problems with multiple master contracts?

[bumbershoot]

Thanks for your response. I really appreciate hearing the perspective of someone in a similar situation. The other sibling part is also something to consider. They have three current contracts, and as far as I understand, you can transfer once per contract. So we could transfer into any of the three on that 1st master contract. Correct?

Once per year in or out. So if you and a sibling need to transfer to/from the same account it'll be a problem.

If my son was an adult right now and I was going to buy him dvc I'd just buy him dvc. I wouldn't buy ME dvc and put him on the deed. If he was already using the points more than me, I'd definitely just buy him his own contract. I have no interest in letting him and his possible wife's credit get mingled with mine, or have extra issues if the possible future wife divorces him etc.

Supersnoop asked the question because often the reason people have for being put on a deed makes no sense. They just don't know. I've seen it this last couple weeks at least twice, where the reasons make no sense and asking the question could really help the person asking. And honestly I don't think that a shared deed makes sense from your parents' POV either. Just makes things more complicated especially with 4 adult kids all with the potential for transferring etc.

 

[Dean]

Once per year in or out. So if you and a sibling need to transfer to/from the same account it'll be a problem.

If my son was an adult right now and I was going to buy him dvc I'd just buy him dvc. I wouldn't buy ME dvc and put him on the deed. If he was already using the points more than me, I'd definitely just buy him his own contract. I have no interest in letting him and his possible wife's credit get mingled with mine, or have extra issues if the possible future wife divorces him etc.

Supersnoop asked the question because often the reason people have for being put on a deed makes no sense. They just don't know. I've seen it this last couple weeks at least twice, where the reasons make no sense and asking the question could really help the person asking. And honestly I don't think that a shared deed makes sense from your parents' POV either. Just makes things more complicated especially with 4 adult kids all with the potential for transferring etc.

We've added my adult daughter to one of our contracts (smaller one). IMO it's usually a mistake to try to set up things for a legacy because most people make more mistakes in the process and planning and spend more than if they just made good decisions up front. Not that there aren't ways to do so that are helpful, there are, but most people don't do it well or reasonably and they often cause far more estate issues than they prevent.

 

[DizBub]

We also have 3 contracts and 1 master. We also contemplated buying another and adding 2 of our 3 daughters to it so they would already have the advantages of membership when they inherit the existing contracts. Daughter #3 is already a DVC member in her own right and they will inherit equally. Then 4/4 happened with no warning and that chance passed. Now there is no point in doing it.

I was already concerned about how the separate contracts would work together not to mention the interpersonal situation this could/would cause among the siblings. We floated the idea to #3 and she was fairly upset that the other 2 would be given this opportunity for "free" when she has paid for hers. Another issue is #1 has a large family, is well off and can frankly afford to purchase their own. #2 is not as fortunate.

For the foreseeable future we will continue to rotate years with them. After we are done using them they can duke it out.

As for OP, maybe your parents can consider adding you or all of the siblings to their existing contracts and proceed with the new contract using all the names.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks for your response. I really appreciate hearing the perspective of someone in a similar situation. The other sibling part is also something to consider. They have three current contracts, and as far as I understand, you can transfer once per contract. So we could transfer into any of the three on that 1st master contract. Correct?

It's one transfer in or out per membership, not contract and it sounds like your parents have 3 contracts under one membership so that's just 1 transfer either in or out.

 

[MouseOfCards]

OP,
We did what your parents are contemplating. We wanted to add points, and we wanted our adult children, who would soon no longer share our legal address, to receive perks when they went to WDW without us (this was prior to the April 4 announcement obviously). We added a second master with them on the title at the same resort and use year we already owned, because I understood from reading these boards that points transferred from and to the same home resort and use year would be visible and bookable online. That has proven to be true in our case.

However—You indicate that your parents may purchase another contract with another sibling’s name on the title. This could present a problem because your parents’ master could only receive one transfer per year. So you would have to use one of the smaller contracts independently.

