Use year is just the month that your points are renewed each year. It determines banking deadlines, but has nothing to do with when you may call to make a reservation. That is always 11 months prior to check out for a home resort and 7 months prior to check out for a non-home resort.
As Cruella posted, banking deadlines are important if you have to cancel a trip that was scheduled during the latter portion of your use year.
For example, let's say you have an August use year. That means that:
2006 use year points are good for stays between 8/1/2006 and 7/31/2007.
2007 use year points are good for stays between 8/1/2007 and 7/31/2008.
2008 use year points are good for stays between 8/1/2008 and 7/31/2009.
2009 use year points are good for stays between 8/1/2009 and 7/31/2010.
etc.
Let's say you want to schedule a trip for January, 2008 at your home resort. That trip will fall into your 2007 use year. You can call to reserve the trip in February of 2007, 11 months prior to your desired check out date. MS will use 2007 use year points for that trip even though you are in your 2006 use year when you call. (If you wanted to use any of your 2006 use year points for that trip, you would have to bank them into your 2007 use year. You could also borrow points from your 2008 use year if necessary).
What if you have to cancel that trip? As long as you cancel at least 31 days porior to arrival, the points are returned to your account with the same status they had immediately prior to the reservation. 2007 use year points are still 2007 use year points, banked points are still banked and borrowed poiunts are still borrowed. With an August use year, you have until the last business day of January 2008 to bank up to 100% of your 2007 points into your 2008 use year. If you don't bank, the points have to be used by the end of your 2007 use year (7/31/2008) or they are forfeited.
Instead of August, let's say you have a February use year and schedule the January 2008 trip. The trip falls within the 2007 use year (which runs from 2/1/2007 - 1/31/2008). You can still call to make the reservation 11 months prior to check out in February, 2007. No worries for you if you take the trip, but what if you have to cancel it? Again, as long as you cancel it at least 31 days prior to arrival, the points are returned to your account. But with a February use year, you are past all of your banking deadlines. If you don't use the points before the end of the use year (1/31/2008), they are forfeited.
Keep in mind that over the course of your membership, your travel patterns may change. What may start out as an ideal use year may turn out to be not so ideal and vice versa. Also, if you never have to cancel a trip that was scheduled late in your use year, use year does't matter.
If you cancel a trip 30 days or less prior to arrival, banking deadlines don't matter at all - because a late cancellation means the points go into the holding account. Holding account points may not be banked. Holding account points always expire at the end of the use year if not used before then. Also, holding points may not be used to make a reservation until 60 days or less prior to arrival. There are also other restrictions that may apply if you want to use them for non-
DVC options. If you have to cancel, try to do it at least 31 days in advance whenever possible.
My point is that a particular use year may be important to you (if you worry about cancelling and travel often during the latter part of your use year), but for the reasons mentioned, don't let a less than ideal use year override an otherwise good deal.
Best wishes -
