Purchasing Pts

[Atchley]

We are looking into purchasing DVC soon. Can you only purchase pts at different intervals? I mean like 160 pts, 200 pts, 250 pts, etc;. Can you purchase 165 pts? If not, can you rent 5-10 pts from someone on the boards or do people normally not do that. Thanks for your help.

 

[Lynne M]

You can purchase any number of points that you like, as long as it's above the minimum.

As far as renting 5-10 points....that wouldn't do you any good. What's referred to here as 'renting points' means that another owner makes a reservation in your name. The other owner retains control of the points and the reservation.

You may want to do a point transfer. In that case, the other own actually transfers the points into your account. They're yours, they can be added to your other points to make your reservation. Note that only one point transfer (in or out) is permitted per year.

Many of us just borrow the needed points from our next use year. That's what I do.

 

[disneynutz]

We are looking into purchasing DVC soon. Can you only purchase pts at different intervals? I mean like 160 pts, 200 pts, 250 pts, etc;. Can you purchase 165 pts? If not, can you rent 5-10 pts from someone on the boards or do people normally not do that. Thanks for your help.

It's easiest if you look at how often and long you plan to vacation. Review the points charts and then decide how many you will need to stay in the size of room and resort that you like.

Spending time now to research can save you money and headaches later.

 

[hellerjw]

Just know that the point charts can be modified as usage patterns change. The overall modification can result in some days increasing in points, but they must lower the points for other days so the total overall point change balances out. In other words, they can change the amount of points required for a particular day but not the total amount of points for a particular resort. DVC just did a major change to the 2010 point charts across the board on 1/23/09. See this thread for the lengthy discussion on how that has affected some:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2066946

Purchasing an exact number of points for stays in a particular size unit on the same week every year is problematic, as many are now finding out, since there is no guarantee that the same size unit on that same day will be the same number of points next year. It is usually a better idea to look at the most expensive season and the largest size unit you will stay in most often and base your point purchase on that. Even then, you may want to add in a buffer (say 10%) to account for any major reallocations (like the one on the 2010 charts). This becomes even more important if you plan to buy a smaller number of points with the idea of banking/borrowing to have a stay every 3rd year (banked points + current points + borrowed points), as the points could potentially change again making planning more difficult.