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

[eticketplease]

@Chili327

In my scenario I already have CSR and Disney Premier. AF are sunk cost for both.

I do, and that is the crux of the question. 0% financing for 6 months vs 4x UR points (disregard SUBs and AFs)?

What is the optimal use of this combo in a $30k 150 pt DVC purchase scenario (where I CSR is already my daily driver and DP is already my goto for DCL trips)?

TPG might put it in terms of cents per point? Whats the conversion to cents per dollar spent?
How do you factor in the time value of money in this scenario?

I suck at math and statistics so thanks in advance for my poorly worded question.

Since you do have a CSR and were wondering about the 0% I would go a slightly different route than @Brian Noble and open a CFU you would be earning less in CUR but they are transferable to your CSR and then you could keep the money in a money market / HYSA or CD with 15 months of growth.

Of course rates will probably go down a little in that time so you would need to account for that as well unless you are locked in with a CD

Edit: fixed the autocorrect of done to down

 

[Brian Noble]

Is vanguard a good account to have for money market funds

It takes a little bit of work to set it up, but once it is, it's really easy. There are other options for where to set one up, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Vanguard. Their founder was a big proponent of low-cost investing for individuals.

https://investor.vanguard.com/accounts-plans/brokerage-accounts

 

[BLTStitch]

It takes a little bit of work to set it up, but once it is, it's really easy. There are other options for where to set one up, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Vanguard. Their founder was a big proponent of low-cost investing for individuals.

https://investor.vanguard.com/accounts-plans/brokerage-accounts

That’s important and great to know. Thank you.

 

[airjay75]

I’ve been just put some extra money to CD with higher interest rates in the past a few years, with the worry not knowing how to create a brokerage account and need to move money. Is vanguard a good account to have for money market funds - easy to transfer money in and out from regular bank checking account to manage short term extra money? Thank you!

It is super easy. My personal favorite is the Vanguard Cash Reserves MMF. Current 7-day SEC yield is 4.06% (that’s the annualized interest rate that was earned over the past 7-days and will generally rise or fall with the Fed funds rate).

https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vmrxx

 

[emchen]

Since you do have a CSR and were wondering about the 0% I would go a slightly different route than @Brian Noble and open a CFU

Haha, I already have CFU too.

Opening up a new card is not what I want to do. I’m trying to decide between those two options and right now, DP 0% has an edge.

@Brian Noble “booking Luxury Collection because its free and hotel credit” is real. Did the exact same thing last spring in Florence!

Thanks all!

 

[eticketplease]

What is the optimal use of this combo in a $30k 150 pt DVC purchase scenario (where I CSR is already my daily driver and DP is already my goto for DCL trips)?

TPG might put it in terms of cents per point? Whats the conversion to cents per dollar spent?

This example is assuming that you are just cashing out everything for $0.01 per point in the future and not being used to put towards the payment of your $30K purchase, ie Disney Dollars you could use Pay Yourself Back and wipe out a chuck of the purchase or with CUR you could either do a statement credit or deposit to your bank account and then make the payment.

I am simply using Capital One 360 and Ally as they are both at 3.40% APY at the moment although there are several companies out there that pay slightly higher. Again it is facturing keeping the rewards for later so I did not pull the CSR points and put it into a HYSA for 14 months.

The Disney cards give 6 months and the Chase Freedom Unlimited give 15 months but I lowered these amounts by one month as a just in case.
I also granted the CSR with 1 month of 0% as you normally have a full billing cycle to pay your bill with no interest provided that your full balance was paid the previous month.

While you are granted 0% for a certain time period I assumed a 2% payment (most likely 1% in reality) would be the minimum monthly payment. I did not subtract the minimum payment from the balance and recalculate a new monthly payment each month like I should have. Instead of moving all of the money into an HYSA and then withdrawing the monthly payments I am only transferring the balance that needs to be paid at the end of the 0% timeframe. I also did not add the interest accrued monthly to generate additional interest earned as this was just a quick thing. Obviously if the entirity of cash is placed in a HYSA or other safe interest earning account and monthly withdraws to cover the payments and the interest accrued on the growing balance these numbers for the cash earned would be greater with the CFU certainly being the winner here.

Surprising the CSR and CFU are very close in term of cash back totals but of course you would have more spending power in the chase travel portal or using transfer portals with the amount that are actually CUR points instead of cash but again we are just looking at straight cash scenarios.