Helpful, thanks.

 

[MouseOfCards]

First, feel blessed that you have parents who want to buy an extra 100 points and add you to the deed. As to some realistic benefits and disadvantages:

Your post was extremely detailed and helpful. Thank you!

Some questions/comments:

Transfer Rules: you can transfer current use year points, but not points that have already been banked or borrowed. A member can bank points already transferred into his account but cannot borrow them. The use year and banking deadline for transferred points retain that of the transferor.

Though it is not guaranteed nor should anyone depend on this, a number of DVC members have reported that some MS reps did allow them to bank transferred points through the end of the use year.

Transfer Rules:
Note, that you do not have to wait for a your use year to arrive to do a transfer as you can transfer points that are in your existing use year or the next one at any given point in time. Example: assume you have a March use year and you want to make a reservation today for time in April 2017, 11 months form now. You can transfer your March 2017 points now before doing that reservation. In fact, you could also transfer your March 2016 points now and have your parents bank them into the March 2017 use year and use those points for the trip (though you would be doing two transfers at the same time, you do not break the one transfer rule because you can do one transfer "per use year").

That's really useful info!

Transfer or Do Separate Reservations: However, if the points are in the same use year, they will show up in your parents' online account for their original membership number and will be usable for making reservations online. Thus, having the same use year avoids that online reservation problem with transferred points.

Do you mean same use year and same home resort? Do the transferred points show up if they are same use year but different home resort?

An alternative to transfer, is to make two different reservations for any one trip, reserving some nights with one membership account and the remaining nights with the second membership account.

If someone needed to walk a reservation for a high demand time of year, how would they do this using 2 memberships?

You can then have Member Services link the two reservations, which will avoid having to change rooms. Note you need not rush to do that link after making the reservation and may want to wait some time to do it because if you ever want to modify a reservation, such as changing to a different resort at 7 months out, or dropping one night or adding one night later, you cannot do that to a linked reservation but must first have MS unlink them.

Thanks for the tip!

In the past, there was also an issue that you would need to do a check-out and check-in on the tunover date at the resorts. You would not need to move out of the room but just go to the front desk and do a quick check out and check in, close out and pay the bill on the first reservation and get new keys. We have two membership numbers, and use the linked reservation method, and in the last two years, we have found that check-out and check-in issue no longer exists as the resorts' computer systems can now treat the two reservations as one continuous reservation. Moreover, your keys are now the Magic Bands and thus need not be changed.

Is this now true in all cases, or is it still safer to go to front desk and do a quick check out and check in?

We have had for many years two membership numbers which are in two different use years. We occasionally use both for one trip and generally use the method of making two reservations that we then link rather than transfer. We have never had an issue or a problem with MS doing so. We have not found that having two different membership numbers created a lot more hassles or a higher risk of disaster with MS or otherwise than having one

That's encouraging. Thanks!

 

[drusba]

Your post was extremely detailed and helpful. Thank you!

Some questions/comments:

1. Though it is not guaranteed nor should anyone depend on this, a number of DVC members have reported that some MS reps did allow them to bank transferred points through the end of the use year.

2. Do you mean same use year and same home resort? Do the transferred points show up if they are same use year but different home resort?

3. If someone needed to walk a reservation for a high demand time of year, how would they do this using 2 memberships?

4. Is this now true in all cases, or is it still safer to go to front desk and do a quick check out and check in?

1. Not sure what you mean. After points have been transferred, the recipient can bank them as long as he does so by the end of the eighth month of the transferor's use year. If MS allowed a transfer to occur in the ninth to twelth month of the use year of the transferor, then some members should be thankful that MS did not follow the banking rules.

2. According to those who have reported having done so, the online system will show transferred points that are in the same use year as the recipient's use year regardless of identity of resort for the transferred points.

