Thanks for the replies.. Just to clarify, I have no "concerns" with credit.. My credit is on the better side with scores of 760+.. I was merely inquiring on how
DVC made their decision if you were preferred, premier, or standard.. The reason being is that I was trying to do the math to ensure that even with adding the finance rate in we would still save money in the long run... We are only choosing the 10 year financing as a "safety net" should some unthinkable financial problem arise. Our plan from the beginning was to throw a large amount down in cash, somewhere where we are comfortable... When we saw the 220 point package with the price of $35,200 plus misc. closing/dues costs we came to a figure of around $36,600 total.. We figured we would drop $16,600 down (roughly 45%) and finance the remaining $20k through Disney direct... The reason for doing this was two fold.. First, we had heard that going direct through Disney was a lot simpler.. I have read that going third party lending you are required to go through a process similar to obtaining a mortgage vs Disney where they run a credit check and if your score is good and you have don't have anything horrible like bankruptcies then you are approved.. Also, at the current moment most time share lenders are in the same ballpark as Disney.. Second, and as I stated above, we figured financing would give us a "safety net".. We could drop make double, triple, quadruple, payments to the principle, however should some unexpected incident occur in the future where we could no longer pay, our payment would drop down to the base payment of roughly $250 (estimated).. Lastly, from what I have read on some of the forums, the interest paid on the loans direct through DVC qualify as tax deductions vs third party lending..
So yes.. Obviously if we had the entire amount I would drop it down immediately.. But the way we estimated the balance we figured we would have the 20k being financed paid off in under 4 years... And that is giving ourselves a relaxed repayment plan..
MsJprincess - Yes.. We have also considered buying at the Animal Kingdom.. We could comfortably get a 250 point package by going resale with Animal Kingdom.. We have stayed there in the past and love the atmosphere.. However the benefit of a monorail is huge to us.. With strollers and kids, the benefit of walking out of your room and hoping on a monorail to get to the park is a huge perk.. At other resorts you are folding up strollers to get on a bus while also lugging bags and whatnot.. Also, with the plan for more children it makes things a lot more difficult.. Now granted you could use those points from Animal Kingdom to stay on the monorail, however I suspect that with more and more people renting points you will soon find those rooms are all booked by the 7 month window.. That is another reason the 11 month window is a huge plus... As I mentioned in another thread, our travel plans normally have us in Disney for 1 week in May/June (end of May/beginning of june) where we normally stay at Beach Club, 4 nights in October (Usually 2nd to 3rd week of October) where we normally stay at Polynesian for the Halloween Party, and 4 nights in December (Always the first week) where we also normally stay at Polynesian for the Christmas party.. The October and December trips would have me worried if I buy into the Animal Kingdom as there is no guarantee of getting a room at Polynesian or any monorail resort, once the 7 month window approaches.. Don't get me wrong, it won't cancel our plans if we have to stay at the Animal Kingdom..