Just Paid My Dues

[disney junky]

Ouch. It always stings a little bit.

 

[Meriweather]

Yep, it does.....just think of the price of your stay. That always makes it worth it

 

[Tinkerbell58]

Ouch. It always stings a little bit.

Especially right after the holidays.

 

[Micca]

It always stings a little bit.

Hence, the reason to sing the blues.

 

[DenLo]

Especially right after the holidays.

You could set up monthly payments instead. Then it won't come out all at once especially when the bills from the holidays are coming in.

 

[ScubaCat]

Redcard funded e-giftcards worked well for me this year. One of life's very small victories.

 

[loveswdw]

We've always done the monthly payment option. A little bit a month and I don't notice it nearly as much as I would if I had to plunk down almost $1000 at once. (We only have 150 points so that helps, too).

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I always use my FSA childcare account to pay the dues. I just request my refund at the end of the year and it more than covers my dues so I don’t mind so much. I will be a little sad once my son is too old for childcare and I need to consciously save the money to pay dues.

 

[Crusader10hky]

I always use my FSA childcare account to pay the dues. I just request my refund at the end of the year and it more than covers my dues so I don’t mind so much. I will be a little sad once my son is too old for childcare and I need to consciously save the money to pay dues.

Geez, it took me a minute and a re-read to get what you were saying here. At first I was trying to figure how you could spin DVC dues as an eligible childcare expense! How'd you get the kid's club to give you their tax ID!?

 

[frabjous]

Geez, it took me a minute and a re-read to get what you were saying here. At first I was trying to figure how you could spin DVC dues as an eligible childcare expense! How'd you get the kid's club to give you their tax ID!?

Lol I did the same double take.

 

[cvjw]

We prepay during the year, so it isn’t such a shock when the bill comes due after Christmas. I buy gift cards during the year and add them online. We pay dues on 800+ points, so it is a chunk of change to pay all at once.

 

[Sleepy425]

We normally do the monthly pay, but we added my parents to our deed so we had to pay the dues before that is final. Although it is nice to have it done (and with gift cards that were purchased for at least 5% off each), those gift cards were supposed to go towards our August trips to WDW. It doesn't really make a difference, either way we still spend the same money. Maybe we will luck out and there will be another good gift card deal before our August trip.

 

[Donna M]

The cost for 500 points was getting to be too big a bill right after Christmas so we signed up for the monthly deduction now. It won't hurt as much. It's a car payment that never ends!

 

[disney junky]

I'm too lazy to check. Is there a charge for spreading it out over the year?

 

[Ben E N]

I'm too lazy to check. Is there a charge for spreading it out over the year?

No, but it does automatically take the money from your account, so it makes it less likely for you to take advantage of savings methods such as buying giftcards from target at 5% off. So you can think of it as being at least a 5% extra fee when comparing your options.

 

[Disney mac]

No, but it does automatically take the money from your account, so it makes it less likely for you to take advantage of savings methods such as buying giftcards from target at 5% off. So you can think of it as being at least a 5% extra fee when comparing your options.

I have autopay turned on in case I forget, but...if you pay your monthly dues with a gift card before your autopay, then the autopay skips that month. It's a nice way to use your monthly money to buy a giftcard at a discount and then save the money on dues...

 

[deedubb]

But at least you get it over with, then when you book your vacation, it almost feels like you're staying for free!

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

I have autopay turned on in case I forget, but...if you pay your monthly dues with a gift card before your autopay, then the autopay skips that month. It's a nice way to use your monthly money to buy a giftcard at a discount and then save the money on dues...

This is kind of what I do. I have it set up for monthly payments, but I always go in and pay it before it comes out. I bought enough GCs in December at Kroger to cover the first three months of annual dues. I got 4x fuel points plus I used my Bank of America card and got 2% back. Hopefully Chase Freedom will offer the 5% cashback their second quarter and Kroger will have another 4x fuel points deal so that I can purchase the rest of the year's annual dues. I can then use those to pay off my balance. I have all the money saved already, but I can see how you could do it on a monthly basis if you wanted to spread it out over the year.

 

[Crusader10hky]

My understanding was that you had to use a US Bank checking account to do autopay monthly. Is that true?

 

[LisaS]

Is there a charge for spreading it out over the year?

No, but in exchange for allowing us to "pay as we go", the only payment option is direct debit from a US bank account. If you pay in advance (either in full in January or by making partial payments throughout the year), Disney accepts payments by gift card, rewards card, credit card, etc. and eats the processing fee.

ETA: After re-reading what I wrote above, it's completely confusing. Here's take two:

If you opt for monthly payments, you are paying as you go and there is no extra charge for doing so. However, Disney wants their money on time so the only payment option for those monthly payments is a direct debit from a US bank account.

If you don't sign up for monthly payments, you must pay in full no later than Feb 15. You are paying in advance in this case and in exchange for that, Disney accepts gift cards, Disney VISA reward dollars and credit cards, or you can mail in a check if you prefer.

With monthly payments, you also have the option to make additional payments towards your balance. These additional payments can be made with gift cards, reward dollars and credit cards. You can pay part or all of the remaining balance. This is a handy option if money is tight early in the year and you want to make the minimum payments initially and pay off some/all of the remaining balance later in the year and get credit card rewards or use discounted gift cards.