Will the new banking rules RUIN your DVC?

[CptnJack]

I'm not sure if this was already mentioned or not... I really don't see the big deal as you can always bank and then "borrow" the banked points. If I banked all of my points right now into my September 2008 UY and I decided to take a trip this week (providing there was availability of course) I could just borrow from the points I have in 2008.

I'm sure there is a flaw in my simple plan but for me I don't see an issue at all here. If you are truly mastering the "banked, borrowed, 11 month, 7 month, etc" I could see where it could get tricky but with very little extra planning you could make this a positive from the extra 2 months to make your decisions.

Thanks,

 

[Dean]

Question... so could you bank your points and then book your holiday when you are sure it will happen, and then borrow your points from the next year? It would mean that you don't plan that far ahead, but say you don't actually book a holiday(for those who work) until one-two months before your stay, would you still be covered?

Next year (2008) I'm planning to holiday in the summer or fall (within the 4 months before the end of my UY). Would it be safer to borrow banked points then when I'm sure I can go?

For most I'd say this is not the best option for several reasons. I feel it's getting harder to book on shorter notice for most resorts for a significant portion of the year, thus you might get nothing. And I think using the borrowed points later in the use year is a larger risk. Remember that it's not when you travel but when you cancel that's the issue and that once you're inside the holding account period none of this matters. Plus you could never cancel inside the last 2 months of the use year and bank anyway. So you're losing one month of the 25% banking window and one month of the 50% banking at the most window but gaining 2 months of 100% banking or to look at it another way, an increase of 50% for those two months. You're actually gaining a net increase of 25% banking for one month, mathematically speaking. However, I think that the benefit to the membership as a whole is far greater than that when you figure that MOST members try to stay away from being too late in their use year anyway. Those buying now will likely put a little more emphasis on UY, they should have before. And those planning trips will likely adjust earlier when they can.

And doesn't this policy encourage people to rent out their distressed points?

I don't think so. Per my other posts and info above I think there will ultimately be LESS distressed points, not more. But it would shift which points are distressed. If you had distressed points due to this change, you'd have extra time to try to deal with them either by rescheduling or renting them. And they would still be transferable.

Seems like DVC goes around in circles!

I know people are looking at this like it's a big change but I see it as a small adjustment. Still it makes you wonder about those posts saying DVC won't change this or that because they don't want to hear the members complain.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

I have a question, what's banking?

 

[doconeill]

I'm not sure if this was already mentioned or not... I really don't see the big deal as you can always bank and then "borrow" the banked points. If I banked all of my points right now into my September 2008 UY and I decided to take a trip this week (providing there was availability of course) I could just borrow from the points I have in 2008.

I'm sure there is a flaw in my simple plan but for me I don't see an issue at all here. If you are truly mastering the "banked, borrowed, 11 month, 7 month, etc" I could see where it could get tricky but with very little extra planning you could make this a positive from the extra 2 months to make your decisions.

Thanks,

I think the flaw is that you cannot borrow back the points you banked - you can only borrow the points that are "naturally" in the next UY. So, assuming you haven't borrowed already, you can only use up to one UYs worth of points in this case, whereas you could use them AND the points you are talking about banking.

Banking and borrowing are one-way transactions. Once done, you cannot do anything with those points other than to make a reservation in the UY they currently exist in.

 

[CptnJack]

Banking and borrowing are one-way transactions. Once done, you cannot do anything with those points other than to make a reservation in the UY they currently exist in.

See? You've complicated my simple plan...

For us it really doesn't matter though, at least not now. That may change but for the time being we book 11 months out. We took three impromptu trips this year and paid cash two times. That tells me we have the right amount of points or just under... I thought about adding on but that is a story for another thread...

