Use Year & Banking Query

[Thegoatfeeder]

Hey guys, hoping this is the right forum for this.

I am not a member yet, but am hoping to be shortly, but I just had a question that no matter of research has given me a clear answer too, this is a hard one to explain, so I apologise!

Say my use year is February, so on 1st February 2020 i'm going to get 150 points, and I am planning to travel to WDW on 1 December 2021, so I bank these banks initial points. Then when my 11 month window opens on 1st January 2021, I book my trip using the 150 points I got on 1st Feb 2020 and had banked and bring forward the 150 points I was going to get on 1st Feb 2021 (I realise it wouldn't be exactly 300 points, i'm just trying to keep the maths simple ). Or did I NOT need to bank those points from Feb 2020 because I am making a booking before Feb 2021 (albeit not travelling)?

I enjoy my trip, fantastic. We then want to travel again June 2023, so, 1st February 2022 comes and I get another 150 points, my question is, my booking window opens in May 2022 for that June trip, therefore the points I got in February that year, do I bank those because i'm travelling in the next use year, and then bring forward my 1st Feb 2023 points to have the 300? And book my 2023 trip. Or do I not bank those 2022 points and use them to book the 2023 trip, or is this the same thing?

When I read this back it sounds really obvious and utter nonsense because its the same situation, essentially, can I use those 150 points I get in Feb 2022 for a trip in the next Use Year? Or do I have to bank them, because the trip is in the next use year even though i'm making a booking 3 months later to travel the following year?

 

[Frederic Civish]

To travel on December 1st 2021, with Feb 2020 points, you will need to bank the Feb 2020 points, otherwise they expire. I believe your banking deadline is something like Septermber 30th, 2020, but you can bank them anytime. Just keep in mind, banking is irreversible. Once you bank them into 2021, then they are permanently in the 2021 use year.

Then, on Jan 1st, 2021 you can make a reservation for December 1st 2021, and use your banked points, PLUS your regular points for the 2021 Use Year, even though when you make the reservation, it will be Jan 2021, which is in the 2020 Use year. (THAT, is unimportant.) You will also be able to borrow points if necessary from your 2022 Use Year, at that point.

The date of Jan 1st 2021 is only important because that is the date that the booking window will open for December 1st, 2021. For the reservation points, it is just important that they are IN THE SAME USE YEAR AS THE DATE ON THE RESERVATION.

 

[Thegoatfeeder]

To travel on December 1st 2021, with Feb 2020 points, you will need to bank the Feb 2020 points, otherwise they expire. I believe your banking deadline is something like Septermber 30th, 2020, but you can bank them anytime. Just keep in mind, banking is irreversible. Once you bank them into 2021, then they are permanently in the 2021 use year.

Then, on Jan 1st, 2021 you can make a reservation for December 1st 2021, and use your banked points, PLUS your regular points for the 2021 Use Year (even though when you make the reservation, it will be Jan 2021, which is in the 2020 Use year). You will also be able to borrow points if necessary from your 2022 Use Year, at that point.

OK, thanks so much, I think I get that! And then if I want to travel in June 2023, I bank my points from February 2022 when I get them, and make my booking for June 2023 in May 2022 using the points I got a couple of months earlier and the ones I would be getting in Feb 2023?

 

[Sandisw]

Here is the easiest way that I find to keep it straight. . Every thing is based on the UY when travel.

A trip can be paid for with banked points from the UY prior to travel, points from UY of travel, and borrow points from the UY after travel to complete the reservation.

So, since a June 2023 trip is in a Feb 2023 UY, you can pay for it using banked 2022, 2023, and borrow from 2024.

 

[Thegoatfeeder]

Here is the easiest way that I find to keep it start. Every thing is based on the UY when travel.

A trip can be paid for with banked points from the UY prior to travel, points from UY of travel, and borrow points from the UY after travel to complete the reservation.

So, since a June 2023 trip is in a Feb 2023 UY, you can pay for it using banked 2022, 2023, and borrow from 2024.

OK great, so even though i'm making the booking in the previous Use Year, because the travel is in the next one, I have to bank my points over, i've got it! Thanks so much both of you

 

[drusba]

You cannot book June 2023 in May 2022. It is an 11-month window for your home resort, not 13, You can book June 2023 in July 2022.

Rues to follow:

1. You have until the end of the 8th month of your use year to bank points into the next year, and thus if you have a February use year, you must bank them by no later September 30 to be able to use them in the next use year.

2. If you want to use banked points in a reservation, you need to bank them before making the reservation (you can do it on the same day or same phone call as making a reservation but just need to do it before doing the actual reservation that will use banked points.

3. If you want to borrow points from a future use year for a reservation, you can do so only when making the reservation.

3. You can always reserve your home resort at 11-months out regardless of when your use year begins.

4. To determine whether you need to bank points, or can borrow points for a reservation, wipe from you mind when you will go online or call to make the reservation, and look only at the dates you will be at the DVC Resort. For example. with a Feb use year and a June 2023 trip, the "current" use year points for that trip will be the Feb 2023 points, any Feb 2022 points must first be banked, and when making the reservation, you can borrow Feb 2024 points if needed. That same rule apples regardless of when you actually make the reservation, which in the example you can do as early as July 2022.