Expiring points. Help-

[cgbsilver@hotmail.co]

I have some points that will expire by the end of august. If I end up not using them, is there something I can do with RCI? I think I remember reading that somewhere.

 

[Dean]

I have some points that will expire by the end of august. If I end up not using them, is there something I can do with RCI? I think I remember reading that somewhere.

You can deposit up until 14 days from the time being deposited but only search short time as well. When you consider the exchange fee and limited availability, it's not worth it. Likely better to secure a reservation and see if you can either deposit with an independent exchange company or rent it for a cheaper price. Depending on the number of points in question you may want to ask for the double secret one time exception.

 

[cgbsilver@hotmail.co]

You can deposit up until 14 days from the time being deposited but only search short time as well. When you consider the exchange fee and limited availability, it's not worth it. Likely better to secure a reservation and see if you can either deposit with an independent exchange company or rent it for a cheaper price. Depending on the number of points in question you may want to ask for the double secret one time exception.

I will secure a reservation a AKL and try to sell it. Can you let me know how I can do this.:??

 

[Dean]

Get the reservation and offer it for rent here on DIS, on redweeks.com, on TUG (Timeshare Users Group), to friends or family, on craigslist, etc. Just be realistic on such short notice.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We had some expiring points and I don't like RCI. Ended up offering our friends the points. They were planning a San Diego/Disneyland trip so the timing couldn't have been better.

 

[JimMIA]

I have some points that will expire by the end of august. If I end up not using them, is there something I can do with RCI? I think I remember reading that somewhere.

If you deposit the points into RCI, I believe they become valid for two years from the date of your deposit. I also believe you have to pay the $95 exchange fee to just deposit the points; if you don't do an actual exchange, you don't get the $95 back, so you have to evaluate that risk. Read the info on the members website so you understand the details.

If I have that right, that would be a pretty good extension of the time period to do something with the points. DVC/RCI has recently greatly expanded the number of available resorts, giving far more options than you previously had. Yes, you might be "trading down" from normal DVC quality (not necessarily), but trading down is better than having points expire.

However, as Dean suggested, a lot depends on the number of points involved. If you have enough to get a full week somewhere, it may be a good option. If you don't, it's probably not a good option.

Also, the super-secret exemption Dean mentioned is another option...especially if you have a large number of points expiring. I wouldn't waste it on a handful of points, but if it's a full year's worth, that would be my first choice.

 

[Dean]

If you deposit the points into RCI, I believe they become valid for two years from the date of your deposit. I also believe you have to pay the $95 exchange fee to just deposit the points; if you don't do an actual exchange, you don't get the $95 back, so you have to evaluate that risk. Read the info on the members website so you understand the details.

If I have that right, that would be a pretty good extension of the time period to do something with the points. DVC/RCI has recently greatly expanded the number of available resorts, giving far more options than you previously had. Yes, you might be "trading down" from normal DVC quality (not necessarily), but trading down is better than having points expire.

However, as Dean suggested, a lot depends on the number of points involved. If you have enough to get a full week somewhere, it may be a good option. If you don't, it's probably not a good option.

Also, the super-secret exemption Dean mentioned is another option...especially if you have a large number of points expiring. I wouldn't waste it on a handful of points, but if it's a full year's worth, that would be my first choice.

Any exchange secured must be by 31 Dec of the year following the deposit, not a full 2 years out. Also, in this case there is no way to deposit so that it's a full use deposit. Since DVC actually has to find a deposit, the latest they could do a full week would be 24 August and if this had not been a weekend, this would normally be an additional limitation as well. However, I have seen a couple of deposits lately that did not conform to the F-S normality. The exchange has to be at least 14 days in advance and even then (44-14 days) is very limited in use, esp since they can't be used for Orlando. There's no fee to deposit but there is a "non refundable" fee to place an exchange request. It's really refundable unless a true match is found. If one can travel truly off season to places like Branson or LV it might be useful but not for most people in most situations.

Since this would be a limited exchange with little value, I wouldn't fool with RCI unless DVC will give a compromise and allow a later deposit, if so it needs to be 160 or 270 points to be high time 1 or 2 BR for a week.

 

[JimMIA]

Any exchange secured must be by 31 Dec of the year following the deposit, not a full 2 years out.

Oh wow...that's awful! I didn't realize it was so time-limited -- not even a year and a half in OP's case. That's quite different from normal RCI deposit validity, isn't it?

