Where to get DVC info

[JustLoveDisney]

I am new to this area and am interested in getting some info on DVC. I'd like to find out

What happens if you don't use your points in the year? How does rolling them over work? Do they depreciate?

How does borrowing work?

What are the annual dues?

Why shouldn't I buy a resale? Is there a down side?

What is the deal with the assigned month? If I pick say February but I know I vacation in March or June or September does it matter? Do they depreciate?

Alot of questions I know but thought I'd throw them out there. I've requested an information packet from DVC but knew all of you out there are extremely knowledgeable in these and might be able to give me some advice. I know numerous trips are on the horizon for me as my son is now 4 and I am sure he will be as in love with WDW as me.

Tks much,
Debi

 

[Chuck S]

Hello Debi, Welcome to the DVC boards. Some of your questins may be answered here.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/faq.shtml

Points do not depreciate. The "use year" dictates your banking times. and you will get you annual allotment of points on the first day of your use year month.

For instance, if you receive 150 points on Feb 1, 2005, but wish to make a ressie that requires 157 points for April 2005, you can borrow those 7 points from the following year. Which in turn means on Feb 1, 2006, you would recieve 143 points for use within that use year.

If you do not use points by the end of your use year, or bank them within the designated window for your use year, you will lose them.

Annual dues will vary, depending on the actual DVC resort where you own your points. DUes include property taxes, payroll for CMs, maintenance, a fund for scheduled rehabs and roof maintenance, cost associated with Member Services Ressies and other management costs associated with the property. A ballbark figure is $4 to $4.50 per point depending on the resort.

 

[Cinderpals]

If your use year is February, you'll have 6 full months to bank 100% of your points, 3 additional months to bank 50% of your points and 1 additional month to bank up to 25% of your points. If you have to cancel booked points within the last two months, you'll lose them. Some DVCers have advised that that's when they rent any points that would be lost anyway.

It will go like this:

February 1st: 100% of year's allotment plus any banked points from previous year are put into your account.
July 31st: bank 100% of points by this day (vacations booked Feb-July)
Oct 31st: bank 50% of points by this day **(Aug-Oct)
Nov 3oth: bank 25% of points by this day **(Oct-Nov)
December -January can't bank anymore points. (Dec-Jan)

I was told by a resale agent that this would be 50% and 25% of your year's allotment. Makes a big difference to me, but check up on this as some interpret it as only 50% and 25% of your remaining unbanked points. I don't have my DVC reading material anymore to look this up for myself.

Hope this helps!

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Why shouldn't I buy a resale? Is there a down side?

The only reason not to buy resale is the easy Disney financing. If having a way to pay for your purchase isn't a problem, then there is no down side. The good thing about buying resale is that you can have your pick of resorts at a discounted rate from what Disney charges. You just have to have a way to pay for it. The most common method is the home equity loan.

HBC

 

[Chuck S]

Cinderpals and JustLovesDisney, it is 50% and 25%, respectively, of your total contract.

For instance, if you have a 200 point contract and bank 75 points prior to the 100% deadline, you could bank another 25 points prior to the 50% deadline and nothing more prior to the 25% deadline.

 

[Cruelladeville]

Chuck, I think you may have mis-spoken, unless I read your post wrong. In your example, at the 100% point in your banking year, you could bank all 200 points, or any amount less than that. At the 50% point in the year you could only bank 100 pts--if you were only banking 75 points, you could still bank all 75 points, because it's less than 100 pts. Each percentage is the % of your total points, NOT the % of UNused points.

 

[Chuck S]

Cruella, in the example I used, the owner would have banked 75 points of the 200 points prior to the 100% deadline, leaving 125 unbanked points that the owner may have been contemplating using. After the 100% banking window closed, and within the 50% banking window, if the owner decided to NOT use any points that year, they could only bank 25 points more---that would mean that 100 points (50% of the contract) would have been banked for the year, and that no further points could be banked. The 100 remaining unbanked points would be "use or lose".

 

[RobDoc]

Chuck, I think you may have mis-spoken, unless I read your post wrong. In your example, at the 100% point in your banking year, you could bank all 200 points, or any amount less than that. At the 50% point in the year you could only bank 100 pts--if you were only banking 75 points, you could still bank all 75 points, because it's less than 100 pts. Each percentage is the % of your total points, NOT the % of UNused points.

Chuck was giving an example of the cumulative total for banking points. If 200 points are owned and 75 were banked by the 6 month deadline, a total of 25 more points is all that may be banked. If that number is banked by the 50% deadline, then no more points may be banked since 100 points have already been banked.

If no points were banked by the 6 month deadline, then a total of 100 may be banked by the 50% deadline.

If 100 points were banked by the 6 month deadline, no more points may be banked for that Use Year.

 

[crisi]

You have to use any banked point the next year or they expire....you can only bank for one year, you can only borrow from the next year. Once banked or borrowed, points cannot be moved again.

Resales. There are a couple reasons to avoid resales other than financing. Direct gives you the comfort of dealing with Disney, a fast troublefree closing and the ability to make reservations before you close. However, if you have time, an interest in a sold out resort or the patience to wait for a good deal, resales are great. The Timeshare Store (banner ad at the top of this page) and www.atimeshare.com have been used by many people here without issues.