Every year you get an allotment of points to use during the next 12 months. To balance the system, we do not all receive the points January 1. They are spread throughout the year. If you have an April Use Year, you get your points April 1 to use from then until March 31 of the following year (or bank them).
There are different deadlines throughout the year on how many points you can bank. The start point for figuring these dates is your Use Year.
It is also the basis for how long you have to make reservations for non-
DVC trips. You can take them right up until the end of your year, but you must make the reservation 60 days or more before the end of your Use Year.
The only time Use Year could become a concern is if you have a reservation late in your Use Year that you have to cancel close to departure. For example, with the April Use Year, if you have a reservation for March that you cancel at the beginning of February, you have limited options on what to do with the points. You can't use them for a non-DVC trip and you can't bank them. They have to be used by the end of March.
