Help Understanding Points Please!

[DisneycrazedX6]

Hi!! We have 160 points with a use year of April. Last year when we visited we used all of our points plus borrowed another 80 from this year. We are planning on going in October 06 and plan on using our 80 plus we will need another 80 or so. I know I can book 11 months out for my home resort and 7 for another so my question is: Can I book in March or do I have to wait until April for my points to come in????? We never seem to have enough points so is it better to borrow from ourselves or rent from another? We plan on going every year so we probably won't be banking very often. Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Maribel]

Hi. You can book at your 11th or 7th month window even if the use year has not started yet, so yes you can book in march using your april use year points for 2006.
On the subject of using your points or renting from another, I would most certainly first use all of my available points (banked, current and borrowed) that I want to use. If the situation comes that I want to make another trip but don't have the points, then I will consider renting. If this is your situation every single year, then consider buying more points.

 

[Blackunicorn]

I sense an add-on soon.

You can make the reservation at a DVC resort as long as it's for a stay after the points would become available. You don't have to wait for the points to actually be available.

Renting points is okay, but if you're going to be doing it every year, you have to ask yourself if it might not be better to own the extra points, instead.

 

[LisaS]

Can I book in March or do I have to wait until April for my points to come in?????

All of your points for all of your use years are already in your account. Each of those points has a start date and end date associated with it, for example:

Your 2005 points can be used for stays from Apr 1, 2005 - Mar 31, 2006
Your 2006 points can be used for stays from Apr 1, 2006 - Mar 31, 2007
Your 2007 points can be used for stays from Apr 1, 2007 - Mar 31, 2008
Your 2008 points can be used for stays from Apr 1, 2008 - Mar 31, 2009
...etc...
Of course you can also move points ahead one year or back one year by borrowing or banking.

You want to make a reservation for Oct '06. You're planning to make the reservation in March so I assume you are booking a resort other than your home resort and have to wait for the 7 month window. At the time you make the reservation, you can borrow the other 80 points you need from your 2007 use year into your 2006 use year to get all 160 points that you need. No need to wait until April for the points to "come in" because they are already there. You just need to change their "start date" by borrowing them into your 2006 use year.

Hope this helps!