Travel after banking deadline?

[atthebeachclub]

Do you ever travel after your banking deadline? I’m realizing my favorite travel times will probably be Jan/Feb (every year) and sometimes March, June or August. I might even travel to Disneyland in October. This means any August or later trips will be after my banking deadline since my use year is December.

Do you have rules about travel after banking deadlines? Should I just YOLO it and worry about repercussions later if it comes down to a last minute cancellation? Dump any stranded points in Interval maybe? Any advice? Not really interested in a second use year!

 

[atthebeachclub]

(If I’d stuck with all Florida contracts this wouldn’t be an issue, because I don’t want to be there at certain times of the year, but California has more nice months…)

 

[Wedgeout]

I have but only local, being 61 miles from VDH. Have an April UY & have stayed during a February. Figure it’s much less of a weather & travel risk for me. I keep travel no later than December for other destinations.

 

[eticketplease]

I have had several trips past the banking deadline. Only one time was a problem but we didn’t lose points, we instead had to add as I had already banked them and then SO asked about a trip I had forgotten we wanted to take

 

[Sandisw]

We have theee UYs for this reason. I never travel after my banking deadline.

 

[LoveToDisney]

We travel when we want to and travel as we like after our banking deadline. When we originally purchased 20+ years ago we traveled at different times so our use year better matched our travel back then.
We also bank and borrow as we like depending on our plans so we are fluid on how we use our points. We fly into Orlando and usually plans are made well in advance so we don’t lose points by canceling.

 

[Willow Ufgood]

I do it a lot. We have a December UY but we have found that we like traveling in the fall months. I know...dangerous!

But lately our trip have been in early December, August, February and April. So I guess we're all over the place. That's going to change when the little ones start school and we're more restricted on when they can go.

 

[atthebeachclub]

I think I’m just going to travel as I like and hope for the best! I don’t imagine I’d cancel often anyway and it would have been an issue regardless due to the 30 days before deadline for holding points. I suppose this is what travel insurance is for!

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Sadly, most of our travel happens after banking deadline. It's the one thing that we didn't take into account when we purchased our contracts.

 

[Stargazer65]

Should I just YOLO it and worry about repercussions later if it comes down to a last minute cancellation?

Yes
We just do it sometimes and don't worry about the banking deadline. We wanted an Easter trip, my UY is June, and we just took the chance. *So far I've never lost points.

*Past performance does not guarantee future results

 

[eticketplease]

*Past performance does not guarantee future results

Everything has fine print these days!!

 

[airjay75]

Already planning a trip for after my banking deadline! My banking deadline is May 31st, and I really only anticipate us doing WDW in June or July. But, the thing is, those are summer vacation trips and planned months in advance. Where we live (and the jobs for me and my wife), those dates are often set in January and pretty well respected - that's when people start registering for summer camps and a lot of people around here vacation at the Jersey Shore, which requires booking months in advance. I'm not very worried about work getting in the way of those trips. I suppose other life stuff can always throw a curveball your way, but that can happen anytime.

If I did have to cancel for some reason, I'd probably try first to rent it out as a confirmed reservation heavily discounted. If that failed and wasn't able to reschedule before end of UY, I'd probably throw the points into Interval International (but remember that has to happen 45 days before the end of your UY - I looked recently because the resale contract I just bought happened to have 2 points that expired the day after the points loaded to my account).

 

[atthebeachclub]

I suppose not really a big deal! My PTO is set in stone around 5 to 11 months in advance (depending on the month) so I know work won’t be an issue. I just always worry about last minute illness, but that would be a problem regardless.

Good reminder about the 45 day limit before and of use year for Interval!

 

[cruisehopeful]

I have 3 stays booked after my banking deadline next spring. I do often think about buying a second use year for spring time, but I really think I have enough points. I know it's a gamble, but if I end up needing to cancel, I'll probably try to book something through the Disney collection (hotel or DCL). I live close enough to DL to likely book a hotel stay since the DVC rooms will likely be booked up. I also live by one of the ports for DCL, which will have lots of cruises in spring beginning 2027.

If all that fails, I will look into Interval but that'll truly be my last resort if I can't use points for anything else. Maybe I should say renting my reservation is actually my last resort. I bought DVC for myself and I hate thinking that someone gets to use my membership.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Yes but it is very nerve wracking if you have no other reservations to swap the points into.

 

[JackosinDIS]

I travel in April and May with a June UY, so yes, well after the banking deadline and sometimes only days before! I don’t really worry about it too much.

 

[sndral]

I just got back from a 7 night Oct. stay hosting family in a GV - I have a Dec. use year, I used a lot of banked points & some borrowed, did I worry? YES, about someone getting sick, about hurricanes, about cancelled flights, oh boy, you name what could go wrong & I thought about it. I never would have opted for Oct. , but it’s what worked w/ the grands’ school break, so it’s a risk I took.
We normally travel Dec./Jan., we’ve had a couple of trips start at the end of Nov. to use up banked points & no stress there, if I lost a few points, oh well, the majority of the points would be salvageable, but the October trip had me on pins & needles up until we arrived & walked out onto our balcony & saw this

 

[KPeterso]

I have and always know it is a risk, but I like September trips. This year I had to cancel. I cancelled half my reservation before the banking deadline so I could bank those points. I was pretty sure the trip was not happening. I considered trying to rent the reservation and ended up with the points in holding, but since it was previously banked, I really could not do much. I ended up depositing the points in II and will figure out somewhere to go with those points. Hopefully 2026 will be better for me.