Newbie question about banking / use year

[magicband]

Hi all!

My family and I are relatively new owners at AKV, bought in 2018, had our first trip this year and loved it. As we're planning our future trips, we've really been trying to wrap our heads around banking and use year. I think I understand it, but want to make sure I have it right as we move forward in our plans.

Our use year is September. We have some points leftover from 2019 that we want to use for a trip in September 2020. So, would it be correct that we have to bank the points before we book the trip? I think this may be logical to most people, but for some reason my brain has a hard time wrapping itself around the concept

Thanks for your help! I always appreciate the wealth of knowledge that comes from this community.

 

[Sandisw]

Yes, you do need to bank before they can be used for that trip.

Easiest way for me to figure things out is to forget about calendar year, and focus on UY of the trip. Every trip can be booked using banked points from the UY prior to the trip, points from the UY of the trip, and borrow from the UY after the trip to finish the reservation.

Since your September 2020 trip is in your 2020 UY, you can use banked 2019, 2020, and borrow 2021 when booking at your 11 month window...or whenever you choose to book,

If you ever booked and realized you forgot to bank first, you can bank the points after...providing your still in the banking window...and then just go online, modify your reservation without changing anything, and at the end, it will pull the newly banked points.

 

[BillPA]

Yes, bank them prior to the cutoff of April 30th. Once banked the points can not be returned. If needed you can borrow points from your 2021 UY for a trip in the 2020 UY.

 

[magicband]

Thank y'all!