I just want to make sure I am understanding the general banking rules.
100% of points can be banked w/in first 6 months of UY
50% of points can be banked b/t 6 mo & 9 mo
25% of points b/t 9 mo & 10 mo
Is my logic correct?
Yes you are correct about the banking deadlines. The percentages are cumulative. So if you have a 200-pt contract and you banked 90 points at some point in your 100% banking window, you could bank up to another 10 points during your 50% banking window and no points during your 25% window.
Also, if you have any add-on contracts, the points are pooled for banking purposes. Let's say you owned 150 SSR points and had a 50-point add-on contract at BCV. If you were in your 25% banking window and had banked no points earlier in the UY, you could bank all 50 BCV points in your 25% banking window. This is because those 50 BCV points represent only 25% of the 200 total points you own between the 150-pt SSR master contract and the 50-pt BCV add-on contract.
I also see the term "transfer" a lot - I assume that is for owners who have more than one home resort that they transfer points b/t ressies to make it work?
The term "transfer" refers to moving points between contracts where the contracts are under different membership numbers. This would be the case when moving points between contracts owned by different members but it also applies to members who have more than one master contract.
If you purchase an "add-on" from Disney, it will have the same UY and be under the same membership number as your master contract. If for some reason you wanted to purchase another contract with a different UY you can do so, but it becomes a separate master contract with a new membership number. This would also be the case if you purchased another contract on the resale market and it had a different UY or you put different names on the deed -- it would be set up as a separate master contract. It can also happen if you purchase resale with the same UY and same names but Disney doesn't notice you are already a member and sets up the resale as a new master rather than an add-on to your existing contract.
With a master and add-on(s), you can pool the points when you make a reservation. No transfer is required. If the contracts are at the same resort, the points can be pooled to make a reservation at that resort 11 months out. If the contracts are at different resorts, then the points can be pooled to make reservations at any resort 7 months out.
If you own two separate master contracts and want to make a reservation using points from both contracts, you have two options.
1) You can make a reservation for part of the trip using points from one contract, make a second reservation for the rest of the trip using points from another contract and then have MS link the two reservations together.
2) You can transfer points from one contract into the other and make the entire reservation from one contract. But you only get one transfer per UY (either in or out) so you would use up the one transfer for both contracts doing this.