 

[TreesyB]

For most I'd say this is not the best option for several reasons. I feel it's getting harder to book on shorter notice for most resorts for a significant portion of the year, thus you might get nothing. And I think using the borrowed points later in the use year is a larger risk. Remember that it's not when you travel but when you cancel that's the issue and that once you're inside the holding account period none of this matters. Plus you could never cancel inside the last 2 months of the use year and bank anyway. So you're losing one month of the 25% banking window and one month of the 50% banking at the most window but gaining 2 months of 100% banking or to look at it another way, an increase of 50% for those two months. You're actually gaining a net increase of 25% banking for one month, mathematically speaking. However, I think that the benefit to the membership as a whole is far greater than that when you figure that MOST members try to stay away from being too late in their use year anyway. Those buying now will likely put a little more emphasis on UY, they should have before. And those planning trips will likely adjust earlier when they can.

your response just gave me a feeling of addonitis. The simple solution would just to buy another contract with a Feb UY for the summer/fall months

 

[IndianaMouseLover]

Being a new member since Feb. 2007 I guess I am totally confused now. I was trying to learn the rules and now new ones. I'll have to wait until we get the new changes in hand and try to make sense of them. I think I have the new banking rule down but how it effects other rules that were in place is where I am confused.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Any thoughts on how this will affect the ability to bank transferred points?

If there is still no deadline to bank transferred points, the ideal situation for those needing to cancel more than 30 days out but within 4 months of the end of their UY is to find a DVC buddy. Cancel the ressie, transfer to your DVC buddy who banks them, then have your DVC buddy make the ressie for you for the next UY. Certainly more clunky than than under the old rules, but workable.

I would suspect that this change actually impacts those with a greater number of points more than those who have fewer. Our current schedule is to take take 2 vacations each UY (Spring & Fall), then skip then next UY. Each trip uses close to 100% of our annual allocation. With an Aug UY, most of our points used for the Spring trip were already potentially at risk if we cancel after Jan. Now, we have until Mar to cancel, so the change actually helps us some.

The worst thing, of course, is that this is a CHANGE and people hate change. Many people spent a lot of time understanding how to maximize DVC based on the old rules (any many purchased based on that understanding) and now they need to start over. Unfortunately, some limitations, such as school schedules and UY are almost impossible to change in a cost effective way. So for some, they will be stuck with a less flexibile system than they bought into. Of course, DVC always warned us they could change the rules, but this doesn't really make one feel much better.

Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[global_mom]

We are a Dec. UY and always make a trip to WDW in early October. If we had to cancel then we would have a bit of a problem booking a new trip prior to Dec. 1st. However, we would still have had a problem with the old rules b/c we would have been within 2 months of our UY date.

I guess our alternatives would be to rent the points or offer our reservation to friends/family. I would be very sad to loose any points but I could loose points with the new rules just as easily with the old rules. Unless a child was terribly ill, we would go ahead and go to WDW since we would have the "comforts of home" at DVC and then we could alternate taking the other kids to the parks. If DH or I were sick then we would still take turns going to the parks.

I do like having a little extra time for the 100% banking window but I cant quite imagine going a whole year w/o a Disney trip!!

 

[Dean]

Any thoughts on how this will affect the ability to bank transferred points?

If there is still no deadline to bank transferred points, the ideal situation for those needing to cancel more than 30 days out but within 4 months of the end of their UY is to find a DVC buddy. Cancel the ressie, transfer to your DVC buddy who banks them, then have your DVC buddy make the ressie for you for the next UY. Certainly more clunky than than under the old rules, but workable.

As I said previously, I think they will take that option away again. But given the current and new setup, having a totally separate contract gives you additional options. This current change would take away the cumulative banking advantage. Having multiple use years/contracts would not only give you the option of choosing which contract to use for a given trip but currently the chance to transfer then bank points you couldn't bank otherwise.

I would suspect that this change actually impacts those with a greater number of points more than those who have fewer. Our current schedule is to take take 2 vacations each UY (Spring & Fall), then skip then next UY. Each trip uses close to 100% of our annual allocation. With an Aug UY, most of our points used for the Spring trip were already potentially at risk if we cancel after Jan. Now, we have until Mar to cancel, so the change actually helps us some.

Likely so but I think more because of the cumulative banking percentages than anything else. Those using banked and borrowed points are still taking a larger risk than those using current UY points.

