Paying for DVC

[taaren]

I agree w above posters that said save to buy a small resale contract then add-on if you can afford it later. That being said, my tip: your tax refund. That has historically been our 'vacation money' along w Xmas and Bday presents, so we saved 3 years worth and took the plunge (keeping it in CDs along the way back wen cd rates were at 5% or better). Good luck!

 

[BSil]

Another thing that you can try (as long as you don't overspend), is to pay for all your regular purchases (gas, groceries, bills etc.) on some sort of a rewards card. For example Discover gives cash back, and often runs promotions where you get more back for using it at drugstores, food stores etc. You just have to be cautious that you keep track of your spending, and don't spend the money you usually use to pay those normal monthly bills. Some people have suggested keeping all your receipts, and making an online payment every few purchases to make sure they are never carrying a balance. This certainly isn't as good as saving as much as you can each month, but if you have to spend the money anyway, it doesn't hurt to get a little something back.

In addition to this, take a good hard look around your house, and see if there are some luxuries that you don't HAVE to have. For example, can you cut out some premium channels from TV? Does the heat have to be set high, or can you toss on a sweatshirt and still be comfortable? Can you live without unlimited texts/emails on your phone, and drop to a more basic plan? Can you cook a little bit bigger meal, and have leftovers from it? You know, all the Uncle Scrooge type things, that you don't want to bother with, but that actually save you a couple bucks. One big thing I have cut out, is stopping by the local coffee shop each morning. I picked up a cheapy coffee maker, and make it at work. It is amazing how easily we'll part with 2 or 3 bucks a day, and not realize how much it is costing until we look at the end of the month. Truth be told the coffee savings alone will save your close to the amount needed to finance a $7,000 contract for 10 years.

 

[franterk]

We purchased directly this January. At the time Disney was offering 11% interest when financing. We felt this was entirely too high a rate to finance. The amount you would pay over the life of the financing contract would be way more than if you had paid cash. Plus any illusion of a financial advantage DVC has over paying out of pocket (for us) would have been blown away with the finance charges.

We were willing to either put off the purchase (and continue our annual week in a value or moderate resort during the value season) or pay cash only for the number of points we could afford at that moment. We ended up getting a small contract, which should be fine for a few years. We have already stated talking about adding on, but again only if we have the cash on hand.

As someone suggested earlier, we did use cash back from our credit card to pay for the dues this year. We put almost everything on tht card, but zero it out every pay day.

 

[murmkc]

I first looked into DVC in 2000 - did not buy until 2009.

Just save up and wait until the timing is right!

 

[jlovesee]

You don't have to have $10,000+ laying around cash or have to go into debt to buy DVC. I certainly don't atleast. We originally took the tour back in 2004 that was when Saratoga was just starting to be sold but hadn't opened yet, so our tour was at BWV. I still think if they had tried to sell us something besides SSR that we probably would have bought then, but SSR did not hold any interest to us then or now. Over the next three years I tried to figure out several different ways to afford DVC.

Finally, thanks to these boards we found out about resale and that we could become members with only 25 points. We could easily save $2500, and buy in. That's what we did. Since then we have added on twice for a total of 100 points. We are saving up to add on again hopefully late this summer sometime.

The way I look at it though is that we have had four vacations now that have been atleast partially DVC, I have stayed in rooms I would have never thought we would be able to afford, or could afford if we had to pay cash rates. (BLT MK view studio, BWV 1 bedroom, etc). The way I look at it, I pay value prices, and get a deluxe room. I have loved every moment of it, its been worth every single penny, and I love the fact that I have no debt to disney for it.

Jennifer

 

[sissy_ib]

I financed last year. While I love my DVC I wish I had put more than the 10% down. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to save the equivalent of the monthly payments for a year and put that down instead. If and when I add on it will be via re-sale and I will pay in cash.

 

[bumbershoot]

I financed last year. While I love my DVC I wish I had put more than the 10% down. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to save the equivalent of the monthly payments for a year and put that down instead. If and when I add on it will be via re-sale and I will pay in cash.

Just in case you don't know, you can put extra towards it every month.

 

[homedad]

bought a small contract with cash, which allowed us to not lay out a ton of cash and two we have enough point for only every othe year visit so we can go other places besides disney without issues

 

[ewebet]

A friend has mentioned you can borrow from your 401K. When you borrow from a 401K the interest is low and you are paying yourself back with interest. We are a little leary of this idea but it sounds good in theory.

 

[DVCconvert]

A friend has mentioned you can borrow from your 401K. When you borrow from a 401K the interest is low and you are paying yourself back with interest. We are a little leary of this idea but it sounds good in theory.

In the last 24 months the DJIA is up somethinig close to 85%. Funds removed from a 401K in that period would not have benefited from the rise, and the rate of return would have suffered.

 

[Sandisw]

I think the advice to start small is a great one. Decide what the smallest number of points you could start out with that would make sense and then plan for that.

We originally started with 50 and knew that would get a us a few studio nights every year. We figured we could pair this with cash nights until we could add on more points.

We ended up going through Disney to add on shortly after that because I found out I could get 6 months, no interest on my Disney Visa. I knew that I would have the money within that 6 months due to the college class I teach.

Of course, with this approach, you have to still be disciplined to put that money aside, but for us it worked out.

Good luck!

 

[marynvince]

people like reassurance that what they did is the best way and other ways are not so desireable. Buy small, save cash never finance. Get a home equity loan. No, never borrow against your house.

My words of wisdom:

No matter what you decide regarding size of contract and associated costs, Don't forget the cost of travel, tickets and food. And the potential for more vacations than you might otherwise take and the resulting increase in your spending on vacations as a percent of your income.

Had I known about resale, the prices there offer a tremendous savings over direct.
Had I known about DVC HHI, I may have purchased there initially as opposed to SSR and then a resale at HHI.
We have traveled during peak times, Christmas through New Years and stayed at resorts other than home resort. We have traveled to HHI in summer and have got both 2 bedroom and studio accomodations. So it is possible to get other resorts at 7 months in peak seasons.

Good luck with whatever decision you make and if it is the right one for you then it will be the best decision.

 

[khmiller]

I wouldn't say never get a home equity loan. The first one I got I used to pay off credit card debt. I was young and it saved me. Now, I have a home equity line of credit. Our mortgage is very small and we have a lot of equity in our house. We use the equity for large spot buys such as a car or home improvements. We do not have any car loans and the mortgage and line of credit is our only debt. Since both are 5% or less, it works quite nicely for us.

 

[dawne98]

Welcome! We paid cash for all 3 of our contracts. They were purchased in separate years after we had set aside the money specifically for this.

that's what my parents did pay in cash for two contracts one for me and one for my sister.THey did this last month when they went to WDW for a weekend getaway.