Could somebody explain how the

[jdwright13]

banking/borrowed process work. It looks at though you can save some of your points from one year, and use them the next, and borrow from the previous year as well. Are their limits and restrictions?

Also, during the offseason, like Sept, are rooms easy to come by?

 

[PamOKW]

You've got a good idea of how it works. There is a basic caveat that DVC can suspend banking and borrowing. However, they have yet to do this.

Not everyone gets their points January 1. Different people begin their Use Years on the first of various months. This is decided when you make your purchase. I'll use an April Use Year for this example. The points you get April 2003 must be used by March 31, 2004 or banked forward into April 2004. Once points are banked they can't be "banked" again. They also can't be "brought back" into 2003. So, the banked points must be used between April 2004 and March 31, 2005. You must make your decision to bank by certain deadlines. You can bank 100% of your total points during the first 6 months of your Use Year -- by September 30 for the April example. You can bank up to 50% when 3-6 months are left in the Use Year -- December 31 for April. You can bank 25% of the points with 3 months left -- January 31 for April. During the last two months, no points can be banked.

You can also "borrow" from the upcoming year. As with Banking, the points can't be "returned". If you borrow from the April 2004 allotment for a 2003 trip, they must be used by March 31, 2004.

That's a start. Maybe you'll have more questions with this info.

Rooms tend to be easiest to get when school is not in session and has just returned from a vacation -- September and January are good examples. However, with a little patience and flexibility, rooms at WDW are not impossible to book at just about any time of year.

 

[ncligs]

You can have access to 3 years points at one time. Example......say you have 200 pts at BCV's. You can bank your 2002 pts(200) into 2003 (which would give you access to 400 pts), then you can borrow your 2004 pts(200) to give you a grand total of 600 pts. You can only borrow the points you need to complete a reservation.

 

[JR]

Yes, you may bank points into the following year, but once they are banked you cannot use them until that use year and you must use them or lose them in that year. Also you can borrow points from the following year, but again, once borrowed they have to be used in that year. They cannot be put back into their original year.
The number of points you can bank depends on how far into the current use year it is. They is a chart on the wdwinfo website that gives you this information.
I have stayed at OKW several times in September. I think it is one of the lighter times because school has just gone back in session.

I hope this explanation isn't to confusing!

JR

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by jdwright13
banking/borrowed process work. It looks at though you can save some of your points from one year, and use them the next, and borrow from the previous year as well. Are their limits and restrictions?

Also, during the offseason, like Sept, are rooms easy to come by?

Yes, you can "save" some of your points by banking them into the next year. The limits and restrictions depend upon your use year. You can bank/save up to 100% of your annual allotment of points if you do it before the end of the 6th month following the start of your use year. You can bank up to 50% of the annual allotment if you do it by the end of the 9th month following the start of your use year and up to 25% if you do it by the end of the 10th month. You may not bank any points at all during the last two months of your use year.

For example, if you have an August use year, your annual allotment of points is renewed on August 1. Your 100% deadline would be January 31, your 50% deadline would be April 30 and your 25% deadline would be May 31.

Banking totals are cumulative. For example (again using August as your use year), let's say you purchased 200 points and decide to bank/save 125 of them in January. After January 31, you could not bank any more points, because you already have banked more than 50% of your total annual allotment. If instead, you had banked 75 points in January, you could have banked 25 more if you did it before April 30. You may not bank any points during June and July if you have an August use year.

You may borrow points only if you need them to make an actual reservation. You may borrow only one use year ahead. Once borrowed, points cannot be returned to their original use year. So if you cancel a ressie that used borrowed points, the borrowed points will expire at the end of the use year unless you use them before that time.

For example, let's say you make a ressie for January, 2004 that requires 300 points. (We're still assuming an August use year). You use all of your 2003 use year points. You can borrow the remaining 100 points from your 2004 use year. Normally, 2004 use year points would be valid for a stay between 8/1/2004 and 7/31/2005. When you borrow the 2004 points into 2003, the points become valid for stays between 8/1/2003 and 7/31/2004. If you later cancel that January, 2004 ressie (more than 30 days ahead of arrival), the borrowed points will expire on 7/31/2004 unless you use them before then. Since you are still in the 100% banking window, you could bank/save the 2003 (current use year) points into 2004 if you didn't think you would use them before 7/31/2004. Then those points would be good for a stay between 8/1/2004 and 7/31/2005.

HTH. I probably told you way more than you wanted to know!

P.S. Getting DVC ressies in September is reported to be relatively easy. You shouldn't ever have a problem if you call before the 7 month window opens and even after that, you should be able to get something.

 

[jdwright13]

This makes a lot of sense now, so it should help me make a decision on buying. It's a tough choice on spending the money, but is definately sounds worth it over the long haul.

 

[dianeschlicht]

FWIW, we waited to make our first purchase, and we have kicked ourselves ever since! We should have purchased way back in '92 when we first heard about it, but we waited until '97 when we had the money all set aside, because we didn't want to finanace. We should have done it right away, so we could have saved the money we spent on vacations those 5 years!