Cash Purchase - Any Difference?

[Nightbird]

Considering paying cash in full for DVC membership points. Does
anyone know if there is any further advantage other than skipping the interest I would pay by financing?
Just wondering if anyone has any insight on this

Thanks,
Soon to be DVC member

 

[Granny]

Nightbird...the only other advantage I can think of is if you have a credit card with a rewards program, you can charge the purchase to the credit card and pay that off in full the first month.

That way, you can earn more points for your credit card program. I know that Disney accepts American Express. Don't know about other cards.

If you're paying cash anyway, might as well rack up some rewards points too!

 

[DebbieB]

I put my purchase on my AOL Visa at the suggestion of my guide. I got 5 or 6 months free AOL. I got the cash from various sources and DVC split the charge into 2 months so that I wouldn't go over my credit limit (the second charge was before closing). I paid each bill as it came so there was no interest.

 

[robinb]

One advantage to having cash on hand is being able to buy a resale. Financing on a resale is almost impossible unless the buyer gets a home equity loan. Other financing is available, but the rates are terrible! So, I think paying in cash gives you the option of buying from Disney or buying a resale at a resort which is sold out .

 

[kgforce]

We're buying a resale using our American Express cards. I just requested some convenience checks from them. That way, we'll get our Rewards points. We will immediately do a balance transfer to a Visa card (0% APR for 12 months ). After a year is up, we will transfer the remaining balance to another of our credit cards that has a 5.5% APR. Our goal is to pay everything off in 4-5 years. Who knows, we can probably end up cancelling the first Visa card after one year, then apply for another 0% interest card a few months later, then transfer again!

FYI: Most credit card companies will issue you a convenience checks (just call and ask), but will charge you 2.5% to 3% of the amount you write the check for. American Express, however, doesn't charge anything if you are using it for a purchase (not a cash advance). Even with a 3% fee, it still might be beneficial to use a convenience check if you have a favorable rate on your credit card

 

[SamSam]

We paid Disney in full using AA Visa card for the miles. No real incentives to paying cash, other than no interest and, for us a great many miles.

 

[LR_BCV]

Originally posted by Nightbird
Considering paying cash in full for DVC membership points. Does
anyone know if there is any further advantage other than skipping the interest I would pay by financing?
Just wondering if anyone has any insight on this

Thanks,
Soon to be DVC member

We also did cash - I used Amex to get the points. As someone else said, they were happy to split the payment into 2 months so there would be no issue with limits or having to call Amex and let them know what was coming. We paid the bill; I had the cash I just wanted the reward points. There's no other advantage other than not going into debt (which is a big advantage, really!)

We just got out a home equity line of credit to do some home improvements - at 3.99%. WOW. that's when I figured why not do a small add-on? Bad, bad, bad....

Laura

 

[Nightbird]

Wow guys, Thanks for the helpful info. I am going to us my AmEx and ask if they will split the amount into two months for me.
I can really rack up the rewards points that way and everyone wins!
I am excited about our membership. We are purchasing through Disney and are buying points at VWL. I have been scanning the boards the last week since we made our decision and I have gotten tons of great insight on DVC ownership from all of your posts.

Thanks again for the great idea on the credit card purchase!

Nightbird

 

[Cruelladeville]

Paying for your points in cash, or credit card, has a huge benefit, as I see it: You by-pass a huge amount of paperwork! I bought add-on pts once using cash and once on Disney credit, and the amount of extra paperwork that's involved using Disney's credit was just amazing to me! Using cash meant signing a couple of papers, and I was on my merry vacation-making reservations way!

 

[madcoco]

We were going to pay cash for an add on.Like the others posted no real incentive to pay cash to Disney We used a dividend card.Paid it off with the cash payment and ended up with a healthy rebate from the CC company.

 

[Candace]

In 1994 I made my first purchase of "The Disney Vacation Club" since there was only one then - OKW. Anyway, I put the whole thing on a Visa that has Northwest worldperks miles with it. It pushed my miles over the top so I could get 2 roundtrip tickets to Europe for the summer of 1995 - and then I used DVC points to spend several nights at Paris Disneyland. What great memories!

 

[DVC-Don]

Same here, we did our VWL add on with a credit card and earned enough credits for a round trip voucher from Southwest.

 

[erikthewise]

Laura,

Good, good, good!

The real reason to avoid financing is that Disney's rates are way too high, and depending on the term of your loan, it could make a big difference! I did a quick calculation once which showed that the difference between Disney financing for a 10-year term and putting it on a home equity loan instead was roughly equal to the cost of annual dues! For shorter terms the difference would be less dramatic, but still worth paying attention to.

 

[DVCindy]

Just out of curiosity ... anyone know what Disney's current financing rate is for an add-on? We are discussing adding on again ( you all were right, I think points are addicting!) and I'm curious.

Can anyone tell me the other timeshare brokers that do DVC resales besides The Timeshare Store . Our other add-on was through Disney so this is new to us ... any tips ?!

Thanks ! Cindy

 

[EROS]

We purchased both of our resales with cash but used our AMEX Delta Skymiles Card when picking up add-ons from Disney. Unfortuantely, we couldn't find a resale broker who would take plastic .........

 

[Shontell_Crawford]

I am sooooo happy to hear some of you got convenience checks and used them to buy your resale!
I have been telling clients to do this for awhile once I realized the advantage.

Eros - resale agencies can't take "plastic", but we can take "purchase checks" or "convenience checks" - so all you have to do is call the credit card company, request one of these checks...and send it in for your resale purchase. Next time you can get those reward points!


All the best,
Shontell