Hypothetical use of points

[bravo2zero]

If going direct, why wouldn’t you just get a March UY? Bank 2024 into 2025, use 2025, borrow whatever 2026 you need and leave the rest. If the trip gets postponed, no risk of stranded points.

But then you're out the 2026 points (which it seems the intent is to use all of them). If you get April or later, you could do it entirely on 2023-2025 points depending on when you purchase direct. This would just maximize the full potential value of points, though it is not without its risks admittedly.

 

[AstroBlasters]

But then you're out the 2026 points (which it seems the intent is to use all of them). If you get April or later, you could do it entirely on 2023-2025 points depending on when you purchase direct. This would just maximize the full potential value of points, though it is not without its risks admittedly.

April 2023 normally expire in March 2024 and you bank them to expire in March of 2025.

April 2024 expire in March of 2025.

April 2025 is borrowed to use in March 2025.

So you are buying a whole year earlier. Probably at a lower PPP, paying an extra year of dues, and then hoping that the trip doesn’t have to get postponed past March 2025 or you could conceivably lose 3 UY’s of points (because borrowed 2025 points can’t be unborrowed). Yikes! Very risk indeed.

Could you just buy a March 2023 UY, rent the points out, and then use the cash from that rental to offset the borrowed 2026 UY points into 2025 without having all of the risk? Seems like a safer play.

 

[bravo2zero]

I agree with the very risky, although that's why I said June originally for that reason That said, I've personally worked through more than 20 such trips like this without ever seeing one postponed, so I put far less weight on that than others. I provided the option I did because it maximizes all of the potential points over the life of the contract, so if the OP is confident to a great extent nothing will happen to cancel the March 2025 trip, I prefer this option.

I do agree that buying that year earlier will probably be at a lower PPP, but does come with the extra year of dues (but also an extra year of points relative to some other options). I think with renting the points and paying the upfront dues, you would still come out considerably behind, relatively, if you were using that money to try and offset lost 2026 points to help for the 2027 trip, but I'm not doing that math right now.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I agree with the very risky, although that's why I said June originally for that reason That said, I've personally worked through more than 20 such trips like this without ever seeing one postponed, so I put far less weight on that than others. I provided the option I did because it maximizes all of the potential points over the life of the contract, so if the OP is confident to a great extent nothing will happen to cancel the March 2025 trip, I prefer this option.

I do agree that buying that year earlier will probably be at a lower PPP, but does come with the extra year of dues (but also an extra year of points relative to some other options). I think with renting the points and paying the upfront dues, you would still come out considerably behind, relatively, if you were using that money to try and offset lost 2026 points to help for the 2027 trip, but I'm not doing that math right now.

I respect the aggressive strategy from a tenured DVCer. To risky for me, but I respect it.

 

[Sandisw]

I agree with the very risky, although that's why I said June originally for that reason That said, I've personally worked through more than 20 such trips like this without ever seeing one postponed, so I put far less weight on that than others. I provided the option I did because it maximizes all of the potential points over the life of the contract, so if the OP is confident to a great extent nothing will happen to cancel the March 2025 trip, I prefer this option.

I do agree that buying that year earlier will probably be at a lower PPP, but does come with the extra year of dues (but also an extra year of points relative to some other options). I think with renting the points and paying the upfront dues, you would still come out considerably behind, relatively, if you were using that money to try and offset lost 2026 points to help for the 2027 trip, but I'm not doing that math right now.

There were a lot of owners who got stuck with lost points when Disney closed because they never thought about something forcing a cancel like that.

While rare, it still is a risk…I personally would never go with a UY thst always had me traveling at the end consistently if I had the ability to be more strategic when buying.

 

[DVCRookie2023]

There were a lot of owners who got stuck with lost points when Disney closed because they never thought about something forcing a cancel like that.

While rare, it still is a risk…I personally would never go with a UY thst always had me traveling at the end consistently if I had the ability to be more strategic when buying.

Thank you both for that discussion. Very helpful indeed. I like to think of myself pretty good with numbers and such but these scenarios have my head spinning.