Also as you had mentioned earlier this is not facturing in the SUBs: $200 for CFU, $400 Disney Premiere, $200 Disney, $1,250 for CSR or their respective AF's $0 for CFU, $49 for Disney Premiere, $0 for Disney and $795 for CSR.

Hopefully this gives you an idea.

Of course I didn't do the scenario that you place x amount on a card that gets 0% and the rest on your CSR that is something to thing about as well.

 

[eticketplease]

Haha, I already have CFU too.

Opening up a new card is not what I want to do. I’m trying to decide between those two options and right now, DP 0% has an edge.

@Brian Noble “booking Luxury Collection because its free and hotel credit” is real. Did the exact same thing last spring in Florence!

Thanks all!

Sorry I was working on the other post while you posted this.

CFF has the same 0% offer but earns 1% instead of 1.5% but obviously that doesn't matter since you don't want a new card.

Looking at the basic example in my previous post the CSR looks like it wins out unless you don't have the $30K to pay off the purchase in 1 month.

 

[DoubleBaconBLT]

Thanks for confirming. I got into DVC this summer with a BLT resale. Then find out direct is not that much more with MB, incentives and credit card. I already paid poly direct initial payment with my regular BOA card =). It gave a high cash rewards. It coded to travel for BOA and I was able to pick travel for the category for this month for 3%, but the initial payment max the Q4 $2.5K spend already.

Confirming the new CSR can earn 4x for direct purchase is very helpful. In the past I was very against high annual fee credit cards, but reading more in disboards here makes me feel like it’s not that bad. I’m still hesitate to get CSR biz without knowing what I may be able to downgrade the card to after a year. Do you intend to keep CSR biz long term? Thank you!

Nah, I'm churning that one. Will drop it almost immediately after the 1 year mark so I don't get two annual fees.

 

[intamin]

Alright dredging this up one last time I promise now that I'm actually in the 3 month timeframe of when I plan to buy my next contract. What's the best way to go here for us? Considering we likely will benefit from points for traveling Southwest and at the Hyatt should my wife and I each doing Chase Ink Preferred if the goal is to maximize the number of points we get?

 

[atthebeachclub]

Sign up bonuses will be helpful. Southwest Companion Pass if you hopefully have some small side business or a big business? That's what I'd consider. I find this woman's website very helpful: https://katiestraveltricks.com/

Some of her Southwest advice is here; timing is important with this one: https://katiestraveltricks.com/southwest-companion-pass-fall-2025-timelines/

Cards with signup bonuses I've been looking at for recent direct purchase planned payoff: SW business cards and personal cards, Capital One Venture/Venture X, Amex Gold or Platinum (apparently starting with Gold is best as you will never be eligible for the Gold signup bonus if you start at the higher tier first), Capital One Spark Business Cash. Also looking at a few airline cards that fly locally.

 

[intamin]

Sign up bonuses will be helpful. Southwest Companion Pass if you hopefully have some small side business or a big business? That's what I'd consider. I find this woman's website very helpful: https://katiestraveltricks.com/

Some of her Southwest advice is here; timing is important with this one: https://katiestraveltricks.com/southwest-companion-pass-fall-2025-timelines/

Cards with signup bonuses I've been looking at for recent direct purchase planned payoff: SW business cards and personal cards, Capital One Venture/Venture X, Amex Gold or Platinum (apparently starting with Gold is best as you will never be eligible for the Gold signup bonus if you start at the higher tier first), Capital One Spark Business Cash. Also looking at a few airline cards that fly locally.

If I wanted one that could be used for Hyatt as well should I be considering a Chase card? We likely won't be traveling for a little bit after our next few trips which have already been paid for so I'm not sure if getting the companion pass will be that helpful right now?

 

[davidhr]

If I wanted one that could be used for Hyatt as well should I be considering a Chase card? We likely won't be traveling for a little bit after our next few trips which have already been paid for so I'm not sure if getting the companion pass will be that helpful right now?

If you want Hyatt you should be focusing on Chase.

If you time it right, the companion will last for two years, but if you’re not going to use it enough, Chase points are more valuable.

 

[Chili327]

If you want Hyatt you should be focusing on Chase

Curious if it was Hilton instead of Hyatt, what might you suggest?

 

[davidhr]

Curious if it was Hilton instead of Hyatt, what might you suggest?

Hilton is my first choice and it’s hard to beat the Amex Aspire + Surpass combo. With my usual spend it’s at least 3 free nights per year and a decent amount of points. That’s before maximizing the Aspire credits. If you’re really staying frequently at Hilton (and one or two resorts per year), the Amex Hilton are the best hotel credit cards out there.