Final payment day coming up

[sop2sue]

Our 45 days out/final payment day is quickly approaching. Because this was a trip that was planned last minute - we didn't really do ANY saving. Other than our deposit - we haven't put any more money down on our trip. We've been gifted some Disney gift cards - and saved some cash here and there… all maybe amounting to about $450. We plan on just putting the balance on our Disney Visa. My question is should we use the gift cards to pay down the balance or take the cards with us to avoid charging what we use while we are there. Is it really a six of one, half dozen of the other issue - or are there benefits to doing one or the other?

Also, I've heard about charging through the day - but paying off what you've spent through the day when you get back to the hotel. How does this work? Does your card not get charged until the end of the trip?

 

[dpswift]

I would charge the trip. I believe you can get 6 months free financing. I would use the giftcards as spending money. I find that we spend less at Disney when we are using cash or gift cards.

To charge to your room you need to have a CC on file you can then charge to your room. At the end of the day just go to the lobby and payoff your bill with the gift cards.

 

[ericstac]

when you charge to your room Disney basically sets up a charging tab for you. Depending on which level of resort you stay at they will process your credit card on file once you hit a certain level.. which is something like $500.00-value, $1000-moderat, and $1500-deluxe.. or something around those numbers.

 

[Marionnette]

Our 45 days out/final payment day is quickly approaching. Because this was a trip that was planned last minute - we didn't really do ANY saving. Other than our deposit - we haven't put any more money down on our trip. We've been gifted some Disney gift cards - and saved some cash here and there… all maybe amounting to about $450. We plan on just putting the balance on our Disney Visa. My question is should we use the gift cards to pay down the balance or take the cards with us to avoid charging what we use while we are there. Is it really a six of one, half dozen of the other issue - or are there benefits to doing one or the other?

Also, I've heard about charging through the day - but paying off what you've spent through the day when you get back to the hotel. How does this work? Does your card not get charged until the end of the trip?

It is 6 of 1, half a dozen of another if you can pay that promotional balance off in full by the end of the promo period. Keep in mind that the clock starts ticking on that promo rate on the very day that you make your payment. So if you were to pay your balance tomorrow (11/5/14), the last day of the promo rate will be 5/5/15, regardless of when your billing cycle ends. So, it will really be due to be paid off in full just a couple months after your vacation is over. Otherwise you will incur interest at the prevailing APR.

My first inclination would be to cancel the trip because I hate debt and wouldn't carry debt for a vacation. But everyone is different and I understand that. Knowing my POV, you can take the rest of my advice FWIW.

I would throw as much cash and GCs as I had on hand toward paying down the balance on the vacation. Assuming that you already put $200 down for the deposit, if you add your cash and GCs to the mix, that would knock a total of about $650 off of the initial cost of your package. The rest can go on the Disney GC at 0% interest for 6 months.

Then, I would ask anyone who normally gives me a gift for Christmas if they wouldn't mind giving me a Disney GC to be used during my trip. Those GCs could be used for paying for meals and souvenirs. I would also avoid using the Disney Visa for anything because it complicates keeping track of what you need to pay in order to meet the goal of being paid off by the end of the promo period.

If you want to make charges to your room, you will have to leave a CC or debit card on file. This is required even if your intention is to pay your charges off using GCs and cash. The limits that a PP mentioned are right: $500 at Value Resorts, $1000 at Moderates and $1500 at Deluxes. If you don't keep track of your spending, you may find that they charged your CC/debit card before you got a chance to make your payment. The charges can be reversed, but it takes time to put it through and more time for the CC/debit card bank to process. If you have GCs and cash, you can keep better track of your spending if you just use them at the point of purchase.

 

[ellochka]

It is 6 of 1, half a dozen of another if you can pay that promotional balance off in full by the end of the promo period. Keep in mind that the clock starts ticking on that promo rate on the very day that you make your payment. So if you were to pay your balance tomorrow (11/5/14), the last day of the promo rate will be 5/5/15, regardless of when your billing cycle ends. So, it will really be due to be paid off in full just a couple months after your vacation is over. Otherwise you will incur interest at the prevailing APR.

My first inclination would be to cancel the trip because I hate debt and wouldn't carry debt for a vacation. But everyone is different and I understand that. Knowing my POV, you can take the rest of my advice FWIW.

I would throw as much cash and GCs as I had on hand toward paying down the balance on the vacation. Assuming that you already put $200 down for the deposit, if you add your cash and GCs to the mix, that would knock a total of about $650 off of the initial cost of your package. The rest can go on the Disney GC at 0% interest for 6 months.

Then, I would ask anyone who normally gives me a gift for Christmas if they wouldn't mind giving me a Disney GC to be used during my trip. Those GCs could be used for paying for meals and souvenirs. I would also avoid using the Disney Visa for anything because it complicates keeping track of what you need to pay in order to meet the goal of being paid off by the end of the promo period.

If you want to make charges to your room, you will have to leave a CC or debit card on file. This is required even if your intention is to pay your charges off using GCs and cash. The limits that a PP mentioned are right: $500 at Value Resorts, $1000 at Moderates and $1500 at Deluxes. If you don't keep track of your spending, you may find that they charged your CC/debit card before you got a chance to make your payment. The charges can be reversed, but it takes time to put it through and more time for the CC/debit card bank to process. If you have GCs and cash, you can keep better track of your spending if you just use them at the point of purchase.

I agree. Going on vacation without any savings is probably not a good idea. Otherwise, it is always good to keep the credit card balance as low as possible.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I would throw as much cash and GCs as I had on hand toward paying down the balance on the vacation. Assuming that you already put $200 down for the deposit, if you add your cash and GCs to the mix, that would knock a total of about $650 off of the initial cost of your package. The rest can go on the Disney GC at 0% interest for 6 months.

I would have to agree with this!

 

[Forum Jumper]

I wouldn't tell someone they shouldn't take a vacation or trip because the opportunity had suddenly arisen to go but they hadn't saved up a year or two to go.

I have gift cards to take with us for our upcoming trip. But, the last time we used gift cards at WDW, we used them for meals and the card held back an amount for a few days....something to do with holding an amount for tips. I don't know if that practice has changed or not.

I think paying the gift cards toward the reservation and putting the rest on the Disney Visa sounds good and that is what we will be doing with our gift cards this trip.

 

[sop2sue]

The opportunity came about that my family was asked to join my sister and her family and our folk down there for a week… and thankfully, the folks are willing to reimburse some of the trip expenses, but want to wait until after the trip to know the GRAND TOTAL to ascertain how much they will give us to pay down the credit card. So the card for sure will be paid off by the 6 month period! No worries there!

 

[Marionnette]

The opportunity came about that my family was asked to join my sister and her family and our folk down there for a week… and thankfully, the folks are willing to reimburse some of the trip expenses, but want to wait until after the trip to know the GRAND TOTAL to ascertain how much they will give us to pay down the credit card. So the card for sure will be paid off by the 6 month period! No worries there!

Oh, I see...it's a gift trip. Then I guess it doesn't matter since someone else will end up paying for it in the long run. I thought that maybe you would come back and say that you planned to use your tax refund to pay it off before it was due. But this works just as good.

 

[marmalade]

If you use your gift cards to pay off some of the balance, what are you going to use for food/spending money? If you plan on using the credit card for purchases there, it make sense to pay off the entire balance using the Disney Visa so you can take advantage of the 0% 6mo. offer and use the gift cards for spending while there.