Is this a change to paying dues with gift cards?

[Sandisw]

I think it depends on your cash flow. March, June, and December are larger cash flow mo the based on bonus and stock vestings…. so pushing out payments on all contracts can be beneficial.

I build in the full monthly payment amounts into my budget so that isn’t an issue for me.

I do get a big influx during the summer months when I teach my two only graduate courses. So that is when I start to oay one contract in full each month so that I am paid in full by November!

 

[Apiary]

Has anyone paid their dues with a GC yet? I do not see it as an option on the payment screen.

 

[Skywalker3]

Over the last few days, I've paid online with gift cards, no issues. So far, about 10 transactions. I am about 2/3s done.....still on the lookout for good deals, but if nothing else, will at least get some Target ones, and then be done before Jan 15.
Also, never had monthly payments set up, and never considered monthly payments, and don't have an interest in that option. If we buy gift cards through the year, they get saved until Dec. to pay dues.

 

[juliebee]

Has anyone paid their dues with a GC yet? I do not see it as an option on the payment screen.

Yes, go to My Annual Dues, Pay Balance (don't worry, you don't have to pay in full when you click that), then select amount to pay. Select either Pay Balance or Pay by Contract. Pay by Contract allows you to make a partial payment even if you only have one contract. Type in $ amount under Pay by Contract. Then select Payment Method drop down and Add New Card. Type in your gift card info.

Just did it last night and it posted immediately.

 

[CarolynFH]

Yes, go to My Annual Dues, Pay Balance (don't worry, you don't have to pay in full when you click that), then select amount to pay. Select either Pay Balance or Pay by Contract. Pay by Contract allows you to make a partial payment even if you only have one contract. Type in $ amount under Pay by Contract. Then select Payment Method drop down and Add New Card. Type in your gift card info.

Just did it last night and it posted immediately.

Exactly, and if you have more than one GC to apply, you just have to start over and go through the process from the beginning for each GC.

And you can apply funds from one GC to more than one contract at one time. For example, I have two contracts, and the dues were +/- $1400 on each. So I paid $1,000 from GC #1 onto Contract A, leaving a balance of $400 on that contract. But I also had Contract B that needed $1400 to be paid off. So I went through the process a second time and applied $400 from GC #2 to Contract A and $600 to Contract B. Then I went through the process a third time and applied $800 from GC#3 to Contract B, and I was finally finished.

 

[trenty]

For those who prepay dues: Should I wait until after Jan 15/Feb 15 to start 2026?
I don't like to prepay anything, but with the recent changes, I might apply GCs as I obtain them. I only have one contract, so it shouldn't be complicated-right?

 

[Sandisw]

For those who prepay dues: Should I wait until after Jan 15/Feb 15 to start 2026?
I don't like to prepay anything, but with the recent changes, I might apply GCs as I obtain them. I only have one contract, so it shouldn't be complicated-right?

It shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[SkampyOne]

Has anyone paid their dues with a GC yet? I do not see it as an option on the payment screen.

Yup, and in addition to what everyone else has posted, if you're using an old GC for which you don't know the balance, they will confirm that as part of the process, as well as provide you with the balance on the last card you use if it doesn't get fully used paying dues. Easy peasy!

 

[kristenrice]

I know it might not benefit some people, but here's what I do...

I have $75 direct-deposited from each of my paychecks into an online money-market account (currently earning 3.75% interest). Then, around October, I start watching for gift card deals that will save me at least 10% and I use the funds in the account to purchase them. If I have not accumulated enough by December (when the estimated dues are released), then I default to saving just 5% at Target. When the dues are posted and payable on the website, I can use my gift cards to pay them in full.

Some of my sources for the higher "savings" are mPerks (from Meijer), Sam's Club and Best Buy. Last year, Meijer had an mPerks deal that earned 15% (max of $500) so that was nice. I only own 150 points (100 AKV, 50 HHI) so my dues are not exhorbitant. I have just found that paying myself monthly works out better than paying Disney monthly, but this only works if you have the full amount available in January so that you can start your savings at the beginning of the year.

 

[twinklebug]

This is my 1st year paying dues. I didn’t realize it shut down and didn’t allow payment for a period of time. Glad I was too spooked by the change and decided to prepay when I did. Seems like for future as long as there is no autopay we can use multiple GC. At least we will all know and can plan ahead.

After this recent change, I don't trust them to keep the option to pay by gift card at all in upcoming years.

