Use Year Month...

[anbouk]

We are currently looking at a 'real good' match for our family but the use year is December. We usually like to vacation in Sept. Do you think this will work for us. I'm still trying to understand the bank/use points end of it. Can one of the expert DVC'rs explain in once again? Thanks in advance, I really do appreciate everything I'm learning from these boards!

Soon to be DVC

 

[5forDiz]

Probably not best Use Year month you could have if you are rather certain that your travel will be in September for years to come and that would be because of the following reasons :

December Use Year has a banking deadline of July 31.

Example for your situation : Your trip is for Sept. 15 2009 and you are utilizing your December 2008 Use Year points to make this trip. These December 2008 UY points have a banking deadline
of JULY 31, 2009.
If for some reason you need to cancel your vacation between August 1, 2009 and before Sept. 14 2009 you would NOT be able to bank those points into your December 2009 Use Year which means you would need to use them or lose them by November 30, 2009.

Also, it is important to note that if you cancel a reservation less than 31 days before your check in date those points will go into "Holding" status and can't be banked and must be used by the end of your Use Year even if you haven't reached your banking deadline. So using the example above of a trip beginning on Sept 15, 2009 : if you cancelled this trip on let's say August 17, 2009 then those December 2008 UY points would NOT be banking eligible because they would go into "Holding" and you would need to utilize them by November 30, 2009.

You're travel habits may change as time goes on but if you are pretty certain you would travel in September most often than not then a June Use Year month is probably better -
so for Sept. 15 2009 trip you'd be using your June 2009 UY points and if you cancelled your Sept. 15 2009 trip more than 30 days before check-in you would still be able to bank those points & would have until January 31, 2010 to do so.

 

[CarolMN]

Take a look at this thread -

Understanding Use Year

 

[Pirate Me]

Probably not best Use Year month you could have if you are rather certain that your travel will be in September for years to come and that would be because of the following reasons :

December Use Year has a banking deadline of July 31.

Example for your situation : Your trip is for Sept. 15 2009 and you are utilizing your December 2008 Use Year points to make this trip. These December 2008 UY points have a banking deadline
of JULY 31, 2009.
If for some reason you need to cancel your vacation between August 1, 2009 and before Sept. 14 2009 you would NOT be able to bank those points into your December 2009 Use Year which means you would need to use them or lose them by November 30, 2009.

Also, it is important to note that if you cancel a reservation less than 31 days before your check in date those points will go into "Holding" status and can't be banked and must be used by the end of your Use Year even if you haven't reached your banking deadline. So using the example above of a trip beginning on Sept 15, 2009 : if you cancelled this trip on let's say August 17, 2009 then those December 2008 UY points would NOT be banking eligible because they would go into "Holding" and you would need to utilize them by November 30, 2009.

You're travel habits may change as time goes on but if you are pretty certain you would travel in September most often than not then a June Use Year month is probably better -
so for Sept. 15 2009 trip you'd be using your June 2009 UY points and if you cancelled your Sept. 15 2009 trip more than 30 days before check-in you would still be able to bank those points & would have until January 31, 2010 to do so.

Ok, this is what we are looking at: we will have 100 pts to use from Dec 2008, and can use in Summer 09, otherwise, we can bank by when and use them combined with Dec 09 points for 200 points Summer 2010. Does this sound right????

 

[CarolMN]

Ok, this is what we are looking at: we will have 100 pts to use from Dec 2008, and can use in Summer 09, otherwise, we can bank by when and use them combined with Dec 09 points for 200 points Summer 2010. Does this sound right????

With a December use year, the banking deadline is the following July 31.

So if you do not want to vacation between 12/1/2008 and 11/30/2009, then you should call MS before the close of business on July 31, 2009 and bank your 2008 points.

The banked points will then be good for vacations that occur between 12/1/2009 and 11/20/2010. If you do not use the banked points before 11/30/2010, then they expire and are forfeited.

You can combine the 100 banked points (originally from 2008) with the 2009 points and have 200 to use between 12/1/2009 and 11/30/2010.

Banking is a final transaction. You cannot "unbank" points.