This being the case, I'd go for the super-secret banking exemption unless it's just a handful of points. If it's only a few points, I'd just move on.

 

[Dean]

Oh wow...that's awful! I didn't realize it was so time-limited -- not even a year and a half in OP's case. That's quite different from normal RCI deposit validity, isn't it?

This being the case, I'd go for the super-secret banking exemption unless it's just a handful of points. If it's only a few points, I'd just move on.

It's not great. A normal weeks deposit is good for 2 years from the date of the exchange and can be extended indefinitely (currently) by combining TPU for a fee of course. so it does depend on when you do it for DVC, better if it's earlier in the year. RCI points can't actually do a direct deposit first though in essence your points are automatically deposited yearly (or in some cases bi or tri yearly) unless you take them out specifically. One can also potentially get extra RCI points by taking weeks and converting them to points at the time (sometimes later) of deposit. Much like Wyndham (and Bluegreen) have a program where you can give them certain weeks from other resorts (even not in their system) and they'll give you extra points. I just deposited 3 weeks I get free and got almost 240K RCI points, I would have only gotten 25 TPU points per deposit on the weeks side.

 

[JimMIA]

I think DVC really owes it to its members to negotiate a better deal with RCI on the lifespan of deposits. I can't think of any reason why DVC couldn't have the same two-year life as any other timeshare system.

With DVC, I think most RCI deposits are going to be like OP's situation -- not so much for future planning, but because something happened and the points are expiring. (At least we can hope that -- I certainly hope folks aren't buying DVC to use for exchanges!)

If a DVC owner has an early UY and they deposit right before expiration early in the calendar year, the fixed 12/31 expiration is not that big of a deal. They lose a month or two. But if you've got a late UY and deposit in November for example, you're only getting one year to use the points.

That's a mess that DVC should renegotiate with RCI.

 

[Dean]

I think DVC really owes it to its members to negotiate a better deal with RCI on the lifespan of deposits. I can't think of any reason why DVC couldn't have the same two-year life as any other timeshare system.

With DVC, I think most RCI deposits are going to be like OP's situation -- not so much for future planning, but because something happened and the points are expiring. (At least we can hope that -- I certainly hope folks aren't buying DVC to use for exchanges!)

If a DVC owner has an early UY and they deposit right before expiration early in the calendar year, the fixed 12/31 expiration is not that big of a deal. They lose a month or two. But if you've got a late UY and deposit in November for example, you're only getting one year to use the points.

That's a mess that DVC should renegotiate with RCI.

I doubt they want to. Basically they want buyers to think they can exchange but they really don't want members to exchange. The truth is DVC would be fine with no exchange company and the members that so chose could use the independents. Personally I'd like to see DVC allow regular paid memberships where the members selected the resort, week and unit size to deposit. It'd be a little more cost and points but one could get so much more from it. I also doubt RCI would be excited about changing this either. I'm guessing they already bend over backwards for DVC to the point they wonder if it's worth it. I'm sure these Hybrid systems like DVC which don't really fit completely into RCI weeks or points are very difficult for them.

 

[CarolMN]

.....(snip)..... Personally I'd like to see DVC allow regular paid memberships where the members selected the resort, week and unit size to deposit. ........

If they allowed this, my prediction is that we'd see a lot of 11 month bookings for holiday weeks and other high demand times. That would further limit what is available internally at 7 months. IMO, most members would hate that, unless they restricted deposits to the 7 month window.

Since we only use DVC for DVC, I like the exchange set-up system as it is. That's based mostly on your posts which say that DVC tends to be balanced with its deposits - even minimizing deposits for times members favor.

 

[Dean]

If they allowed this, my prediction is that we'd see a lot of 11 month bookings for holiday weeks and other high demand times. That would further limit what is available internally at 7 months. IMO, most members would hate that, unless they restricted deposits to the 7 month window.

Since we only use DVC for DVC, I like the exchange set-up system as it is. That's based mostly on your posts which say that DVC tends to be balanced with its deposits - even minimizing deposits for times members favor.

Likely not but it would depend on the trade value of a given week and resort. As you hint, it's worthless now as an exchange vehicle.

 

[Dean]

Lets explore the RCI option. I'll assume as close as I can to the current RCI weeks and RCI points situation. That means yearly fees under $100 plus exchange fees of $140-200 roughly. I'll further assume 2 BR and the current membership reservation rules and the current non DVC RCI rules.

