Have you paid off DVC?

[jstarcze]

Only in my dreams, but hopefully not too far in the future. I've had my loan for a year with a 5 year term, but I'm already itching to pay the thing off.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

We paid for our contract with money we inherited. I know my mom would be happy to have paid for such wondeful vacations.

 

[disfountainofyouth]

I sold company stock and paid cash for both of my contracts.

Since then, stock price has fallen, and sell price on BCV has increased.

I guess I need to add on again!

 

[dbs1228]

Paid our initial buy-in with savings, then addonitis set in before caving we explored another type of loan and got a LOC at 3.75% so we took the plunge. Hopefully within 2 years all will be paid!

 

[lulubelle]

I have two contracts. AKV I bought in 2008 and will make the last payment this month. I've worked hard to pay it off. My second one is GCV and at this point I don't know when I will have the extra cash to pay it off. I did put 30% down, so the payment is right at $100 per month (at 10.75%). I don't mind, though. We have no CC debt and I love my DVC!

 

[hlyntunstl]

I sold stock to purchase my first contract, paid cash for my second and sold the second/took a DVC loan for the third. I paid a lump sum after the purchase and will have it paid off in early 2012. I'll see how long I can hold off on another purchase but I won't even consider it until this one is paid off.

One note: If you pay a lump sum to DVC, your monthly payments don't change. It just means your loan is paid off sooner.

 

[HUFF590]

Paid off, but really wanting more.

 

[smcabee]

No still financing but only because the interest deduction puts us in a lower tax bracket. We actually save money by keeping the financing at least for another 2 years then the interest will not be significant enough, in which time I will pay it off.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We didn't buy DVC until we could pay cash for it up front. It didn't make any sense to us to pay interest on a "luxury" item like prepaid vacation accommodations. It's the reason it took us 5 years from the time we first heard of DVC until we bought in. I wanted it in 1992, but we didn't buy until 1997. SO glad I haven't been paying interest all those years!

 

[AnnaS]

We also paid cash for our contracts.

 

[n2mm]

Wow, that is a high interest rate. We bought our first contract (450 pts) in 2005 and did an equity loan at 4% for 5 years, so it's paid off now. Our other 2 contracts (160 BWV) and (100 BLT) were cash purchases with my Disney Visa card and earned reward points. I actually used my Disney Visa card to buy my first contract (3 transactions) and used the 350 rewards points to buy my AP that year.

 

[ccsmith312]

We paid cash for our contract this past summer. At 9% interest, I would most definitely pay that loan off if you can. If not, then you might want to look at refinancing with a better interest rate. We just refinanced our house loan to a 3.75% rate. Surely there is a better rate for DVC?

 

[nunzia]

I would pay it down or off. That interest rate is ridiculous, second only to CC, so unless you have other interest rates higher or you know of some magical way to make more than 10% on your investments, I'd pay that puppy off.
We've paid off all of ours (yea!) and am now debt free except for the house..but hustling to come up with cash for all the upcoming vacations...

 

[ssawka]

We didn't buy DVC until we could pay cash for it up front. It didn't make any sense to us to pay interest on a "luxury" item like prepaid vacation accommodations. It's the reason it took us 5 years from the time we first heard of DVC until we bought in. I wanted it in 1992, but we didn't buy until 1997. SO glad I haven't been paying interest all those years!

This philosophy of waiting until you can pay cash is not always the cheapest method. For example, we bought 275 BLT points after DVC's first webcast. We bought for $92 per point. Those same points are now selling for $112 per point. That's a 22% increase. The interest rate was 10.75%. When you factor in the tax deduction, the actual interest rate is about 7%-8%. We were able to pay off the loan in a year, had we not been able to then financing would have cost more, however by financing and paying off in a year, we actually saved about $3500.

 

[dizney4us]

We bought both of our contracts cash. If you have the money to pay it off, it's a great idea. Of course be sure you have some money left for emergencies too. Being debt free is quite wonderful, especially with everything going on right now!

 

[Nicoal13]

We paid cash for both of our contracts. DH would not have been on board if we had to finance.

Pay it off if you can, it's nice not to have another payment. Good luck!

 

[lugnut33]

We only have 170 points and we paid cash for both from the resale market.

 

[lugnut33]

This philosophy of waiting until you can pay cash is not always the cheapest method. For example, we bought 275 BLT points after DVC's first webcast. We bought for $92 per point. Those same points are now selling for $112 per point. That's a 22% increase. The interest rate was 10.75%. When you factor in the tax deduction, the actual interest rate is about 7%-8%. We were able to pay off the loan in a year, had we not been able to then financing would have cost more, however by financing and paying off in a year, we actually saved about $3500.

You could just purchase some resale contracts for between $96-$100 per point if you have the cash. ($92 was a good deal though, good buy)

 

[TLinden16]

I took a small loan when I bought my Grand Californian points last year. Payments started in February, and I've been paying a little extra each month to shorten the loan. The extra payments have already knocked a year off the loan. I'm hoping to have it completely paid within four years.

 

[TagsMissy]

We bought in Feb 09 and paid it off in March or April the same year...