Questions on your Use Year

[unpaintedhuffheinz]

1) If you buy a DVC contract through resale, is there any way to change the Use Year?
2) How does the date of your Use Year affect your ability to make reservations? I understand that you don't get your next allotment of points until your Use Year month arrives...but DVC have other policies, tied to the Use Year date, that limit your flexibility when it comes to making reservations?

Thanks!

 

[5forDiz]

1)

If you buy a DVC contract through resale, is there any way to change the Use Year?

No it's not possible to do this.

2) How does the date of your Use Year affect your ability to make reservations? I understand that you don't get your next allotment of points until your Use Year month arrives...but DVC have other policies, tied to the Use Year date, that limit your flexibility when it comes to making reservations?

You may ALWAYS make a reservation using your points at your HOME RESORT as early as 11 months before the check-in date you'd want.

Your Use Year month has nothing to do with WHEN you may make reservations.

To reserve at a resort that is NOT your Home Resort the earliest you could call MS for reservations would be 7 months before check-in date wanted.

**Most members focus on Use Year because of banking deadlines - ie, if you travel in December,April & July then a December Use Year would probably be best choice because your banking deadline would be July 31 each year so even if you've got a trip planned for July and you cancelled at least 31 days or more before that check-in date then you'd still have until July 31 to bank your points into your next Use Year if you wished OR you would have until Nov 30 to re-use the points to book another trip. Rule of thumb, so to speak is not to pick a Use Year where you'll regularly travel during last 4 months of that Use Year because a cancellation will be past the point where'd you'd be able to bank those points & there'd be very little time remaining in that Use Year to re-use the points.

Hope this helped a bit

 

[jekjones1558]

1) You cannot change the use year of points.
2) Use year only comes into play when canceling a reservation and when banking points. If you need to cancel a reservation you will NOT be able to bank the points from that reservation if you are within four months of your use year month and you will consequently need to use those points up before your upcoming use year month. Short notice reservations can be tough and your ability to travel on short notice may be difficult. So if you anticipate regularly traveling with DVC points at approximately the same time of year, it is best to buy points that have a use year just before you travel. For example, we like to go in October - February, so with an October use year we have time to bank points before our May 31 banking deadline in the event that we have to cancel a trip. If you have no pattern to your travel schedule then use year really doesn't matter.
Good luck in choosing a use year.

 

[unpaintedhuffheinz]

If I have a December use year:

• For any reservation where we'd arrive at the DVC resort between December and the end of July, if we cancel that reservation, we can bank the points.
• If our reservation has us staying at DVC anytime from August to the end of November...if we canceled that reservation, we COULD NOT bank the points. We'd have to use them, rent them, transfer them or lose them.

Is that right?

 

[Lostinspace]

unpaintedhuffheinz, thanks for asking the question... I am new to this and wondered this myself.

We were thinking of getting into DVC and would probably travel in January and September. If I read the posts correctly, we should get a contract with an August Use Year with a deadline to bank points in April. Am I correct?

 

[5forDiz]

If I have a December use year:

• For any reservation where we'd arrive at the DVC resort between December and the end of July, if we cancel that reservation, we can bank the points.
  
  Yes the points may be banked if you cancelled at least 31 days before check-in date.
  
  If you cancelled 30 days - 1 day before the check-in date then these points would need to be used by the end of the Use Year-Nov. 30 by making a reservation 60 days or less to the check-in date.
  
  It's important to note that only points from the CURRENT UY may be banked into the upcoming UY so if the reservation contains points that were banked in from the previous UY or points that were borrowed in from the upcoming UY those banked &/or borrowed points must be used during that UY of the original reservation ( ressie for July 16 2009 uses banked points from Dec 2007 UY + current UY points of Dec 2008 UY + points borrowed from upcoming
  Dec 2009 UY and is cancelled on June 15 2009 (31 days before checkin)
  THEN you may, if you wish, bank the current (Dec 2008) UY points into Dec 2009 UY BUT banked points (Dec 2007 UY pts) and borrowed points (Dec 2009 UY pts) must be re-used before November 30 2009 because once banked or borrowed points may not be banked again or put back into the Use Year they were initially from.
  
  
• If our reservation has us staying at DVC anytime from August to the end of November...if we canceled that reservation, we COULD NOT bank the points. We'd have to use them, rent them, transfer them or lose them.
  
  Yes, you would be beyond the banking deadline of July 31 so those points would need to be used by November 30 (exception being a reservation that begins at very latest on AUG 31 - if you cancelled this on July 31 which is 31 days before that check in date then you could cancel this ressie and bank the current UY points in that very same call with MS) .
  And again, if reservation that is prior to banking deadline of July 31 is cancelled at less than 30 days through 1 day before checkin - those points would need to be used by November 30 even if they are current UY points.

It seems like alot to digest; but MS will help you sort things out when making a reservation.

 

[LisaS]

For any reservation where we'd arrive at the DVC resort between December and the end of July, if we cancel that reservation, we can bank the points.

You must cancel 31 days or more prior to check in to be able to bank the points. If you cancel 30 days to 1 day prior to check in, your points go into "holding" and cannot be banked and will expire at the end of the current Use Year.

We were thinking of getting into DVC and would probably travel in January and September. If I read the posts correctly, we should get a contract with an August Use Year with a deadline to bank points in April. Am I correct?

If you will only travel in Jan and Sep, then a Jun, Aug or Sep Use Year would work (there is no July UY). If you are sure you will never go in the summer, then Sep would be great for you. With a Jun UY, your banking window would be Jun 1 - Jan 31, with a Aug UY your window is Aug 1-Mar 31 and with a Sep UY your window is Sep 1-Apr 30.

 

[5forDiz]

unpaintedhuffheinz, thanks for asking the question... I am new to this and wondered this myself.

We were thinking of getting into DVC and would probably travel in January and September. If I read the posts correctly, we should get a contract with an August Use Year with a deadline to bank points in April. Am I correct?

August Use Year gives you until March 31 to bank points.

September Use Year gives you until April 30 to bank points.

August UY gives you until July 31 to re-use the points if you cancelled less than 31 days to check-in or if banked/borrowed points are used in the ressie; September UY gives until Aug. 31 to re-use...so gives you a month extra in this scenario.

 

[Lostinspace]

Thanks for the explanations! That makes sense... now I just have to convince the DW that we should buy-in.

 

[jekjones1558]

if you cancelled less than 31 days to check-in or if banked/borrowed points are used in the ressie

This is a very important caveat. It is always wise to use banked or borrowed points for reservations that are the least likely to be canceled, since they MUST be used before the end of the use year.