Did you charge WDW?

[dana1003]

Sadly enough, I'm one of those financially irresponsible college students... and yes, I do have some CC debt, partly incurred from Disney trips. I know it's silly, but unfortunately, it's about the only way I could go.

dont feel bad im 36 and we had to put in on the cc last year. we still owe 1400 and we're going in oct. this time we have the cash..but some of us arent that fortunate..we'd never go on vacation

 

[pppiglet]

dont feel bad im 36 and we had to put in on the cc last year. we still owe 1400 and we're going in oct. this time we have the cash..but some of us arent that fortunate..we'd never go on vacation

And I'm 47 and I'm in the charge it now and pay it later or we wouldn't go either, and I was determined to have a great trip for our 25th anniversary and we did! I don't regret it one bit. Of course I won't be going on another vacation for awhile til this is paid off!

 

[CarolA]

I charge, but then I pay off so I don't think charging alone is "bad" (I like getting points/miles whatever the CC is giving)


(Hey there was a woman on here once who was FURIOUS that her 401K administrator would not let her take an emergency withdrawal for a trip to Disney. I will believe anything when it comes to finances!)

 

[eliza61]

I charge, but then I pay off so I don't think charging alone is "bad" (I like getting points/miles whatever the CC is giving)


(Hey there was a woman on here once who was FURIOUS that her 401K administrator would not let her take an emergency withdrawal for a trip to Disney. I will believe anything when it comes to finances!)

I try hard not to judge folks when it comes to financing and charging since I have made some financial moves that have given my financial planner a heart attack (like the time I charged a $2500 motorized baby carriage for my first born).
My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to Europe, my siblings and I (and our respective families) decided to go also. My dh and I took out a 10K loan to help pay for it, It was the trip of a life time and also the lalst trip we got to take while my mom was alive. so I have charged vacations so I'm not going to pretend like I'm Dave whatever his name is who advocates credit is the evil emperor.

 

[huge mickey fan]

I use my Disney Visa for all my bills. If I could put my monthly mortgage on it I would. I love the points system so we use it as our checkbook. Gas, Groceries, whatever. We usually book our trip online and pay it slowly with our Disney Visa, which I pay off weekly online. Then if it isn't all paid by the 45 days out mark we charge the rest. With the Disney Visa you are not charged interest for 6 months for Disney Vacations. So it is for sure paid off within that 6 months. We then get to use our points earned on vacation.

 

[pooch]

i use my disney visa to charge everything (even food) to get the reward points, but i always have the money available

i'll even send the amount charged before the bill shows up, and avoid the finance charge altogether - thus: zero balance!

and use the reward points for disney souvenirs

(only wish i'd thought to charge my DS's college tuition, too - think of all those lovely reward points i could have had....)

Charged DD college tuition payments to my Disney Visa for 4 years!!! Paid it off from the college fund when the bill came in. Had over $600 in free stuff to go along w/free dining last year!!

On topic though, I was raised in a single parent household (Dad died very young) and I know Mom went into debt for vacations sometimes. She worked 2 jobs to support us. Although we didn't do huge trips, she wanted and needed vacation time and she wanted us to have it too. Looking back as an adult and a parent, I understand and so appreciate all she did for us. We always have our trips paid for because we are able to. But walk a mile in someone elses shoes before you judge them. JMHO

 

[islandmum]

Using CC's is a great way of getting your credit rating really high - as long as you pay them off and dont incurr late payment notices.

we're lucky that we dont really have to save for our vacation, we have money in the bank but we ALWAYS pay the invoices for cars, flights, hotels, shops, food - everything infact goes on the old Amex ..... which is then cleared by transfer from our bank account the day after we return and avoid the monthly interest too.

that way we very rarely keep cash around, our credit rating soars as we use CC's but they are cleared each month no matter what the balance. If we paid by using our bank debit cards the credit rating wouldnt be affected.

and when like us you have buy-to-let properties and need a good mortgage rate - credit rating is VERY important.

would I think people irresponsible if they used CC to book WDW and took a year to pay it off ..... no. As long as they do pay it off and they felt it was worth the debt then do it. Its everyones choice to do what they wish and if they are happy doing WDW and spending the next year or 2 paying it off - why not. some people do it for furniture, cars, weddings, whatever - so why not WDW.

 

[DiskneeFan]

Last year we signed up for Visa Disney Reward, got an instant $50.00 and then put our trip on the card and got 6 months same as cash. I put everything on this card and pay it off every month. Just put our Sept trip on. By September we'll have over $500.00 in Disney rewards. At WDW thats good for a couple of meals and a few pints

 

[bigbabyblues]

No. If we don't have the cash, we don't go. I do charge the balance to the cc, but write the check to pay it off when I hang up the phone. Gotta love those reward dollars!

I'm already saving for next year's trip, and we've only been back 13 days. The amount we save will determine where we stay, ddp, etc.

We do charge to our room while at WDW, but only up to the amount we've saved for that. I write the check when we get home. No leftover debt from a vacation.