 

[trenty]

After this recent change, I don't trust them to keep the option to pay by gift card at all in upcoming years.

Me too. If I buy any GCs for 2026 I plan to apply them immediately even though I hate prepaying anything.

 

[kristenrice]

I would sincerely hope that DVC gives notice if they will no longer accept gift cards for payment. I know that it is just a small percentage of the ownership that uses gift cards, but for those that do, it's a lot of funds to have tied up in gift cards, pnly to have them "declined". I know that for me, I would find it difficult to come up with the "cash" on short notice if I had already planned on paying with gift cards.

 

[Sandisw]

After this recent change, I don't trust them to keep the option to pay by gift card at all in upcoming years.

That is certainly not what I was told when I discussed it with them at the meeting. They simply are enforcing the rules of monthly payments because having partial payments during the year was causing accounting issues.

But, I get why those who use gift cards might be concerned.

 

[elgerber]

I haven’t paid enough attention to this yet. I pay with gift cards once a year.
If I turn off auto pay now, do I have until the mid February date to pay in full safely? Although I have three rooms booked on Jan 25 so that seems risky.
If I leave auto pay and let it take the first pay on 1/15, can I unenroll in February and pay the rest in full at that time?

 

[Sandisw]

I haven’t paid enough attention to this yet. I pay with gift cards once a year.
If I turn off auto pay now, do I have until the mid February date to pay in full safely? Although I have three rooms booked on Jan 25 so that seems risky.
If I leave auto pay and let it take the first pay on 1/15, can I unenroll in February and pay the rest in full at that time?

Yes…as long as you pay in full by Feb 15th, you can use the gift cards once auto pay is turned off

After Feb 15th, you could still pay balance in full with a gift card by turning off autopay.

But we have inconsistent information about it. Some have been told that the gift card would need to be large enough to cover the full balance. Others have been told multiple ones will still work.

We wont know for sure until after that date and someone tries it!

 

[elgerber]

Yes…as long as you pay in full by Feb 15th, you can use the gift cards once auto pay is turned off

After Feb 15th, you could still pay balance in full with a gift card by turning off autopay.

But we have inconsistent information about it. Some have been told that the gift card would need to be large enough to cover the full balance. Others have been told multiple ones will still work.

We wont know for sure until after that date and someone tries it!

I will pay in full but don’t think I will have all the gift cards by 1/15 which is when it says my first autopay will be taken. I usually do them in full by the 1st of the year so I am behind the game this year.

 

[eticketplease]

I will pay in full but don’t think I will have all the gift cards by 1/15 which is when it says my first autopay will be taken. I usually do them in full by the 1st of the year so I am behind the game this year.

Since your monthly payment won’t adjust I would dump all of your GC towards one contract and once that is paid off go after the second and third and so on.

Once GC are depleted then turn on auto pay for the remaining contracts.

This way you will have a smaller amount coming out of the bank on 1/15 and you can gather more GC to pay the rest off.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I had auto pay setup on my account.

I wanted to pay off 1st month payment which is due on the 15th of January. I therefore cancelled autopay and paid an amount equal to 1 month payment on each contract.

Afterwards I re-enrolled into auto pay.

Now by the 15th of January my entire amount due will be paid and not just 1 month payment.

I thought I might had selected the annual option instead of monthly so I cancelled and reenrolled again - same issue.

Tried enrolling only 1 contract after cancelling all - same issue that the entire amount due on that membership will be paid, even if the other contracts which also has an amount owed was not selected and excluded from autopay.

It’s obviously an error - just wanted to give an heads up before anyone else tries to cancel, pay and reenrolling - as there currently is an error.

I will call later today when they open to have it fixed.

ETA: I’ve tried again to cancel and re-enroll and now the amount and date is correct.

 

[mk717]

I had enough gift cards to pay ~3/4 of my dues now. I had to turn off autopay, used the gift cards, and then turned autopay back on. Autopay is now showing my next dues payment is 8/15/25, which is what I expected to happen and gives me more time to acquire GCs to pay off the remaining balance.

 

[Cyberc1978]

I had enough gift cards to pay ~3/4 of my dues now. I had to turn off autopay, used the gift cards, and then turned autopay back on. Autopay is now showing my next dues payment is 8/15/25, which is what I expected to happen and gives me more time to acquire GCs to pay off the remaining balance.

Mine are now showing correct date and amount. Just cancelled (again) and reenrolled(again)

Must have been a glitch in Disney IT (that’s a first )