bank those points for use in the next use year because the banking deadline was November 30, 2012, with the effect that you must use or lose the points by March 31, 2013.

If your intent is to usually travel in Fall, April is an OK use year since you will avoid the cancelation/inability to bank issue.

 

[chalee94]

more details on "Understanding Use Year" here if you need it:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1942668

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Thank you. This information really helps! One last question though......
The contract we are looking at is a small 50 point contract with an April use year. So in April 2012 we would get 50 points, could we at that time borrow 50 from our 2013 UY as well? This would leave us no points until April 2014 correct?
I graduate in December of 2012 so we plan to use the points this December, and not vacation next year because I'll be starting a new job as an RN. So our next trip would not be until 2014, so if I am looking at everything correctly this will workout well for us

 

[chalee94]

The contract we are looking at is a small 50 point contract with an April use year. So in April 2012 we would get 50 points, could we at that time borrow 50 from our 2013 UY as well? This would leave us no points until April 2014 correct?

april 2012 pts are valid for stays from april 1, 2012 to march 31, 2013.

april 2013 pts are valid for stays from april 1, 2013 to march 31, 2014, unless borrowed, in which case they are valid from april 1, 2012 to march 31, 2013.

you can call 11 months ahead to book your home resort, so you could have called as early as may 1, 2011 to book april 1, 2012 using all 50 2012 pts plus all 50 2013 borrowed pts plus up to 50 banked pts if you had any.

(edited to add: so naturally you could call right now to book as early as dec 9, 2012 at your home resort with any combination of banked 2011 pts + current 2012 pts (they are "current" because they are 2012 pts being used for a stay in your 2012 UY - when you call to book is irrelevant) + borrowed 2013 pts.)

after that, you would be unable to stay on pts until april 1, 2013 at which time you could borrow up to 50 2014 pts.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

april 2012 pts are valid for stays from april 1, 2012 to march 31, 2013.

april 2013 pts are valid for stays from april 1, 2013 to march 31, 2014, unless borrowed, in which case they are valid from april 1, 2012 to march 31, 2013.

you can call 11 months ahead to book your home resort, so you could have called as early as may 1, 2011 to book april 1, 2012 using all 50 2012 pts plus all 50 2013 borrowed pts plus up to 50 banked pts if you had any.

after that, you would be unable to stay on pts until april 1, 2013 at which time you could borrow up to 50 2014 pts.

Thank you, it appears I was on the right track with my thinking. We are "hoping" to try and use our 50 2012 points and borrow 50 from 2013 for a stay at Aulani in December. Now hopefully we pass ROFR so I can "try" to book at 7 months out!

 

[lnevo]

Thank you, it appears I was on the right track with my thinking. We are "hoping" to try and use our 50 2012 points and borrow 50 from 2013 for a stay at Aulani in December. Now hopefully we pass ROFR so I can "try" to book at 7 months out!

Just to confuse you some more. Once you've borrowed those 2013 points... if you needed to do a trip in your 2013 use-year, you'd be able to borrow from the 2014 year. And so on and so on...

 

[Deb & Bill]

Just to confuse you some more. Once you've borrowed those 2013 points... if you needed to do a trip in your 2013 use-year, you'd be able to borrow from the 2014 year. And so on and so on...

But you would only have 50 to use.

 

[Sandisw]

Thank you, it appears I was on the right track with my thinking. We are "hoping" to try and use our 50 2012 points and borrow 50 from 2013 for a stay at Aulani in December. Now hopefully we pass ROFR so I can "try" to book at 7 months out!

The easiest way for me to remember is to first figure out what UY I am traveling in. Then I can pay for that trip with banked points from the previous UY, the UY of travel, and borrow from the UY after travel.

Everything is based on what will be in your account at the time you travel, and not when you call. The only part that has to be done prior to making the reservation is that you must bank points first before you can use them as "banked" points.

Good luck!

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

But you would only have 50 to use.

That works! I thought 2013 would leave us with none. I did not think about borrowing from 2014. I think we would probably skip 2013, or get a studio at OKW or AKV with the 50 points

 

[bwvBound]

The contract we are looking at is a small 50 point contract with an April use year. So in April 2012 we would get 50 points, could we at that time borrow 50 from our 2013 UY as well?

Both true assuming the contract you are looking at hasn't already used or borrowed the points from 2012 and 2013.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Both true assuming the contract you are looking at hasn't already used or borrowed the points from 2012 and 2013.

No all 2012 points are available. Our offer was accepted and we got the contract/documents today.