Maintenance fees question

[DisneyCarla]

I have a question about maintenance fees. We are new members, we bought 170 points at SSR and closed on March 21st . We got a maintenance fees statement yesterday in the mail. The monthly amount we are being charged is not what I expected, even paying a prorated about from closing it doesn't figure right. Aren't mainteance fees for SSR $4.12 a point??

What I figured:
170 points X 4.12= $700.40 per year.

We are paying from April -December 9 months so it would be $525.30 total over 8 months for a total of $65.66 per month. And I confirmed with MS that we owe 9 months worth of fees over 8 months so it's not that they added on Jan- March.


The statement says we will be paying $72.25 a month. I just called member services and they told me exactly what the statements reflects. The statement talks about operating expenses and taxes making no mention of $4.12 a point. MS said they have NO IDEA what I am talking about! How can that be?? The guy told me to call my guide even though the letter says to call MS with questions. He said "well if you were promised sometyhing by your guide..." I wasn't promised something by my guide I was given a PRE-PRINTED DVC chart telling me what the amount would be! Am I crazy or should the accounting department in member services be aware of maintenance fees? The guy acted like he had never heard of being charged per point!

The difference between what I figured and the amount we are being chraged is $8 a month- not a big deal. My issue is that I would like to know what I'm being charged and what to expect if the MF per point is a myth I would like to know it.

Does anyone understand this stuff??
Thanks!
Carla

 

[DBorges]

Fyi

I have a small contract BCV 100 points and the fee is 4.48$ per point so

If you paying more for a newer resort that may be I would call your guide

 

[drusba]

It is $4.12 a point at SSR (and there are no extras to be added). Thus not clear what they are doing. Possible you may have gotten so misinformation on when your dues start as I thought for someone who closes in March on an existing resort, and thus purchases before the March closing, is chargeable for dues from date of contract, i.e., you would be responsible for March. But I am not clear if that is still the process.

 

[LisaS]

My understanding on pro-rating of the dues is that the dues start from the day you have use of the points. If you could use the points prior to closing, then the dues are owed starting from that date. And the dues are based on the number of days left in the year, not the number of whole months.

You are going to make 8 payments of $72.25, for a total of $578. Divide 578 by 700.40 (dues for a full year) and that amount covers 0.825... of a full year. Multiply that by 365 days and you get 301 days, so Disney believes you owe 301 days worth of dues for 2007. That works out to a start date of March 6th (+/-).

So my question is: when did you purchase your contract and when did you have use of the points?

 

[Chuck S]

You closed on March 21, but I assume you purchased earlier in the month?

So you would owe from the actual contract date. 700.40/12*10=583.66


If that $583.66 is divided by 8 months of payments, you come up to $72.93. The slightly less per month could be because of your actual purchase date being a few days after March 1.

 

[Jeremy&Susan]

If you pay dues monthly via credit card billing you directly or as part of your purchase payment plan, you get charged interest or a service fee on the dues.

To make sure you do not get charged the interest or service fee you need to pay it all up front or have your fees directly debitted from your savings or checking.

 

[Chuck S]

If you pay dues monthly via credit card billing you directly or as part of your purchase payment plan, you get charged interest or a service fee on the dues.

To make sure you do not get charged the interest or service fee you need to pay it all up front or have your fees directly debitted from your savings or checking.

I didn't think Disney would bill dues monthly to a credit card, at least not for folks living in the US...I thought it was one big payment or monthly account debit.

 

[drusba]

DVC, as far as I am aware, does not have a system for paying dues monthly by credit card. If you do monthly, you must set it up as an automatic withdrawal from your bank account and there is no interest or service fee charge for doing it monthly; over the 12 month period you pay exactly the same total amount in installments that you would pay if you paid your total annual dues up front at the beginning of the year.

 

[Jeremy&Susan]

The monthly payment via bill or credit card is if you are financing the purchase, having your dues tacked onto the financing and having those payments billed monthly.

I don't know this person's situation.

 

[Caskbill]

Dues don't start from the closing date, but rather earlier as points are actually available. When you purchase direct from Disney, points are available the day of purchase.

We just purchased SSR also, and have the same piece of paper you have showing dues. For 170 points it says $58.37/month.

You calculated 9 months paid out over 8 months time. But that appears to be from your closing date. If it were actually 10 months it would be $583.70 which paid out over 8 months would be $72.96/month.

Yours is actually slightly lower at $72.25/month. Thus working backwards, that comes out to 9.9 months paid out over 8 months.

9.9 months works out to be about 2.1 months into the calendar year, which would be approximately March 4th, 2007, meaning dues started on approximately March 5th, 2007. Does that date (or LisaS' date of March 6th, 2007) mean anything to you?

Any chance that's the date you actually purchased?

Here's our case:
We purchased 70 points on Jan 15th. Closing was Feb 7th.

70 points is $24.03/month. But our payments for 2007 are $27.67/month, which began March 15th.

Purchasing on Jan 15th means we had to pay dues for 11-1/2 months. At $24.03/month that's $276.37, which, if paid for over 10 months is $27.64/month. Very close to DVC's actual. The difference is probably due to rounding errors.

That's why I think you're paying dues from the date you purchased (or the next day), and not from your closing date.
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Next year dues will be paid in equal installments over 12 months. So in your case for 170 points, if maintenance fees remain at $4.12/point your dues will be $58.37/month. Let's say dues go up by about 3%. Then next year your dues would be about $60.12/month.

Hope this helps

 

[DisneyCarla]

Wow - You guys are good!

I think Lisa has it exactly right- I looked at the statement again and noticed- (I missd this last night ) it says 301 days prorated. I was thinking playing with the numbers that it was close to the 10 months worth of dues. So I guess the MS guy was wrong saying we started paying dues in April.

To answer your questions we bought in February and sent the paperwork back early March. I believe when I called with questions on the paperwork they told me that I could book then even though I hadn't sent it back yet so I guess we are being charged from when we had use of the points.

Thanks for your help figuring this out. I knew you would know--you are certainly more knowledgable than MS. Next time I will skip calling them and just come here.

 

[LisaS]

So I guess the MS guy was wrong saying we started paying dues in April.

Maybe he meant you would begin making payments in April or would be billed in April. That is what I think confuses people. The dues begin accumulating when you get the points but you don't get the bill until you close which is many weeks later. So you start paying in April but the meter has been running since March 6th!

 

[Teyedoubleguhrrrr]

I also know that when we were examining our closing documents, I came up with a 45 cent difference. In questioning it, I was told that the factor for the points is actually 4.123 according to the estoppel from Disney. While that wouldn't account for $8 - it does make a difference.

 

[cobbler]

Monthly dues can't be paid via credit card no matter what. Dues can be paid in one lump sum via credit card at the beginning of the year. Monthly payments have to be auto deducted out of your checking/savings account.