The worst thing, of course, is that this is a CHANGE and people hate change. Many people spent a lot of time understanding how to maximize DVC based on the old rules (any many purchased based on that understanding) and now they need to start over. Unfortunately, some limitations, such as school schedules and UY are almost impossible to change in a cost effective way. So for some, they will be stuck with a less flexibile system than they bought into. Of course, DVC always warned us they could change the rules, but this doesn't really make one feel much better.

And I think that was one of the points I was trying to make earlier but you said it better. It is change and likely for the better for the overall membership.

 

[manning]

No problem -- just Western Union me the money! (Sorry...sometimes I just have no restraint!) Me either. I know my Veranda Rights!

And no security camera is going to take them away from me. Our forefathers died for our Veranda Rights! (didn't they? )

Ain't that the naked truth....just remember to keep those drapes drawn.

 

[manning]

And don't forget its direct impact on poor Caskbill personally, the revision of the DVC Planner programs. I tell you this man's work never ends. Nose to the grindstone, he's overworked and underpaid (OK not paid at all).

does that mean we get a discount until his new new program comes out and will that be extended if there has to be a new new new one.

 

[lisareniff]

As This current change would take away the cumulative banking advantage. Having multiple use years/contracts would not only give you the option of choosing which contract to use for a given trip but currently the chance to transfer then bank points you couldn't bank otherwise.

The way we use our dual resort contract, the cumulative banking arrangement is both an advantage some years and a disadvantage others.

We have a 300BCV contract we use for various WDW trips and a 150 VB contract used alternating years just for VB. So if we bank 100% of the VB points every other year, since the banking percentages are cumulative, at the 9 month mark we can bank either 75% or 25% of our 300 BCV points depending on if it is a VB banking year or a VB vacation year. At the 10 month mark it would be 37% or 0% of our 300BCV points. So for us this makes it a simpler process by eliminating the cumulative banking.

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

No, our UY is in the month we usually travel and We have enough points for a couple weeks in a 1bdrm and depending on where we stay we never bank more than a few points we have left over anyhow.

Maybe as we get older after the kids are grown and we don't need the 1-bdrm we may end up taking more trips per year in a studio and it could come into play then, but not now.

 

[crisi]

Won't affect us at all since we use our contract for planned trips every other year. Knowing 24 months in advance when we are using our points, and banking them every other year, it doesn't make any difference to me when I make the phone call.

April use year and if I'm not going to Disney within the next twelve months I often call in April and bank everything.

 

[JimMIA]

Ain't that the naked truth....just remember to keep those drapes drawn.

That's the whole point! There are no drapes on the Veranda!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

The way we use our dual resort contract, the cumulative banking arrangement is both an advantage some years and a disadvantage others.

We have a 300BCV contract we use for various WDW trips and a 150 VB contract used alternating years just for VB. So if we bank 100% of the VB points every other year, since the banking percentages are cumulative, at the 9 month mark we can bank either 75% or 25% of our 300 BCV points depending on if it is a VB banking year or a VB vacation year. At the 10 month mark it would be 37% or 0% of our 300BCV points. So for us this makes it a simpler process by eliminating the cumulative banking.

Can someone explain the cumulative banking process? I have 2 separate contracts. How do the changes affect those with separate contracts vs. contracts under the same UY? Doesn't the new banking timeframe start with the start of your UY?

 

[JimMIA]

Can someone explain the cumulative banking process? I have 2 separate contracts. How do the changes affect those with separate contracts vs. contracts under the same UY? Doesn't the new banking timeframe start with the start of your UY?

I don't think any of us will know the answer to that until we see the details. Obviously it makes a big difference whether they start it 1/1/08 or UY 08.

My guess is they will start it with the beginning of the each account's 08 UY.

It really would not be fair to someone with an early use year month to suddenly find out their banking deadline had passed -- e.g. someone with a April UY waiting until January 08 to bank 25%, and then being told that their banking deadline expired in November 07. I'm sure they won't do that to anyone.

 

[TenThousandVolts]

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.

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

 

[Dean]

Can someone explain the cumulative banking process? I have 2 separate contracts. How do the changes affect those with separate contracts vs. contracts under the same UY? Doesn't the new banking timeframe start with the start of your UY?

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.