Can someone please explain what a USE year is and how to choose it?

[wanderlust72]

I keep seeing USE year mentioned, and I am not sure what this means or how it works and how it is important in deciding when to buy the DVC. I know it matters and that the decision has to be made carefully. We would probably vacation more in the off season. We are still in the research/planning phase, and this is something that has been pretty confusing to me that I just can't grasp! Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Hi wanderlust72, and welcome to the DIS boards!

Your use year begins with a certain month. The beginning of that month is when you receive a fresh load of points.

In other words, I have a September use year, so each September 1st I get a fresh load of points to use (or bank) through the following August 31st. My 2004 use year is September, 1 2004 - August, 31 2005.
This is commonly referred to as a "September use year".

I believe there are eight different use years. I am not sure why they decided to leave out four months, but they did.

The only time it matters what use year you have, is in the case of a cancellation.
It is said that the best use year to have is one just prior to your normal vacation time. That way if you had to cancel, you still have plenty of time to use, or bank those points.

Good luck...

MG

 

[Frozenfingers]

MG is correct. Keep in mind the UY also is the start of the clock for banking deadlines. I don't have the info right in front of me, but I think it is 6 months after you get the annual allotment that you have to bank at 100%. At 6-8 months it is 50%, 8-10 is 25%, and gone after 10 months.. Check the guidebook to validate these numbers, .. never had to worry myself, being chronically in a borrowed state on my points.

 

[puffkin]

I think I understand the use years, but I have a question. Say you have a September use year and you decide at 6 months that you aren't going to use your points and you bank them. But then, at the beginning of the summer you do decide you want to take a trip. I know you can't "unbank" the points from this year, but can you still borrow the points from next year. Theoretically then, you would just be swapping points.

 

[MikeJ]

You are correct. The only danger with this is that once you have borrowed the following year's points they cannot be returned to their original use year and expire at the end of the current use year. So if you decide to book a summer trip with borrowed points and have a Sept. UY, you run the risk of losing the points should you have to cancel the trip because they have to be used by August 31 and you've left yourself little time to rebook.

- Mike

Originally posted by puffkin
I think I understand the use years, but I have a question. Say you have a September use year and you decide at 6 months that you aren't going to use your points and you bank them. But then, at the beginning of the summer you do decide you want to take a trip. I know you can't "unbank" the points from this year, but can you still borrow the points from next year. Theoretically then, you would just be swapping points.

 

[brivers222]

You are correct. The only danger with this is that once you have borrowed the following year's points they cannot be returned to their original use year and expire at the end of the current use year. So if you decide to book a summer trip with borrowed points and have a Sept. UY, you run the risk of losing the points should you have to cancel the trip because they have to be used by August 31 and you've left yourself little time to rebook.

Now going along this train of thought would be... what is the lowest increment that you can borrow and/bank between years.

Say I bank all my 150pts to next year, but I then realize I need to use say 56 pts later in the year (after I banked). Can I just borrow those 56pts from my allotment of borrowed points, or do I have to borrow the entire amount?

MG is correct. Keep in mind the UY also is the start of the clock for banking deadlines. I don't have the info right in front of me, but I think it is 6 months after you get the annual allotment that you have to bank at 100%. At 6-8 months it is 50%, 8-10 is 25%, and gone after 10 months..

I understand the 100% but I am confused about the other percentages... For instance, I take a trip early and use 100 of my original 150 pts (leaving 50pts left over. 7 months into my Use year I realize That I need to bank them. Is that 50% of my remaining pts (i.e. I can bank only 25 of them) or is 50% of my original 150pts (i.e. I can bank up to 75pts at this time only).

I apologize so much for all the threads and questions... I just want to make sure I have a clear grasp on the situation before I make the plunge!

 

[PamOKW]

Originally posted by brivers222
I understand the 100% but I am confused about the other percentages... For instance, I take a trip early and use 100 of my original 150 pts (leaving 50pts left over. 7 months into my Use year I realize That I need to bank them. Is that 50% of my remaining pts (i.e. I can bank only 25 of them) or is 50% of my original 150pts (i.e. I can bank up to 75pts at this time only).

I apologize so much for all the threads and questions... I just want to make sure I have a clear grasp on the situation before I make the plunge!

Keep asking until you understand!

Taking the banking example. The percentages are based on your total number of points. The 50% you could bank would be 75 points (50% of your 150 total). In your example, you can bank all 50 of your points.

Looking at it another way -- early in the year you bank 80 points. Once you reach the date for banking 50% of your points, you are actually done banking for the year. You have already banked more than 50% of your total.

There is no limit on borrowing points except that you can only borrow from the upcoming year (100% of one year's points).

There is "fine print" that allows DVC to suspend banking and borrowing if the system should become too out of whack. To my knowledge, this has not happened.

DVC describes the Use Year as the "birthday" of your points. It has no effect on when you can make reservations and, as mentioned, really only comes into play if you have to make a last minute cancellation of a trip scheduled toward the end of your Use Year.