3. You could only do it by walking each reservation separately, e.g., assume you want Oct 1-8 and you have two separate membership accounts, one having only enough points to reserve Oct 1-5 (four nights) and the other Oct 5-8 (three nights). You could start one reservation 11 months out before last week of Sep reserving four nights while also starting a second with the other membership number for three nights. Walk the first one using daily drops and adds by calling MS until you have Oct 1-5 and walk the sec ond one until you have Oct 5-8. To avoid any issue of being questioned for having two reservations in the same name at the same time, all you need to do when making the daily changes is make separate phone calls and give only applicable member number you are using for each.

4. I cannot speak for all cases. In the last two years, we have had three stays using both accounts, one at BWV, one at AKV and one at BLT, and all three were treated as one continuous reservation when we arrived. Close to two years ago, I was told by front desk personnel at BWV that the reservation/check-in system now allowed them to treat it as one continuous reservation, whereas previously they had to keep the reservations separate with separate check-ins and check-outs. For those three reservations, I got one account that was good for the entire stay and a parking pass that was also good for the entire stay (in prior years, you had to change those on the turnover date also).

 

[supersnoop]

1. Not sure what you mean. After points have been transferred, the recipient can bank them as long as he does so by the end of the eighth month of the transferor's use year. If MS allowed a transfer to occur in the ninth to twelth month of the use year of the transferor, then some members should be thankful that MS did not follow the banking rules.

I'm under the impression that transferred points are not bound by the same banking deadline as "normal" points.

2. According to those who have reported having done so, the online system will show transferred points that are in the same use year as the recipient's use year regardless of identity of resort for the transferred points.

This has not been my understanding. The reports I've read, at least recently, say that resort and use year must match. In the distant past, only resort had to match, and MS would put the transferred points into the closest use year available. But that didn't really matter since online booking wasn't available at the time.

 

[drusba]

I'm under the impression that transferred points are not bound by the same banking deadline as "normal" points.

This has not been my understanding. The reports I've read, at least recently, say that resort and use year must match. In the distant past, only resort had to match, and MS would put the transferred points into the closest use year available. But that didn't really matter since online booking wasn't available at the time.

As to your second point, on rechecking the reports I have seen, you appear to be correct that it has occurred only with points matching the same resort and use year and I should not have concluded otherwise. As to the first, the rules state that the transferred points retain the use year of the transferor, can be banked, but if banked must be used by the end of the subsequent use year of the transferor. The rules also state that you must do any banking by the end of the eighth month of the use year. A reading of the rules would lead to the conclusion that the banking deadline for transferred points is determined by the transferor's use year. I too have seen a couple reports where members were apparently allowed to bank later than what was allowed by the transferor's use year when the the recipient had a later use year month. I chalk that up to MS personnel doing what would likely not be allowed if someone fully familiar with the rules at MS were making the decision, and one should not assume it will be the same in the future.

 

[MouseOfCards]

3. You could only do it by walking each reservation separately, e.g., assume you want Oct 1-8 and you have two separate membership accounts, one having only enough points to reserve Oct 1-5 (four nights) and the other Oct 5-8 (three nights). You could start one reservation 11 months out before last week of Sep reserving four nights while also starting a second with the other membership number for three nights. Walk the first one using daily drops and adds by calling MS until you have Oct 1-5 and walk the sec ond one until you have Oct 5-8. To avoid any issue of being questioned for having two reservations in the same name at the same time, all you need to do when making the daily changes is make separate phone calls and give only applicable member number you are using for each.

4. I cannot speak for all cases. In the last two years, we have had three stays using both accounts, one at BWV, one at AKV and one at BLT, and all three were treated as one continuous reservation when we arrived. Close to two years ago, I was told by front desk personnel at BWV that the reservation/check-in system now allowed them to treat it as one continuous reservation, whereas previously they had to keep the reservations separate with separate check-ins and check-outs. For those three reservations, I got one account that was good for the entire stay and a parking pass that was also good for the entire stay (in prior years, you had to change those on the turnover date also).

Thank you! You are very wise, like an . . . um . . . owl.