Disney Debt?

Nebraska_Disney

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Just was wondering as this is the budget board and many of the questions that come up here are asked to save money. How many of you account for the debt you take on and the interest accumulation when pricing your Disney trips? I know that there are those who don't take on any debt to go to FL, but when your are talking several thousand dollars to go and putting it on a credit card to do so, these added expenses should be considered, right?

I guess part of me just shakes my head that there are people budgeting and saving like crazy to go and looking to cut costs, while a component of that same group just puts in on a CC and talks about the great deal they got and they are not paying off their CC balance every month.
 
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If you pay off the credit card before the statement is due there is no debt/interest. I use my credit cards as if they were debit cards. Spend $2000, pay $2000. If I don't already have that $2000 in cash to pay it off then I don't use the credit card. If by using that card I earn 5% cash back then I was just paid to use that credit card. you're assuming they're accumulating debt because they're using a credit card and that may not be true at all. Great deals can be had by using credit cards to your advantage.
 
Exactly what PPs said-paying of credit cards as soon as the charges hit means no interest with perks--airline points, hotel points, Disney reward points, whatever the cc used provides. Now, in the past, I was guilty of booking an "extra trip (or two)" due to "savings" and that is an entirely different situation. Thankfully that was long ago and I have seen the error of that skewed math logic.
 


I am in the same boat as the previous posts, I use my CC for everything and pay it off every month. Not everyone is that way, and those were the people I directed my question at: Do those who accumulate credit card debt (not paying it off each month) account for the added expenses of interest into their Disney Vacations?
 
Just was wondering as this is the budget board and many of the questions that come up here are asked to save money. How many of you account for the debt you take on and the interest accumulation when pricing your Disney trips? I know that there are those who don't take on any debt to go to FL, but when your are talking several thousand dollars to go and putting it on a credit card to do so, these added expenses should be considered, right?

I guess part of me just shakes my head that there are people budgeting and saving like crazy to go and looking to cut costs, while a component of that same group just puts in on a CC and talks about the great deal they got and they are not paying off their CC balance every month.
I pay for everything, 100% of all vacation expenses, with my debit card. Every time. No vacation debt for me.
 
I am in the same boat as the previous posts, I use my CC for everything and pay it off every month. Not everyone is that way, and those were the people I directed my question at: Do those who accumulate credit card debt (not paying it off each month) account for the added expenses of interest into their Disney Vacations?

If they're going into debt to pay for a vacation then I would guess no, but any cash savings on top of that debt would still be a good thing, Or its possible they're using a zero % interest card and then just making payments over the 12 months or whatever it is...still no interest.
 


I am in the same boat as the previous posts, I use my CC for everything and pay it off every month. Not everyone is that way, and those were the people I directed my question at: Do those who accumulate credit card debt (not paying it off each month) account for the added expenses of interest into their Disney Vacations?
It will take a very brave person to come on this board and admit that they carry any debt for a luxury item like a Disney vacation.

However, there are those take the YOLO attitude and will incur debt in order to do it. Not my way of doing things most of the time but sometimes you have to seize the moment. People who are doing a Wish trip, taking a cancer patient for one last visit, celebrating a visit before a military member ships out, etc. may not even try to justify the cost in terms of interest paid or lost revenue from interest collected. The "people factor" has no price.

I didn't take into account what I'm not getting in terms of ROI nor the break-even point for my DVC contracts. Certainly, I could do with a few less Disney trips and could have dumped that cash into an ETF but not everything is about accumulating wealth. DVC ownership makes me happy. Knowing that I will always have a Disney trip in the works makes me happy. Being able to share that kind of vacation with friends and family makes me happy.
 
It will take a very brave person to come on this board and admit that they carry any debt for a luxury item like a Disney vacation.

However, there are those take the YOLO attitude and will incur debt in order to do it. Not my way of doing things most of the time but sometimes you have to seize the moment. People who are doing a Wish trip, taking a cancer patient for one last visit, celebrating a visit before a military member ships out, etc. may not even try to justify the cost in terms of interest paid or lost revenue from interest collected. The "people factor" has no price.

I didn't take into account what I'm not getting in terms of ROI nor the break-even point for my DVC contracts. Certainly, I could do with a few less Disney trips and could have dumped that cash into an ETF but not everything is about accumulating wealth. DVC ownership makes me happy. Knowing that I will always have a Disney trip in the works makes me happy. Being able to share that kind of vacation with friends and family makes me happy.

I think this question is interesting in terms of DVC. I imagine that the majority of people that buy contracts probably finance them. We take a different approach and saved up the money to buy our original contract outright. We are now saving up before purchasing additional contracts. We treat DVC contracts just as we would any other vacation. If we can't pay it off outright, then we don't buy it.
 
I pay for my vacations with my debit card. Disney and non Disney. We have a weekend trip to DC and our all inclusive to the Dominican Republic coming up. Paid for with my debit card.
 
I think this question is interesting in terms of DVC. I imagine that the majority of people that buy contracts probably finance them. We take a different approach and saved up the money to buy our original contract outright. We are now saving up before purchasing additional contracts. We treat DVC contracts just as we would any other vacation. If we can't pay it off outright, then we don't buy it.
My guess would be that the majority finance their DVC purchase. Like you, I saved until I had the money for the purchase and then looked for the contract. As a result, I have a number of contracts which have been purchased over the years instead of one or two large contracts. However, there are a number of considerations if you're going to buy into DVC and want to justify it as a money-saver. One of those is the cost of buying in vs. continuing to pay for your Disney vacations when you take them. Another is the ongoing commitment in the cost of annual dues, which never go down. And finally, there's the lost income that would have been generated by the interest from investing that money instead of purchasing DVC.
 
