Ways to maximize savings when purchasing direct DVC contract.. (credit card rewards etc)

Starting to learn the in and outs of maximizing MR and UR. I am pretty excited. The 4 cards I got for my direct purchase will earn me 847,500 points. Im super excited seeing that I will yield way more than a 1% return on them.

Imagine how much more of a value resale could be if title companies owed take full payment on CC's
 
Starting to learn the in and outs of maximizing MR and UR. I am pretty excited. The 4 cards I got for my direct purchase will earn me 847,500 points. Im super excited seeing that I will yield way more than a 1% return on them.

Imagine how much more of a value resale could be if title companies owed take full payment on CC's
My last contract was so small I was able to do this, and finish off a credit card bonus. I estimate it saved me 20% on my purchase (large bonus). I had some required home purchases in addition that helped us meet the rather large required spend.
 
Starting to learn the in and outs of maximizing MR and UR. I am pretty excited. The 4 cards I got for my direct purchase will earn me 847,500 points. Im super excited seeing that I will yield way more than a 1% return on them.

Imagine how much more of a value resale could be if title companies owed take full payment on CC's
Have to love those sign up bonuses! They have taken our family to London (twice), Hawaii, Orlando (twice) and a few other short stints just in the past two years.
 

My last contract was so small I was able to do this, and finish off a credit card bonus. I estimate it saved me 20% on my purchase (large bonus). I had some required home purchases in addition that helped us meet the rather large required spend.
hmmmm this could really help offset paying closing costs on multiple small contracts. Im in the middle of a small one, I wonder if they will take more than 1K they wanted as deposit.
 
Thinking of making a direct purchase tomorrow and combing though this post to find the best new credit card deal. I'm leaning towards the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, any new incentives pop up as of late that I should also consider?
 
Looks like all the chase signup bonuses are back to normal after being raised up this summer. They are still good bonuses and codes DVC as travel but 45,000 less bonus points currently than I got a month ago for the Sapphire Reserve and Ink Preferred cards. My total was 195k.. current offers add up to 150k.
 
Thinking of making a direct purchase tomorrow and combing though this post to find the best new credit card deal. I'm leaning towards the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, any new incentives pop up as of late that I should also consider?
The preferred and reserve will earn 3x points on DVC since it codes as travel but the bonuses currently being offered are not great. The Chase Ink Preferred (a biz card) is a much stronger bonus and also gets you 3x on travel. You can get one as a sole proprietor, limits on Inks tend to only be 6k though so you would need to split payment and pay off multiple times.

Amex doesn't code as travel but has some pretty good bonuses.
 
The preferred and reserve will earn 3x points on DVC since it codes as travel but the bonuses currently being offered are not great. The Chase Ink Preferred (a biz card) is a much stronger bonus and also gets you 3x on travel. You can get one as a sole proprietor, limits on Inks tend to only be 6k though so you would need to split payment and pay off multiple times.

Amex doesn't code as travel but has some pretty good bonuses.
I believe you can also pre-pay (i.e. overpay) your account to manage a large single purchase as well.
 
hmmmm this could really help offset paying closing costs on multiple small contracts. Im in the middle of a small one, I wonder if they will take more than 1K they wanted as deposit.
Pretty sure I put $5000 down on my card, and only owed a little more on closing.
 
Which title co? 5000 is really good
I put $7,500 down with dvcclosings.com / DVC Title and Escrow.

And since the contract wasn't much more than that I even paid the balance with a credit card. But that part incurred a processing fee (which was approximately a wash relative to the cash value of the rewards points).
 
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I put $7,500 down with dvcclosings.com / DVC Title and Escrow.

And since the contract wasn't much more than I even paid the balance with a credit card. But that part incurred a processing fee (which was approximately a wash relative to the cash value of the rewards points).
Was that recently? I did earlier this year but heard that it’s lower now. I also heard that some title companies are not even accepting credit cards anymore for down payments.
 
