Financing through Disney

[brivers222]

Greetings~

This is my first post as I have been awaiting account activation.

My wife and I just got back from a Disney Trip (may2-11,2004) and were very interested in the DVC.

We didn't take the plunge at DisneyWorld because we wanted to view our financing options and Rates.

I have read over several posts (YOU ARE ALL VERY INSIGHTFUL) and for that I thank you) and I thought I would bounce some questions/thoughts off you.

First off let me get the basics down. We are looking to travel more in January, May, September-october when the crowds are lower. We looked into the 150pts at SSR and are VERY interested in it. It looks like we will have to finance $14,250 - Downpayment (10% or 20% we can afford right now).

We basically narrowed it down to three(3) financing options:

1) Disney - offers 10 years at a "reasonable" APR. Thus making lower per month payments but get hit hard with Interest rates in the long run

2) Personal Loan through Credit Union - Offers up to 3 years at slightly lower APR. Thus making almost double per month payments but the interest is considerably lower.

3) Home Equity Loan - We just bought our house last year (manufactured home) so I don't know if this is even an option anyways. Reading some posts, I learned more about Secure vs. Unsecured loans and we basically decided NO GO for the Home Equity loan. Anything can happen in the years to come and I don't want my "VACATION LOAN" to be the thing that causes a repo on my house.

Now onto my questions:

1) If you finance through Disney, are you able to pay off the loan early (ease of doing so and how?) and are you assesed an early termination fee if you do pay off early. I am looking at the Low Monthly payments to fall back on when the months money are tight, but I will make more payments and try my darnest to pay it off early so I don't get hit with the extra interest.

2) What is the best way to play your "Use Year" I understand what it is about but I am not quite sure I get the actual benefit of having a certain Use Year over another one Why would it be better to have any one certain month over the next as your Use year?

3) If I was to call Disney today to talk to a DVC person, how long does it until I could start using my points? Basically I have been reading a few posts where they were waiting up near 8 months to close? How long and how much does Closing take/cost if you go through disney directly?

4) When we book our trip with our points, how do we get the discounted UPH passes? If we have to get them at checkin, is there ever a chance they are sold out (mainly during peak seasons)?

I think that is all. I hope you don't feel I am wasting you time asking you to answer these questions as we are very serious about making SSR and Disney our new home away from home!

Thank you all very much in advance, I eagerly look forward to your replies

 

[SimbaCub]

brivers222,
I can answer a "couple" of your questions!! Yes, you can pay off your loan through DVC early and there is no--at least when I did this--penalty to do this. I have paid off all of mine early and they worked with me over the phone on the pay off so I would send the correct amount. The plus by financing through DVC is you can deduct the mortgage interest if you are able to do so on your taxes. Since you said you just purchased a home I am mentioning this as I too did this for last year.

As for use year, I can give you my situation as an example and maybe that will help you. I have a December use year so 1 December of each year I receive my points. I travel mostly in May and early December. This helps me out as I have to bank all of my unused points by 31 May for the year or risk losing them if I don't have any trips planned. Since I tend NOT to travel after May this works out so I know how to deal with my points.

I hope this helped!!

SimbaCub
BCV May 04

 

[LIFERBABE]

I can help with a few................

Yes you can pay Disney early and No there is no penalty.

As far as Use Year, choose one that will allow the most time to bank in case you have to cancel. What month would you prefer to visit?
Use year choice will be different for each member.

If you call DVC today they will most likely sell you a SSR building that will close in July or August 2004. You cannot stay on points until your bldg. closes. Once you pay your downpayment, you can book a ressie immediately as long as it happens after your closing date and you are in your booking windows.

You pay the current asking price per point to DVC and they pay the closing.

UPH you purchase at checkin when you are staying on points. They place the pass on your room key and I have never heard of them selling out. Matter of fact, they don't sell out. If the parks are too crowded, they will start limiting access to onsite guests only and then to all guests, but that normally happens at the MK only.

Hope this helps and Im sure you will receive very helpful info!

 

[cmrules]

I only have a few answers, but that is better than none right?

We purchased in March have a March use year, I don't know how this will affect us yet. I was immediately able to use my points. I purchased 150 points at SSR. I did not want to use disney financing because I was able to get a home equity loan at 4%, much lower than disney's rate. We have owned our home for almost 5 years though so we had the equity. The home equity loan was going to take about a month and I didn't want to wait that long because there was about to be a price increase so I put the whole thing on my credit card! I then paid of the credit card with the HEL before it came due so that I didn't incur any finance charges. The added benifit to doing it this way was that I used my Disney Visa and got 1% back in disney dollars!

UPH- These don't sell out, you get them at check in on your room key. HOWEVER, do some research prior to buying these. I have discovered that they aren't ness. the best deal. My hubby and I are going for more than 8 days out of 365 so and Annual Pass is the way to go for us. Also reguar park hoppers can be better than UPH because they never expire. If you end up not going to the park one day you can save that day for your next vacation. UPH are only good for length of stay. If you don't use the "plusses" like the water parks or pleasure island, tough.

hope this helped and didn't just confuse you more.