I am looking to buy direct. The CM I am working with said he would be able to get me a February 2023 contract/UY as long as I bought by Sept 30th. He is telling me that if I do this I can bank those and still somehow get three years worth of points for the March ‘25 trip. How am I not seeing it??

Bank march ‘23 points into feb ‘24 UY?
Borrow from ‘25 UY?

Is that correct? Since the trip actually falls in the Feb 24 UY I will be effectively be using points from each of the adjacent UYs? I think I got it?!

Let me know if this seems correct.

Added: I like the June UY idea and may consider that but if my above scenario is correct, wouldn’t that be the best option?

Thanks!

Edit: we’ll now that I reread what I wrote, it doesn’t make sense because the trip is NOT in the Feb 24 UY (it’s in the Feb 25 UY). Maybe I am not understanding the CM correctly or he’s just trying to get me to sign up earlier?

 

[CarolynFH]

Thank you both for that discussion. Very helpful indeed. I like to think of myself pretty good with numbers and such but these scenarios have my head spinning.

I am looking to buy direct. The CM I am working with said he would be able to get me a February 2023 contract/UY as long as I bought by Sept 30th. He is telling me that if I do this I can bank those and still somehow get three years worth of points for the March ‘25 trip. How am I not seeing it??

Bank march ‘23 points into feb ‘24 UY?
Borrow from ‘25 UY?

Is that correct? Since the trip actually falls in the Feb 24 UY I will be effectively be using points from each of the adjacent UYs? I think I got it?!

Let me know if this seems correct.

Added: I like the June UY idea and may consider that but if my above scenario is correct, wouldn’t that be the best option?

Thanks!

Edit: we’ll now that I reread what I wrote, it doesn’t make sense because the trip is NOT in the Feb 24 UY (it’s in the Feb 25 UY). Maybe I am not understanding the CM correctly or he’s just trying to get me to sign up earlier?

If you have a March UY, those points are good from March 1 through February 28 (29) each year.

A trip in March 2025 does fall into your 2025 UY. So you could bank points from your 2024 UY and use those, use the 2025 UY points, and borrow however many more you need, up to your max, from 2026.

If you buy between now and February 29, 2024, you will get 2023 points at that time, then on March 1, 2024 you will get 2024 points. If your trip isn't until March 2025, you'll have to do something with the 2023 points - take a trip, rent them out, transfer them out.

In any case, a March 2025 trip can be booked 11 months from checkin date, so in April 2024.

This thread might be useful to you: https://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-use-year-updated-february-10-2021.1942668/

 

[AstroBlasters]

Thank you both for that discussion. Very helpful indeed. I like to think of myself pretty good with numbers and such but these scenarios have my head spinning.

I am looking to buy direct. The CM I am working with said he would be able to get me a February 2023 contract/UY as long as I bought by Sept 30th. He is telling me that if I do this I can bank those and still somehow get three years worth of points for the March ‘25 trip. How am I not seeing it??

Bank march ‘23 points into feb ‘24 UY?
Borrow from ‘25 UY?

Is that correct? Since the trip actually falls in the Feb 24 UY I will be effectively be using points from each of the adjacent UYs? I think I got it?!

Let me know if this seems correct.

Added: I like the June UY idea and may consider that but if my above scenario is correct, wouldn’t that be the best option?

Thanks!

Edit: we’ll now that I reread what I wrote, it doesn’t make sense because the trip is NOT in the Feb 24 UY (it’s in the Feb 25 UY). Maybe I am not understanding the CM correctly or he’s just trying to get me to sign up earlier?

Feb 23 would expire in Jan 24 or be banked with an expiration of Jan 25. No dice for a March 2025 trip.

Feb 24,25,and 26 could be used for the March 2025 trip.

You could always rent out the 2023 points through the board sponsor or the rent/transfer thread.

Rule of Thumb: You want to travel early in your UY. If you are going to frequently travel in March then I would not buy a UY after March because there is a high risk you could have points put into holding and ultimately expire worthless.

 

[DVCRookie2023]

If you have a March UY, those points are good from March 1 through February 28 (29) each year.