Debt is a very different animal for everyone depending on many factors. We have some debt, but we just took a short trip (have the cash to cover the cost bill when it is due). Sure we could have used that money to pay down the debt, which is at 0% for another 8 months, by which time it will be paid off. But our family time is limited by my husband's work schedule and we take trips when we can,which isn't often.

We are okay with some debt because we have a guaranteed income source. Not everyone has that. We also don't have a lot of debt. It's easily managed.

I use credit cards to my advantage. I earn free money, travel perks, and other perks just for swiping that card and paying it off every month. People who pay "cash" for everything are leaving free money on the table, but to each his own. Some people don't like credit cards, but I find that they usually just don't understand how they work very well.

I have earned $3400 in rewards this year by using credit cards. I have paid a total of $643 in annual card fees. So, net gain of about $2757. Not too shabby.
 
Like a previous poster said, sometimes that vacation holds a lot of emotional value and if one goes into debt for it,it might be worth it. I put my trips (2 a year) on my cc and pay it off every month. Like others, I have a points based cc, no annual fee and use the heck out of those earned points. Way back when we first started going 34 years ago, I was a single mother with a toddler. My mother paid for our first trip, we got hooked and that was all she wrote. After that, we went every other year because it took me two years to save for the trip. That may have meant putting it on a cc and paying more than the balance due every month, putting money in a savings account or something else but it was every other year. We always stayed on site, back then the MK resorts were the only on site resorts, which worked well with a toddler. For me, as a young single mother at the time, it was worth a little debt for the stress free time my son and I got to spend on those vacations. As I've aged, my finances have improved and I don't have to worry about it any more. I've thought about buying into DVC but after crunching the cost of a contract, the annual dues over x amount of years and that money not earning any kind of interest, and having to book 7 to 11 months out, not buying and just staying in a resort makes more sense. I've become a master at finding discounts for resorts.
 
Credit cards are tools. Learning to use one had a learning curve for me. One time I signed up for a card many years ago, they gave me a free tshirt.

I learned the hard way that the tshirt wasn't free to me. The card balance kept rising as I used it to pay for 'good deals' and necessities that I had money in my budget for.

Soon it had 10k or so on it and my checking and savings weren't quite matching.

I could make decent payments but the balance really wasn't dropping fast. Along came my credit union with a free balance transfer offer. I jumped on it and eventually got the debt down. Then I used that card to do some home improvements. Back up went the balance with interest this time. After the fact I got a Home equity loan at a good rate and five years later I was debt free with growing assets and a better paycheck also.

By the time I got to Disney I was older and wiser. But I think if I'd gotten Disney obsessed in my 20ties, I would have been booking vacations on credit and paying interest. As it was I was in my forties and much more careful moneywise. I still bellyache about money and grab Disney deals, but now I can afford my extravagances.

YOLO does have some merit. It's just that you do have to be very careful to not let the YOLO philosophy actually prevent your future ability to enjoy life as well as balance out today's wants and needs.
 
We use our debit card for most Disney vacation purchases as being in Canada we get a better exchange rate than on our credit card. As a result, we have barely touched our credit cards in the last 6 months. When we do we pay them off right away.
 
Just was wondering as this is the budget board and many of the questions that come up here are asked to save money. How many of you account for the debt you take on and the interest accumulation when pricing your Disney trips? I know that there are those who don't take on any debt to go to FL, but when your are talking several thousand dollars to go and putting it on a credit card to do so, these added expenses should be considered, right?

I guess part of me just shakes my head that there are people budgeting and saving like crazy to go and looking to cut costs, while a component of that same group just puts in on a CC and talks about the great deal they got and they are not paying off their CC balance every month.

Dh & I were just talking about this yesterday. He read in the news that a whopping 74% of people go in debt to vacation!! I just can't believe it! :eek:

Paying your cc off each month is not going in debt. If we couldn't afford to pre pay or pay as we go on vacation we would either not go, or scale down to what we could afford.

We have definitely been there, and enjoyed what we could afford at that time - was no less a vacation to us. Going in debt, to us, is reserved for emergency things like health, necessary car/home repairs, etc. - not vacations.
 
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debt you take on and the interest accumulation when pricing your Disney trips
First off vacations are a luxury item and not a necessity, so aside from the safety and ease of paying on a credit card and paying off immediately, vacations should not put you into debt. If it does then you need to take a step back and looking at your finances as a whole and see where you can save to have the vacation paid for.

I shake my head in disbelieve at some people. One individual i work with recently had to take a 401K loan out to pay for her destination wedding which she just went on. Now she is going to FL next month (not Disney) and then planning on a Dominican vacation for February. Leases both their cars, has maxed out refinancing her house to pay off other debt -- it is unfortunate and an endless cycle of bad financial decisions.

There is the option to put some of the charge on a Disney visa which will give you 0% for 6 months and you do earn points for disney rewards, so you could essentially go this route and not pay any interest, but you have to be diligent to pay off otherwise you will be paying a ton in interest.
 

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