Was that recently? I did earlier this year but heard that it’s lower now. I also heard that some title companies are not even accepting credit cards anymore for down payments.
This was back in mid-May this year, so yes entirely possible they changed their CC limit.
 
Which title co? 5000 is really good
Honestly not sure. lol
I think it was my first contract (maybe 2nd) and at the time there was a lot of talk about using a certain one that made sure you were covered by missing points. Might have been wherever Cammy was prior to where she is now. But I stopped caring about those little details a while ago so I don’t even know which ones I used over the past year or so. :)
 
Hey everyone. Long time lurker but just starting to get into this. I haven't read the whole thread so I apologize if this is repeat information, but I'm someone who participates in the "churning" game (i.e. opening up credit cards just for the sign-up bonuses).

For paying for DVC, my understanding is you can use Disney gift cards. Last year (before I knew about DVC) I was saving for a cash stay at Disney by buying discounted Disney gift cards. Consider it the same as prepaying for your vacation. Use websites like gcgalore.com to track when Disney goes on sales at retailers.

I built a spreadsheet and managed to buy about $2k worth of gift cards with an average of a 12% discount. Even better if you are buying these gift cards from grocery retailers with cards like the Amex Gold, which gives 4x points on grocery spend. Many times, places like Best Buy, Costco, Sam's Club, etc. will have 10-15% off on certain denominations (but have a limit as to how much you can buy). Other places like Meijer (for those in the midwest) routinely offer deals such as $5 of store credit for every $50 in gift cards you buy (with a max purchase of $500). I consider the store credit as good as cash, so it's similar to 10% off.

If you don't want to mess with gift cards, I understand. The best credit card to use to pay for DVC should be the new card you opened for the sign-up bonus (usually something like spend $5,000 to get $500 or 50k points). Even better if this card can go towards some meaningful status with an airline. For example, Southwest has the Companion Pass which lets you basically get BOGO flights for you and your companion for 1 full calendar year plus the remainder of the Calendar year you earned it in. To earn this companion pass, you need to earn 120k Southwest points. Sometimes the Southwest credit cards offer 80k points as a sign-up bonus. If you're putting a $30k charge on the card, that's an additional 30k points you'll get, putting you at 110k--you only need to spend $10k more on the card! Companion pass is HUGE for flight savings, and Southwest serves MCO airport quite favorably. So you can use your points to pay for yourself and add on your spouse for free. The points go pretty far too.

Otherwise, consider a new card you opened for 0% APR (if you need payment flexibility). Many have mentioned the Chase Sapphire Reserve as it gives 3x on travel, which can be redeemed for 4.5% back on travel through their portal (which you could use to book flights with whatever airline you want). This is definitely a good option. The Disney card itself is pretty underwhelming (I have no idea why it's so popular when there are cards out there that offer a flat 2% cashback on ALL spend) but getting 6-months at 0% APR is a nice perk. Can you get the 0% with an already open Disney card, or is that only a perk if you open the card at the same time you buy DVC?

My personal favorite is the US Bank Altitude Reserve--it has unlimited 3x on travel and mobile wallet spend. Points can be redeemed towards travel at 1.5cpp, meaning any place that codes as travel (which Disney does) or allows tap-to-pay will earn you 4.5% back on travel. And better yet, you don't have to use a portal like you do with Chase. You can charge the travel charge directly to your card, and then redeem your points against the charge. This means you can book a flight with an airline directly and then just erase the charge from your credit card statement (I personally like booking direct with airlines vs using an OTA, or online travel agency like Expedia or Chase Travel Portal).
 
Hey everyone. Long time lurker but just starting to get into this. I haven't read the whole thread so I apologize if this is repeat information, but I'm someone who participates in the "churning" game (i.e. opening up credit cards just for the sign-up bonuses).

For paying for DVC, my understanding is you can use Disney gift cards. Last year (before I knew about DVC) I was saving for a cash stay at Disney by buying discounted Disney gift cards. Consider it the same as prepaying for your vacation. Use websites like gcgalore.com to track when Disney goes on sales at retailers.