A trip in March 2025 does fall into your 2025 UY. So you could bank points from your 2024 UY and use those, use the 2025 UY points, and borrow however many more you need, up to your max, from 2026.

If you buy between now and February 29, 2024, you will get 2023 points at that time, then on March 1, 2024 you will get 2024 points. If your trip isn't until March 2025, you'll have to do something with the 2023 points - take a trip, rent them out, transfer them out.

In any case, a March 2025 trip can be booked 11 months from checkin date, so in April 2024.

This thread might be useful to you: https://www.disboards.com/threads/understanding-use-year-updated-february-10-2021.1942668/

Thank you. This is how I’m understanding it.

The CM I am working with is either misunderstanding my request or giving me bad info (I am certain it is the former as he understands this better than me).

Basically if my first trip using DVC is not planned until March 25 then it doesn’t really behoove me to become a member before 24.

 

[DVCRookie2023]

Feb 23 would expire in Jan 24 or be banked with an expiration of Jan 25. No dice for a March 2025 trip.

Feb 24,25,and 26 could be used for the March 2025 trip.

You could always rent out the 2023 points through the board sponsor or the rent/transfer thread.

Rule of Thumb: You want to travel early in your UY. If you are going to frequently travel in March then I would not buy a UY after March because there is a high risk you could have points put into holding and ultimately expire worthless.

Thank you. This is exactly the clarification I need. It seems as though this is good to remember:

If one wants to use three years of points one will need to use the points in the UY of the trip combined with the two adjacent UYs. So if trip is in ‘25 you’ll need to use those points + the points in ‘24 and ‘26.

 

[lilsonicfan]

The pro-rating of dues makes it a bit more complicated to think about, but okay if you sign on Sept 1, 2023, and DVC prorates your dues so that you only owe 4 months worth, not 12 months worth, of 2023 dues, theoretically you could come out ahead or at least break even if you rented out your Feb 2023 points. That being said, they would have to be used by Jan 31, 2024 or banked by Sept 30, 2023 (fairly tight timeline). You could also potentially bank them right away but still rent them out for the Feb 2024 UY. Then you could bank your own Feb 2024 UY points into 2025, making them available for your March 2025 trip.

The advantage, I suppose, is that you buy in now at today's rates, instead of a potential rate increase... could maybe take a short trip even before March 2025.... use some of those sweet sweet blue card perks... or rent and cover most of your 2023 dues which would be pro-rated anyway.

 

[DVCRookie2023]

The pro-rating of dues makes it a bit more complicated to think about, but okay if you sign on Sept 1, 2023, and DVC prorates your dues so that you only owe 4 months worth, not 12 months worth, of 2023 dues, theoretically you could come out ahead or at least break even if you rented out your Feb 2023 points. That being said, they would have to be used by Jan 31, 2024 or banked by Sept 30, 2023 (fairly tight timeline). You could also potentially bank them right away but still rent them out for the Feb 2024 UY. Then you could bank your own Feb 2024 UY points into 2025, making them available for your March 2025 trip.

The advantage, I suppose, is that you buy in now at today's rates, instead of a potential rate increase... could maybe take a short trip even before March 2025.... use some of those sweet sweet blue card perks... or rent and cover most of your 2023 dues which would be pro-rated anyway.

Yes the more I think about it the more I want to kind of lock in the point price now + there are some incentives running that are helpful for the home resort we want.

Figure we could try a trip to HHI with the 23 points and then go ahead with they original booking plan for March 25. Cool!

 

[lilsonicfan]

Yes the more I think about it the more I want to kind of lock in the point price now + there are some incentives running that are helpful for the home resort we want.

Figure we could try a trip to HHI with the 23 points and then go ahead with they original booking plan for March 25. Cool!

See? The CM DID know what he was talking about

 

[DVCRookie2023]

See? The CM DID know what he was talking about

Yes he did!

How do I have addonitis before even becoming a member?!

 

[AstroBlasters]

Yes the more I think about it the more I want to kind of lock in the point price now + there are some incentives running that are helpful for the home resort we want.

Figure we could try a trip to HHI with the 23 points and then go ahead with they original booking plan for March 25. Cool!

Points are fun! Enjoy!