Will the new banking rules RUIN your DVC?

[CarolMN]

It won't really make a big difference to me. It would be a big deal for me if I was a SeptUY or OctUY. With a Sept UY I would feel like I could never go during that one and only time of year: low points while school is out, late Aug.....

You could still go in late August if you had a September use year - it would only be a problem if you had to cancel the reservation after April 30. (FWIW, canceling an August vacation with a September use year could be a problem even under the current banking rules, depending on when you canceled and how many points the vacation used relative to your total annual allotment).

Members who think there is a good chance of a cancellation will need to seriously consider trip insurance - the returned points may not be usable before they expire, but at least the dues on them would be recovered.

I do wonder what DVC's purpose is in doing this.

Me, too - but I think they are mostly just trying to simplify the rules for both members and CMs.

 

[diznyfanatic]

I think we might be okay, if I'm understanding the change correctly.

We have an August UY. We only travel during October, December, and April. With an elderly parent, under the old rules, our April vacation was the most risky to book IF we would ever need to cancel as we were in danger of losing points due to the banking window.

With the new rule, I think we'd now be able to be able to cancel an April trip and still be able to bank 100% of our points.

Does that sound right? Sorry if I'm being particularly dense.

 

[CarolMN]

I think we might be okay, if I'm understanding the change correctly.

We have an August UY. We only travel during October, December, and April. With an elderly parent, under the old rules, our April vacation was the most risky to book IF we would ever need to cancel as we were in danger of losing points due to the banking window.

With the new rule, I think we'd now be able to be able to cancel an April trip and still be able to bank 100% of our points.

Does that sound right? Sorry if I'm being particularly dense.

If the rumored change is true (8 months from start of use year to bank up to 100%), it will actually be better for your current travel patterns than the current banking rules.

With an August use year, your banking deadline will be the end of the following March. Since you need to cancel at least 31 days in advance to avoid the holding account, your April trip did indeed become less risky.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Cumulative banking is where you have multiple contracts under one master and they all get counted for the banking percentages. Say you have 400 points, 2 different 200 pt contracts, you could bank 200 pts from either contract in the 50% banking window. Where for separate contracts, you'd be limited to 100 pts from EACH contract.

Ok, now I get it!

 

[kimberh]

Maybe this is discussed in another area, but has there been an explanation as to the why behind this change?

Do you know why? If it has been said, I missed it.

 

[La2kw]

People actually bank their points? We always borrow all of our points every year for our annual trip, so we never have any to bank.

I can sympathize with those who will have trouble with this though.

 

[diznyfanatic]

If the rumored change is true (8 months from start of use year to bank up to 100%), it will actually be better for your current travel patterns than the current banking rules.

With an August use year, your banking deadline will be the end of the following March. Since you need to cancel at least 31 days in advance to avoid the holding account, your April trip did indeed become less risky.

Thank you so much for the confirmation!

 

[Sammie]

Do you know why? If it has been said, I missed it.

That was why I was asking, I thought maybe someone had posted the reason for the change and I missed it.

Lately with DVC nothing would surprise me.

 

[JimMIA]

My guess is the reason is they just want to simplify the system so MS personnel won't have to spend so much time explaining all the nuances of banking a thousand times a day.

Another possibility is the three banking periods were creating computer issues with the online banking. I know they've been having trouble with that.

Someone probably thought this was a good fix -- split the difference and give the members two more months to bank everything. That's the kind of thinking you get sometimes from people who don't actually manage accounts.

It makes sense on the surface, and you don't think about the fact that the members are really losing two months! Most of us, I suspect, use at least 75% of our points each year, and the 25% window was a real benefit to many.

 

[Dean]

Do you know why? If it has been said, I missed it.

DVC hasn't said, they haven't even notified the membership yet officially. But you'd have to assume a certain subset of the membership just couldn't get it right and the CM got constant complaints. The other option is that the CM themselves had trouble keeping up with it but with their computer systems, I think that's unlikely.