I built a spreadsheet and managed to buy about $2k worth of gift cards with an average of a 12% discount. Even better if you are buying these gift cards from grocery retailers with cards like the Amex Gold, which gives 4x points on grocery spend. Many times, places like Best Buy, Costco, Sam's Club, etc. will have 10-15% off on certain denominations (but have a limit as to how much you can buy). Other places like Meijer (for those in the midwest) routinely offer deals such as $5 of store credit for every $50 in gift cards you buy (with a max purchase of $500). I consider the store credit as good as cash, so it's similar to 10% off.

If you don't want to mess with gift cards, I understand. The best credit card to use to pay for DVC should be the new card you opened for the sign-up bonus (usually something like spend $5,000 to get $500 or 50k points). Even better if this card can go towards some meaningful status with an airline. For example, Southwest has the Companion Pass which lets you basically get BOGO flights for you and your companion for 1 full calendar year plus the remainder of the Calendar year you earned it in. To earn this companion pass, you need to earn 120k Southwest points. Sometimes the Southwest credit cards offer 80k points as a sign-up bonus. If you're putting a $30k charge on the card, that's an additional 30k points you'll get, putting you at 110k--you only need to spend $10k more on the card! Companion pass is HUGE for flight savings, and Southwest serves MCO airport quite favorably. So you can use your points to pay for yourself and add on your spouse for free. The points go pretty far too.

Otherwise, consider a new card you opened for 0% APR (if you need payment flexibility). Many have mentioned the Chase Sapphire Reserve as it gives 3x on travel, which can be redeemed for 4.5% back on travel through their portal (which you could use to book flights with whatever airline you want). This is definitely a good option. The Disney card itself is pretty underwhelming (I have no idea why it's so popular when there are cards out there that offer a flat 2% cashback on ALL spend) but getting 6-months at 0% APR is a nice perk. Can you get the 0% with an already open Disney card, or is that only a perk if you open the card at the same time you buy DVC?

My personal favorite is the US Bank Altitude Reserve--it has unlimited 3x on travel and mobile wallet spend. Points can be redeemed towards travel at 1.5cpp, meaning any place that codes as travel (which Disney does) or allows tap-to-pay will earn you 4.5% back on travel. And better yet, you don't have to use a portal like you do with Chase. You can charge the travel charge directly to your card, and then redeem your points against the charge. This means you can book a flight with an airline directly and then just erase the charge from your credit card statement (I personally like booking direct with airlines vs using an OTA, or online travel agency like Expedia or Chase Travel Portal).
For purchasing a direct DVC contract you cant use gift cards but you can pay by multiple credit cards over 90 days which makes it extra luractive imo. You get the best of both worlds, long term DVC savings and buying with a CC and you then can use Disney Gift Cards to pay your annual maintenance fees for DVC.

The 0% for 6 months works with a new Disney Visa or an existing one. Also a note about Chase Reserve and Sapphire Preferred on an account that has never used pay over time they often let you try it out the first time with no fees/interest, up to 24 months. It's not guaranteed that you will be offered that option but more often than not you will be. So for me, getting the big opening bonus plus the possibility of no fees pay over time for 24 months is worth it over the Disney Visa.

Edit: appears the no fee 1st time pay over time option is no longer being offered.
 
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My personal favorite is the US Bank Altitude Reserve--it has unlimited 3x on travel and mobile wallet spend. Points can be redeemed towards travel at 1.5cpp, meaning any place that codes as travel (which Disney does) or allows tap-to-pay will earn you 4.5% back on travel. And better yet, you don't have to use a portal like you do with Chase. You can charge the travel charge directly to your card, and then redeem your points against the charge. This means you can book a flight with an airline directly and then just erase the charge from your credit card statement (I personally like booking direct with airlines vs using an OTA, or online travel agency like Expedia or Chase Travel Portal).
Glad to hear yo like the US Bank Altitude. I may look at it again in the future.
 



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