RCI weeks TPU should be in the 30-60 range and the costs to get those should be in the 217 to 850 range but realistically in the low 200 to less than 500.

RCI points 70000 to 132000 and that any deposits would fit into the current RCI points structure. That you'd get the RCI points that you'd pay for that week and resort through RCI points.

Obviously there are some minor variables but in general this suggests to me that Most deposits would be for low times, lower demand resorts and summer and lower demand units at AKV. DVC members would have a lot more options, more protections (24 hr cancelation rule) and the ability to extend deposits for a much longer period as well as the ability to trade back in to DVC later for those that need to kick the can down the road. It wouldn't hurts those who wouldn't use it and would help those who want to use it routinely. The only damage to DVC members wanting to use RCI would be for the very casual user, say once every 5 years. As I see it, the deposit pattern would likely be similar or more favorable from an availability standpoint than currently even if there were more activity than currently.

Regardless, anything that gives the member more options and more control with no automatic costs is a good thing. For those that don't know, my personal view is that an owner at a given resort who would want to get the highest demand week to rent or exchange should come ahead of a non owner at that resort wanting to reserve at 7 months out and be on par with any other owner at that resort.

 

[JimMIA]

I'm sure these Hybrid systems like DVC which don't really fit completely into RCI weeks or points are very difficult for them.

I don't know about that. The hybrid systems certainly present issues to manage, but they seem to be doing it without much trouble. Don't forget RCI is dealing with literally thousands of timeshares, with thousands of systems of valuation, and many different schemes for reservations.

Wyndham has many times more owners than DVC and their owners are probably more active with exchanges than DVC owners. Wyndham is also a hybrid system and seems to be accommodated just fine. (Of course, RCI is owned by Wyndham's parent company, so that may help. )

Hilton is also a larger system that seems to be accommodated quite well by RCI.

Improving RCI for DVC owners would benefit the owners and RCI, but I agree that DVC is not really looking for that, and in fact it's probably counter to their interests (the company, as opposed to the owners).

I do think, however, that the recent dramatic improvement in resort accessibility for DVC/RCI is a much bigger deal than most think. It's really quite a good change for DVC owners.

 

[Dean]

I do think, however, that the recent dramatic improvement in resort accessibility for DVC/RCI is a much bigger deal than most think. It's really quite a good change for DVC owners.

I believe the only real positive is the fact it is a change and the fact it may hit an area someone needs even if the resort options there aren't ideal. Whether it leads to something beneficial or not, we'll have to see. As I see it the current system is pretty much worthless for those that care about the value returned.

 

[cgbsilver@hotmail.co]

If you deposit the points into RCI, I believe they become valid for two years from the date of your deposit. I also believe you have to pay the $95 exchange fee to just deposit the points; if you don't do an actual exchange, you don't get the $95 back, so you have to evaluate that risk. Read the info on the members website so you understand the details.

If I have that right, that would be a pretty good extension of the time period to do something with the points. DVC/RCI has recently greatly expanded the number of available resorts, giving far more options than you previously had. Yes, you might be "trading down" from normal DVC quality (not necessarily), but trading down is better than having points expire.

However, as Dean suggested, a lot depends on the number of points involved. If you have enough to get a full week somewhere, it may be a good option. If you don't, it's probably not a good option.

Also, the super-secret exemption Dean mentioned is another option...especially if you have a large number of points expiring. I wouldn't waste it on a handful of points, but if it's a full year's worth, that would be my first choice.

70 points.Would you get the exemption??

 

[Dean]

70 points.Would you get the exemption??

I would if you can bank them.

 

[JimMIA]

70 points.Would you get the exemption??

Well, that depends. I'd hate to lose 70 points, but you have to keep it in perspective. Is it 70 out of 450 annual points, or 70 out of 70?

How did the expiration happen? Did you just forget to bank, or was it an unforeseen cancellation? Are you likely to suffer a recurrence with a larger block of points?

There's another consideration as well, and maybe Dean can help us with this.

I read another post recently that said the minimum deposit to RCI is 80 points. I've never heard of that, but I've deposited DVC points to RCI either, so I'm not that familiar with the process.

But if you are unable to deposit them because of a restriction like that, I would certainly consider requesting the super-secret exemption. (and then double pinky-swear that you'll never get in this situation again!)

 

[JimMIA]

I would if you can bank them.

I agree unless you think you are likely to have this happen again with a larger block of points.