 

[kimberh]

Thanks Sammie, Dean, JimMia

 

[dwelty]

This will work out great for us because we have an October Use year and never travel during the summer. This means we will have until June to bank our points. If we do have some un-bankable points left over we can just use them at DLR (1 hour away) However, I know this will negatively affect some.

I wonder if this will have an overall good effect on avalibility?

 

[SuzanneSLO]

In the Vacation Magic page that ENNA posted, it reads:

"So just remember to book or bank before four before and you’ll be good to go. You can still travel, of course, at any time. The rule simply refers to your booking date. By giving you one simple rule to remember, we hope you’ll find it easier than ever to take advantage of those opportunities."

I hope that the reference to the booking deadline is only meant to apply to the use of points outside the DVC resorts. If not, this would cause additional concern. If the rule is that broad, if you cancel in those last 4 months, you could not rebook at DVC or anywhere else other than DL in those last 4 months of your UY even if there was availability!

-- Suzanne

 

[Inkmahm]

No, the new banking rules will NOT ruin my DVC. We purchased October UY for a very good reason. We always travel in Dec and then again in Spring. We never travel to Florida in June, July, August or September. May and October are potential, maybe someday months.

With an October UY, I will always know by my May 31 banking deadline whether we need to bank or not. In theory, the 8 month 100% banking is probably better for us but I doubt if it will affect us one way or the other in reality.

 

[tfc3rid]

I think that this only works if they allow borrowing after you bank your points... That way, if you want to make reservations for a trip on short notice after your 8 months, you still can...

It seems like this is trying to curtail the amount of points banked from year to year...

 

[MichelleB]

I have a booking question relating to this change: the vacation magic states:

"The new cutoff date for booking Member Getaways exchanges and banking unused Vacation Points is 120 day prior to the end of your Use Year, which essentially is four months."

It does not state we must book our DVC trips by 4 months out, only member exchanges and banking unused pts. Can we still reserve after the 4 months by borrowing back pts to use at a DVC resort???

I ask because unfortunately we tend to go in January and have a Feb UY. We are constantly adding days to trips and this would not be possible if we must book 4 months out for DVC. I can always bank the points left and then borrow to add a day, but want to make sure this would work.

 

[Snookies]

...I hope that the reference to the booking deadline is only meant to apply to the use of points outside the DVC resorts. If not, this would cause additional concern. If the rule is that broad, if you cancel in those last 4 months, you could not rebook at DVC or anywhere else other than DL in those last 4 months of your UY even if there was availability!

-- Suzanne

If I interpret this correctly, a question is whether the 60-day rule will become a 120-day rule? Does anyone have any addtional info?

 

[BeccaG]

I have a booking question relating to this change: the vacation magic states:

"It does not state we must book our DVC trips by 4 months out, only member exchanges and banking unused pts. . .. I can always bank the points left and then borrow to add a day, but want to make sure this would work.

I am not 100% sure I understand your question, but No you can't "borrow back" points to add to your vacation since, once points are banked it is a final, one time transaction. However, you could borrow points from the next year. Of course, I may have totally missed your question and then someone much more knowledgeable than I (and there are plenty of those folks around here) will correct me!! It sounds like to me that you are correct, the four month cut-off is only for exchanges and banking. so you could still add days while on vacation from your current allotment of points.

 

[BeccaG]

While the change gains 2 additional months for the 100% window, it loses two months we currently have. A 50% window month, and a 25% window month.

I see this as a problem for some waitlists. Specifically waitlists for reservations scheduled near the end of your use year.

Wow, I am so glad there are folks like you Caskbill who figured that scenario out. . . it is an important change and will definitely influence how folks use a waitlist.

 

[justjudy]

We almost always plan 2-3 trips 11 months in advance and bank right after. Worst case, we borrow for a last minute trip. So no, we don't care. Simpler is better to me.

Same here.