DVC resale and add-on points - Newbie questions

[Kaldro]

Hey there,

absolut DVC noob, so please forgive my possible silly questions, even after I scanned through this board and several other websites.

We thinking of buying into DVC and are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, fine prints and different conditions.
Starting point is the idea to purchase a small resale contract and add on direct points. So let's say: Saratoga, Feb use year, 75 points resale contract. Add-on 100 direct points from Disney.

1. Will the added 100 points bring us into the zone, where we can receive the Blue card and the additional membership benefits(like annual passes discounts)?
2. If Disney ever (or better say again) raise the minimum to maybe 125 pts. Do we have to buy another 25 pts to stay within the "Blue zone"?
3. When will the points be seen on the DVC contract or when can I use them? Do I get the points right now for my actual year or will these be active at a later time?
4. As far as I understand, I can bank points to one year later and borrow from the next year. So, technically, can I sum up the points from 3 years? E.g. banking from 2020 to 02/01/2021 and borrowing from 2022 to 02/01/2021, which would in my example lead to 450 pts I could use in summer 2021? And do that for a summer vacation in 2024 again with the points from 2023/2024 and 2025?
5. Is there a devaluation of the points over time? I read somewhere, due to FL law DVC can only shift points within the points chart. Question is to make sure the investment is kinda safe for the next 15-20 years.
6. I know, you can book 11 months out in your own resort and 7 months out in any other (for me eligible) resort. Is it easily possible to call DVC and switch from your 11 months out booked hometown resort room to a different resort at i.e. 6 months out, because you want to stay somewhere else w/o going through cancelling and reordering (and possible loosing both rooms, as someone else was faster then you)?
7. What will actually happen, when the years comes, where the contract ends? Puff - and you are at zero?

Hopefully someone is happy to answer, besides all of the different conditions and fine print which are out there, these are our crucial points around purchasing into DVC.

 

[Lorana]

1. Yes, adding on 100 direct will get you the blue card.
2. No. You'll be grandfathered in. If you ever sell your direct contract, you'd need the new number going forward.
3. If you buy direct, you'll get your points immediately for use. You can always book 11 months in advance for your home resort, so if that spans into another UY, you can book with those points.
4. Technically, yes. Right now, there is a temporary restriction on BORROWING points, to only 50%. So you can bank up 2.5 years worth of points to use at once. For that reason, you'd want to overlap your borrowing year right now.
5. No. Disney can shift how much a given villa type in a given time period costs, but to do so, they have to lower points somewhere else. the TOTAL NUMBER of points in a year has to remain the same.
6. I believe, you can modify your reservation to a new resort without losing the existing reservation until you confirm the new reservation. The only modification you cannot do is to use non-priority points in a reservation you used home priority to reserve. So if you have a week at SSR - your home resort - and 6 months to your travel, you want to switch to OKW and it is available, you can modify it at that time.
7. On January 31 of your expiration year, all your points expire. Puff, you're at zero and owe nothing. What I don't know is will they charge us 1 month of dues?

 

[Isabelle12345]

Disney can shift how much a given villa type in a given time period costs, but to do so, they have to lower points somewhere else.

Sorry to high jack the thread but I have a quick question regarding one of the answers
Does this rule apply to all types of accommodations (ex studios keep the same points and 1-bdr keep their points and so on...) or can they mix them up within different types of accommodations (ex increase studios points and decrease bungalow points at the poly)?

 

[Kaldro]

@Lorana Thank you so much for your answer! Awesome! Regarding my Q#7: Selling at the right moment is probably the key there...

 

[sethschroeder]

Sorry to high jack the thread but I have a quick question regarding one of the answers
Does this rule apply to all types of accommodations (ex studios keep the same points and 1-bdr keep their points and so on...) or can they mix them up within different types of accommodations (ex increase studios points and decrease bungalow points at the poly)?

There is no real answer some say yes some say no.

Seems that more agree though that points can't be shifted between room types but I wouldnt bet on that either.

 

[Lorana]

Sorry to high jack the thread but I have a quick question regarding one of the answers
Does this rule apply to all types of accommodations (ex studios keep the same points and 1-bdr keep their points and so on...) or can they mix them up within different types of accommodations (ex increase studios points and decrease bungalow points at the poly)?

I think it actually depends on what the contracts say, and that part of the issue with 2020 was the fact that they tried to pull some shenanigans around point changes on some contracts that indicate you cannot change between accommodation types (thought they did reverse it).