Judique
Dis Veteran, Beach Lover at BWV, BCV, HHI, VB
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2003
@Judique - I think I remember correctly that you pay DVC dues with gift cards and you pay ahead (next year's dues before the statement posts). I have never paid ahead. I usually wrap up each year by October and then accumulate cards from Oct-Jan to apply to my DVC after my statement posts. This year, I finished paying this year's dues few months ago. I recently bought $150 in gc (discounted of course). I was going to wait until January to apply them to my account, but with all the gc fraud going on, I think it might be best to apply them to my DVC account now for 2025. What do I need to be aware of if I do this? Will I still have a payment due in January? Or will the payments move up like they do when I apply gift cards after my statement posts? Anything else I should be aware of? TIA!
With all the great deals on gift cards this year I finished paying really early (Dec or Jan) also. I now have a very small stash leftover so no big worries. It's under $200 leftover from my family trip in March. I'm fairly comfortable with that amount, especially since I've had them since at least February when I started collecting extra for the March trip.
However 2-3 years ago I did apply gift cards as early as October or November to my account. They came off the top and confused me greatly in how they were accounted for. I eventually figured out what I owed on each contract separately. But because of that, this year I waited until the statement posted before applying anything.
Gift card fraud is a low hanging cloud that bothers me significantly. For that reason I will hold off on collecting more cards until closer to statement issue time this year. If nothing else jumps up I know I can get 5% with my CIC at Staples. I've learned that I have a low risk tolerance for any kind of gift cards.
This won't stop me if I get good offers closer to November/December time frame, but, I'll probably pass if chances come in July/August/September time frame.
Going back to your question about payment due in January, if I remember correctly, yes, I did have a payment still due in January, but prorated over the remaining balance owed, unlike when the statement posts and it moves along monthly. I think that was the cause of my consternation because I'm meticulous about expenses and was expecting 'no' payment due for several months. Instead, I had the gift card investment and the payment all at once which lessened the breathing time between payments.
In any event I can't pass up gift cards but I do try to be extremely careful with them, keeping records and receipts.