Are you done borrowing yet?

[tx911]

I just joined DVC earlier this year.

I banked a lot of points into 2024 after our initial buy-in.

Still, I am borrowing heavily from 2025 for multiple planned trips in 2024.

I will be borrowing from 2026 for planned trips in 2025.

I'm hoping things will level off at that point

At some point I may have to break down and buy more points, but I'm trying to ride out this initial busy period and see where things land.

I'm curious how long it took you more experienced owners to stop borrowing, or did it wind up causing you to buy more points? I don't want to wind up with too many and being forced to rent them.

 

[meekey7197]

Always borrowing and my husband will tell you we have more than enough points 3 of my 4 contracts are completely spent through April 2025

 

[DIS_MERI]

I tend to hunt down some transfer points every 2-3 years. That way I don't have to buy another contract to fix my problem, and it often helps out another owner who has extra points for whatever reason. It also allows me to get 11 month priority (even if I usually have to call) at resorts that I don't own.

 

[CarolynFH]

LOL, we started out borrowing in 1997 and have borrowed far more often than we’ve banked! We have evened things out by skipping a year here and there (taking trips elsewhere), but then we’ve booked a family trip or gone more than once a year and bingo! Borrowed again! We do have 300 points, though, so we haven’t needed to buy more.

 

[robinb]

I almost never borrow. I'm a banker, especially this year. We have no WDW trips planned for 2024 but I do have 5 days set aside for my niece for her honeymoon and long trip planned for May 2025 in a 1BR so those banked points will not go to waste.

 

[RuntheMouse]

We were lucky enough to buy a couple of loaded contracts. We also bought enough points to cover what we need so borrowing should be a rarity, fingers crossed!

 

[bumbershoot]

I've owned since 2009 and have borrowed or banked or a combo ever since. I bought 160 points and haven't purchased more.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

We've had a strategy that's worked really well for many years, and part of that is borrowing ahead almost every year. I'm not 100% certain how well it's worked for us, though, because the other part of that strategy has led to several new resale contracts and more points! So maybe we're not the best example.......!

 

[bwvBound]

We borrowed for our first three years having, knowingly and deliberately, purchased fewer points than our planned use. Af 3.5 years, we purchased an add-on that exceeded our planned use (oops!) and have since banked most years since.

However, Covid changed our usage pattern greatly and now we are sticking with west coast properties. The Grand Cal point chart is a good bit higher than WDW resorts! So ... things are mostly break even ... banking or borrowing ~10 points year to year.

 

[tx911]

I tend to hunt down some transfer points every 2-3 years. That way I don't have to buy another contract to fix my problem, and it often helps out another owner who has extra points for whatever reason. It also allows me to get 11 month priority (even if I usually have to call) at resorts that I don't own.

How does one do this? Do you just find someone on these boards that has points to transfer and PM them? Then some sort of exchange is involved?

 

[tx911]

LOL, we started out borrowing in 1997 and have borrowed far more often than we’ve banked! We have evened things out by skipping a year here and there (taking trips elsewhere), but then we’ve booked a family trip or gone more than once a year and bingo! Borrowed again! We do have 300 points, though, so we haven’t needed to buy more.

I foresee something like this. Eventually I'll not have enough points in a given year for a trip, so we will either skip a year or pay cash for trips that year.
Must. Resist. Adding. On.

 

[Tatebeck]

We bought heavy for our first contracts just recently so I hope I won't have to ever borrow and will actually have extra for short trips or to rent... But the bigger rooms look awfully nice once you have the points lol.

 

[DIS_MERI]

How does one do this? Do you just find someone on these boards that has points to transfer and PM them? Then some sort of exchange is involved?

Yes. I use the rent/trade board to find folks with points to transfer. There's quite a few rules involved (can't transfer banked points but you can bank transfers points...single transfer per use year, etc). I've always done a paypal transfer and then member services gets called. I usually have to call member services to use the points, as well, but it is worth it to me, when there's somewhere I want to stay but not have ongoing dues for

 

[ehh]

We've never stopped borrowing, and I don't think we will. We're never 'borrowed out' but about 30% of our points usage is borrowed points.

1. I find it hard to use exactly current UY points. Found it difficult when we had 220 points and find it even more difficult now that we own 1,500+.
   • Some of our contracts are deliberately 'every other year' contracts, so we must either bank and/or borrow.
   • We don't do the same exact travel every year.
2. I'd rather lean slightly toward borrow than bank, as there's more runway to reduce DVC travel and still avoid the risk of losing points.
   • Example: in 2025 we're considering replacing a DL visit with a cruise. We may be able to do both with our vacation time, but if we do have to swap out the DL visit at least we're not in a banked situation with a potential scramble to use the points before losing them.

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

I just joined DVC earlier this year.

I banked a lot of points into 2024 after our initial buy-in.

Still, I am borrowing heavily from 2025 for multiple planned trips in 2024.

I will be borrowing from 2026 for planned trips in 2025.

I'm hoping things will level off at that point

At some point I may have to break down and buy more points, but I'm trying to ride out this initial busy period and see where things land.

I'm curious how long it took you more experienced owners to stop borrowing, or did it wind up causing you to buy more points? I don't want to wind up with too many and being forced to rent them.

Never. And I still borrow even after adding on We always end up wanting to do bigger trips, and I like to bring my nephews too so that's an extra room. It truly is an addiction lol. I have stopped buying for now and look for point transfers instead so I am not stuck with more dues in case this does level off once my kids are in their late 20's.

 

[Cfabar1]

I personally am not willing to buy more points until I cannot borrow anymore points. Once I can’t borrow enough points to do what I want to, that’s when buying another contract makes sense to me.

But we split our time between family trips, WDW Trips, and Disney Cruises. And don’t have that much time to split!

 

[ElevationNotice]

Yes.

 

[kes601]

I doubt we'll ever be done borrowing. We do have "a 3 year plan" to get back to at least close to zero, but that requires us following said plan.

 

[LRdismom]

I personally am not willing to buy more points until I cannot borrow anymore points. Once I can’t borrow enough points to do what I want to, that’s when buying another contract makes sense to me.

This!

 

[tx911]

I personally am not willing to buy more points until I cannot borrow anymore points. Once I can’t borrow enough points to do what I want to, that’s when buying another contract makes sense to me.

But we split our time between family trips, WDW Trips, and Disney Cruises. And don’t have that much time to split!

I'm thinking along these lines, but I will probably just rent points when I can't borrow any more, rather than buy another contract.

Unless I find that I want to add another home resort