 

[bytheblood]

I pay it off directly from my checking account with my debit card.

 

[Mrs. D]

No we paid cash in full, finished paying last week. So glad we did not finance!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Nope. Because we go so often (approx 6 times/year), we only go if we can pay for it all when we book. I've seen waaaayyyy too many of my younger staff members get themselves into financial trouble using credit cards to fund trips -- especially to WDW.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I was really surprised to find out that some people charge their dream vacations? A friend told me he took out a loan against his truck and maxed out all his credit cards.

We do not have a lot of disposible income but we saved for nine months for our trip and never put anything on a credit card. (We just do not use them.) I have like $33 I still owe for next week.

No offense to anyone who did just wondering?

This is the American way.

We do charge our vacations but pay them off when we return. No paying interest on a vacation.

 

[DLBDS]

I make a few payments with the cc and pay off the trips before I go. I just wouldn't be able to enjoy the trip otherwise.

 

[slk537]

We consider five major "cost centers" for our trips:

Lodging
Airfare
Car Rental
Dining
Spending Money/AP's (if needed)

We own DVC, so lodging is already budgeted into our monthly payments - and we use our debit card for as many of those bills as possible, since we earn a mile for every dollar spent.

Airfare - is paid for using the debit card as soon as we find the right deal and have the extra cash available.

Car Rental - saved in advance and the money is in the debit account when we arrive (double miles on this one!)

Dining - we know in advance how much so we save and as with the car rental, the money is in the checking account ready to be spent.

Spending money - this is generally $100 cash for each week we're there, $50 in ones for valet, mousekeeping, etc tips, and $10 in quarters for tolls. Everything above and beyond that comes from saved money on our debit card.

We have multiple checking accounts, so before we leave bills are paid from one account and vacation money is in the other account. We have done it this way for years now and we love it - we do have a credit card for emergencies, but we have yet to use it. We make sure we can afford to spend every penny we have available in the "vacation" account, so anything left over (and yes, we do have some leftover - poor planning on my part ) is money we can then apply back towards "real life" again.

I need to know everything is taken care of before we leave and that we won't suffer financially when we get back or I can't enjoy our trips.

 

[Dobie]

Since I'm a teacher it's virtually impossible NOT to use a credit card in the summer...that includes trips to Disney. But I never put any more on it than I know I can pay off with my first couple of paychecks when I go back to work. I also have a Disney Visa and I charge the room to it, then pay it off so I can get the points. I don't use the CC for souvenirs or food, though--for that I use cash from my "Disney fund" or my debit card.

Wow--DH and I are both school employees, and we get paid every month!

 

[Mickey28]

I have a question for this thread. Say you pay Disney for your whole trip before you go. Can you send them extra money before you arrive and have a credit on your room when you check in, like for charging purchases to your room? Has anyone ever done this?

PS We always pay for our trips in full before we go and only take money for food and souveniers.

 

[VMK_Princess_Chloe]

We are using our checking account/ debit card for everything.. We already have our tickets.. through undercover tourist.. which we paid for with our bank account... we put the deposit on our room... but since it was room only they wouldn't let us pay anymore.. so we will pay the balance when we get there. Then we have money in our checking account $300 for gas since we are driving, $250 for Souveniers and $300 for food.. Then i have $100 in cash.. that I am breaking down into mostly 5's, 1's and quarters for tips, tolls, etc. We have been in credit card debt before.. and are not any longer... so we don't ever want that to happen again.. so our motto is.. "if we can't pay for it with cash (or bank account), we don't need it". We, like someone else said do have a credit card only for emergencies..and rarely use it.. if we do it's for a special reason and we pay it off!

 

[swilphil]

The only time I don't pay off my credit card in full is if I have 0 percent interest for X number of months. I refuse to pay finance charges.

 

[Beep]

I work out if I can afford everything before I book it, but I will put some on a credit card and then pay it back.

I usually book the holiday/flights through a travel agent when I find a good deal, pay the deposit and then pay the whole thing when it is due out of my bank account. I pay for the tickets online with my credit card and then pay that back when the bill comes in. Sometimes I pay a small amount of interest but not very often.

I tend to stagger the time I buy the tickets ie bought Disney tickets last month from UCT with a credit card and transferred the money straight over. This month I have bought the Universal/SeaWorld tickets and will transfer the amount over when the bill comes in. I stagger it so I have the money after my pay day and don't incur interest.

I buy the tickets with a credit card for peace of mind in case something bad happens. I pay for the holiday out of my bank account so I don;t incur the 2.5% credit card charge.

I paid for a holiday on my credit card many years ago and when I worked out how much it actually cost by the time it was paid off - well, let's just say I didn't do it again!

I use credit cards when I'm on holiday and keep a track of what I'm spending, and try not to go over what I know I can pay back over the following couple of months. I tend to put the more expensive meals on that to make sure I've got enough cash to last the holiday. If there is any cash left over, it goes straight on the card.

I've done this for a long time now and it works well for me.