Are you done borrowing yet?

[TinkB278]

I bought in 2020 and am always borrowing. I figured someday I’ll skip a year and it will even out, but even if I don’t and I keep borrowing, I figure I’m just kicking the can down the road and will run out of points one year sooner than the expiration date (and I’ll be quite old at that point anyways )

 

[CarolynFH]

I bought in 2020 and am always borrowing. I figured someday I’ll skip a year and it will even out, but even if I don’t and I keep borrowing, I figure I’m just kicking the can down the road and will run out of points one year sooner than the expiration date (and I’ll be quite old at that point anyways )

That’s my idea too - use ‘em while we can!

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

What is this mythical “banking” thing of which you speak? I heard a rumor about it once but I dismissed it as a myth…
“Borrowing,” on the other hand, is something we are VERY familiar with.

 

[Halle]

Owners since 1993 and we are always borrowing. We have 670 points at the BW. We have a large family (24) and have fallen in love with the GV.

 

[Cybertruck]

Owners since 1993 and we are always borrowing. We have 670 points at the BW. We have a large family (24) and have fallen in love with the GV.

In similar position but our points are at SSR (550) with a much smaller family. Have you thought about a 2042 strategy yet?

 

[Halle]

In similar position but our points are at SSR (550) with a much smaller family. Have you thought about a 2042 strategy yet?

We really haven't since we'll both be in our late eighties. Two of our four kids would gladly take it over and pay whatever it takes to keep it.

 

[🍀TwinsMom]

We bought 300 direct and are always maxed out borrowing. We hit it HARD when we first bought in (got those extra 300 points from the previous year, or however they categorize it when buying direct/new.)

Thinking of adding another 150-300 either CC resale or Poly if incentives are good direct. After that, that has to be enough. We have two going in braces in 2024 and then driver's ed/license/insurance x2 soon after that creeping up and college.

 

[tidefan]

Member since 2007 (700 pts) and we've only borrowed once. We generally bank every year.

 

[DduzDis]

I only have half of my 2025 points left. But, we are planning a cash trip to the West Coast in 2025 so it could even out then. But, not likely. We will probably mange to borrow again for something that year.

 

[pineapplepalms]

Over 2k points now and still always borrowing. Trying not to buy more points though. Our annual dues bill has grown quite a bit!

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Over 2k points now and still always borrowing. Trying not to buy more points though. Our annual dues bill has grown quite a bit!

Out of curiosity how do you use your points? Expensive times of the year? Multiple rooms? Long/multiple visits? We are over 1,000 and also feel like we could use more, but I know that we are in the minority.

 

[corpcomp]

Wow I'm in the minority. We have 300 points and never borrow. We usually bank some points and visit at least twice a year for 5 days in mainly a 1 br. With the pandemic, we banked a lot of points and have about 2000 Disney $ from our Visa cards so everything is free for us.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Wow I'm in the minority. We have 300 points and never borrow. We usually bank some points and visit at least twice a year for 5 days in mainly a 1 br. With the pandemic, we banked a lot of points and have about 2000 Disney $ from our Visa cards so everything is free for us.

That’s amazing. Just looking at the cheapest points charts you need to work to get a 1BD for 5 days twice in a year and still have much (if any) to bank. That’s really impressive.

 

[peabody58]

Planning out our trips into 2026 and we are borrowing heavily to allow for a 1.5-2 year break from WDW and AP's. We'll then start back up with regular visits in late 2027, which will be our 45th Wedding Anniversary..

 

[taaren]

We bought an extra contract in 2010 because after joining in '08 we were borrowing a lot. We also bought the extra contract because when we started we'd calculated that we'd be able to go weekdays during low season and as the kids got older that just wasn't working for us since getting the younglings to do homework on vacation makes it a much less relaxing vacation for mom and dad.
Now we get AP's every other year and with our 275 points, we use them all + borrow half the points during our AP year then take a year off, go other places, cruises, international destinations, etc during that year and explore other parts of California more. Then the off-year we bank the other half of the points, and use 2 years worth of points for 6ish weekend trips in 1 or 2 bedrooms during our next AP year. (Plus a few one day off-site trips for food festivals, often at my other timeshare.)
This also helps to let me build up a lot of Southwest points for AP years since when staycationing we tend to drive, and for international trips I use different credit card points/Marriott points.

Right now you have the best incentive to stop borrowing, and that is your maintenance fees. Every time I think about buying another contract, I tell myself to wait until after maintenance fees are paid, then see if I still want one. I usually do, but my budget doesn't, even though our incomes have increased we've found we like upgrading the trips on our AP years with special extras, more than paying more in maintenance fees.

 

[tx911]

Wow I'm in the minority. We have 300 points and never borrow. We usually bank some points and visit at least twice a year for 5 days in mainly a 1 br. With the pandemic, we banked a lot of points and have about 2000 Disney $ from our Visa cards so everything is free for us.

Idk if you have an AP, but that’s the kiss of death right there.

DVC + AP = I need to go to WDW every month, minimum.

 

[matt and beth]

Everything goes through cycles. As the family does its thing you’ll have seasons where you won’t do any trips. It’ll balance

 

[chuff88]

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.

I'm in the same boat as you - bought my contract this year, sold my 2023 points back as part of Magical Beginnings but borrowed some 2024 points to take a trip this November. Then I had to borrow 2025 points for a trip planned next summer, and I know I'll need to borrow 2026 points for a trip in 2025. Like you, I hope it levels off at that point, but I have a smaller (200 points) contract, so I'm fully anticipating I'll need to get some resale points sometime in the future.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Everything goes through cycles. As the family does its thing you’ll have seasons where you won’t do any trips. It’ll balance

That's funny right there, I don't care who you are.

 

[corpcomp]

Idk if you have an AP, but that’s the kiss of death right there.

DVC + AP = I need to go to WDW every month, minimum.

Actually we do have APs and just bought a house in Orlando suburbs. Once after renovating (and it needs a lot of renovation just like the Money Pit) we will go every other month for a weekend until we run out of points. Not worried about flooding because it is 70 feet above mean high water. Once of my wife's workmates just bought in Celebration does not have an AP or DVC but she has a relative working at WDW who gets her free passes. I need to get my son to work for Disney!