Does anyone try not to ever "Borrow " Points?

[Disney Fanatic]

We are almost new members and I am thinking that I really don't want to ever borrow points and be in a defecit.

Does anyone else do this or is my thinking all messed up?

 

[CarolMN]

No way could I make my vacations come out every year to be exactly the number of points we bought. Some years we bank a few, some we borrow a few.

I see nothing wrong with borrowing - if it weren't for borrowers, DVC couldn't allow banking!

Best wishes -

 

[laceemouse]

Well, originally we bought only 160 BCV points with the idea that we would borrow and do a trip every other year or so. We have to get a 2 bedroom and we only wanted to travel when school was out so MEGA points. Then we bought a 250 point contract at VWL. Now we are homeschooling so after this year's Christmas trip we will go at lower point times, however, I am trying to decide if we want to alternate between the 2 resorts from year to year. SO, we may still bank/borrow to get plenty of points each time at either resort. Clear as mud right?? Actually, when I play with the numbers it rarely comes out perfect, which is why I think a lot of people bank/borrow to make things work out every year. I guess if you always went at the same point level time each trip you could know exactly how many points to buy and never alter your plans KWIM???

 

[Mary Anne]

We've always done a mixture of both. Things just never work out perfect and the fact that we have two contracts, one at BWV and one at SSR makes it intersting as we have to use both points to book, so sometimes some have a few points left over and sometimes we need to borrow from ONE of the contracts.

My happy problem right now is that we've banked 213 of our BWV points from this year as we've made a decision to skip Disney this year (first time in about 12 years) so next year we'll have over 600 points. Now the fact that we've banked means we MUST go next year as those points must be used.

So, we've cheerfully on paper worked out 3 trips that we want to take so that we can use our banked points and next years current points. However what happens is we'll have 2 points left over. Now I'm not sure what to do, borrown enough to stay one more night at one of our trips, this way the following year we don't HAVE to go, banked those 2 points and assume we will be going, or at worse if we can't give them to someone, lose them if something happens and we don't get to go.

Owning DVC makes you think further then the current vacation you're planning.

However, in general I have no problem, having to bank or borrow when it's enough points to complete the next stay.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Yes, I always TRY not to borrow, but so far I have been a miserable failure!

Actually, last year I did bank seven points. I'm 80 points in the hole for next year though, since I booked a cruise with points.

MG

 

[Beach_Bound9]

Nope. We have no problem borrowing ahead on points.

 

[Lora]

We usually end up using very close to our number of points each year. We get a pretty decent length of stay for our points (225) in the off-season, so there's no need for us to borrow. The year we did our add-on we banked all of the new points to use the following year with some guests. So, we've banked anywhere from 4-75 points each year.

I only borrowed one year while I was juggling different reservations. I ended up banking more points than I borrowed when it was all said and done.

 

[rigsby25]

So far I think it is to our advantage to be in a borrow mode. Then we never have to worry if we will have enough time to bank the points. You only get up to a certain day to bank 100%. I'd much rather be using next years points all the time.

 

[MagikMom]

I'm a borrower and a banker. Thats what makes DVC so nice. You can play with your points!!

 

[JimC]

We have a contract with a December use year with banked points but we will work our way to fully borrowed as the contract progresses. Our other use year is February and that one is sometimes borrowed sometimes banked.

 

[jarestel]

We look at this situation as one time where "borrowing" is good. So we borrow any time we need to.

 

[Alexander]

Well, the plan was not to borrow, but that's not quite how it worked out! We borrow from the next year, not all of the points, but about 1/4 of them. This gets us three visits per year (about 17 nights), and I figured if I don't have any points left for my last year, 48-49 (which ever it is) years from now (if I'm still even vertical), I probably won't care!

 

[keishashadow]

Don't know why but I just can't get comfortable with the idea of borrowing points for regularly, scheduled WDW vacation usage. I purchased with the idea of having enough points for anticipated usage. Unfortunately, I'm a few short on my resale and will have to eventually borrow or transfer or add on, again.

 

[Laurabearz]

The bulk of our points are in our December use year, and for my brain it works out easier to use Dec 2005 points IN 2005, even though Dec 2005 points are current from Dec 2005-November 2006 (most of the UY is in the next real year) so we borrow.

I dont think we have banked any points yet....

And as another poster said.... I love not having to worry about banking deadlines.

So to answer your question...

Nope, we dont worry about borrowing. It's not like an emergency would ever come up where we needed a bunch of points or we would die... ya know?? More likely an emergency would come up and we would have to bank our points. Does that make sense??

 

[JimMIA]

We are trying to bank points early in the use year, and then borrow toward the end as a strategy to avoid losing points. Theoretically, it makes sense -- we'll see how it works in the real world!

 

[JohnNJ]

What's the down side of borrowing?

 

[ksoehrlein]

This year, we only had to borrow three points, and that's as close as we've ever come to not borrowing!

What happened was that we bought our contract with a "Magical Beginnings" credit in 2002, where for $X applied to our down payment, we "sold" our first year's points back to DVD. For various unplanned reasons, we ended up with the opportunity to return to WDW a little later that year, so next thing we knew, we had borrowed a whole bunch of points to make that trip happen. Each year, we've borrowed fewer and fewer points, but we're still not down to 0 yet.

I think the 3-point deficit will continue next year, as I'm eyeing up accommodations that will use our entire point allotment. This will also be our first time in a 1-BR, which I know means we'll probably never go back to studios. So from here on out, it will be continuing to borrow or (dare I say it?) adding on.

As other posters have said, I think it's much easier to borrow than to bank. The banking deadlines are meaningless if you've already "spent" this year's points! Borrowing is easy and painless.

 

[JimMIA]

What's the down side of borrowing?

The downside is, if you borrow, you can't "un-borrow." The points stay in the use year into which they were borrowed. If you are near the end of your use year, a cancellation could cause you to lose the points.

 

[Mary Anne]

I have to agree, about the banking deadlines and it being stressful LOL

For the first time in about 4 years we were banking this year. I have to tell you I was on the fence about waiting to the last minute to bank, worried I'd forget, or worried I'd bank too soon and then something would come up and I'd need them. In the end, I banked around the 15th of this month (end of the month was our cut off date.) Last year when we borrowed into this years points, it was far less stressful as far as I was concerned. The only time borrowing is going to really catch up with you is in those final years and to be honest I'm not going to worry for at least another 30 years about that LOL

 

[JimMIA]

What's the down side of borrowing?

The other downside is, if you ever want to sell your contract, you would have less than the full allocation of points available. Frankly, I wouldn't let that stand in the way of enjoying my points.