Help? Am I over thinking it?

[clemsondisneygirl]

Hi! So ive been stalking resale contracts for a while now and I just want to make sure I understand how it all works…so if we traditionally travel to Disney jan, feb or March and are looking to buy a contract with a June use year: should we plan to immediately bank any 2022 points on the contract and then could make a reservation for Feb 2023, using the banked 2022s then spilling over into the 2023s…this would be assuming we have no plans to travel again the rest of 2022! Do I have it right? I think I’m overthinking “use year” but you can use your points anytime in the calendar year right, even if they don’t populate before you travel???

 

[moericus]

We went for a use year with the month ending before our typical vacation month. That way we always have "new" points ready for the trip.

 

[Marionnette]

Hi! So ive been stalking resale contracts for a while now and I just want to make sure I understand how it all works…so if we traditionally travel to Disney jan, feb or March and are looking to buy a contract with a June use year: should we plan to immediately bank any 2022 points on the contract and then could make a reservation for Feb 2023, using the banked 2022s then spilling over into the 2023s…this would be assuming we have no plans to travel again the rest of 2022! Do I have it right? I think I’m overthinking “use year” but you can use your points anytime in the calendar year right, even if they don’t populate before you travel???

June 2022 points are good from 6/01/2022 - 5/31/2023. A trip in February 2023 falls in a June 2022 UY. You would not want to bank the points as they would not be usable for 02/2023 if you do.

If I typically traveled in Jan/Feb/Mar I would want a December UY, not June. The banking deadline for June UY is January 31. If you had to cancel a March trip after Jan. 31, you would not be able to bank the points and you would only have until May 31 to use or lose them.

 

[sndral]

I always start w/ when do I want to go & then figure out which annual allotment of points I can use to book that trip.
A Feb. 2023 trip would occur during a June use year’s 2022 allotment (6/1/22 - 5/31/23.)
Then I consider do I have points leftover from the prior year’s allotment that I have banked or can still bank & need to use before they expire - so any 2021 points I need to use up?
Then I figure whether using my banked & my current 2022 annual allotments gives me enough points to book what I want.
If I’m still short points I can borrow up to half of next years 2023 allotment.

Resale contracts have differing point situations, some may have banked points already - aka loaded contracts, others may have no banked points, zero current points, & occasionally less than a full allotment of next years points - aka stripped contracts. It’s smart to work out how the point situation in the contract you are looking at works w/ your own short term needs. Long term, of course, you’ll be managing your own points, but if you have several listings to choose from then the current point situation can play into how much you’re willing to pay for one contract v. another.
Because you must bank points in the first 8 months of your use year - so for June that’s by January - if you buy a June use year contract right now you’ll likely lose any unbanked 2021 points so they have no value to you. A December use year contract, on the other hand, doesn’t have to bank until the end of July - so 2021 points in one of those still have a lot of value. It would be the opposite if you were buying in Sept..

 

[chalee94]

Hi! So ive been stalking resale contracts for a while now and I just want to make sure I understand how it all works…so if we traditionally travel to Disney jan, feb or March and are looking to buy a contract with a June use year: should we plan to immediately bank any 2022 points on the contract and then could make a reservation for Feb 2023, using the banked 2022s then spilling over into the 2023s…this would be assuming we have no plans to travel again the rest of 2022! Do I have it right? I think I’m overthinking “use year” but you can use your points anytime in the calendar year right, even if they don’t populate before you travel???

As others have suggested, a June UY makes trips in March more risky (and isn't great for Jan-Feb trips either). I agree that Dec is much much better.

When you go into your UY mindset, throw out the typical calendar. It has nothing to do with the calendar year.

If you were traveling in Feb 2023 with a June UY that would fall into your 2022 UY (June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023) so you could use banked 2021 UY pts (if available) + 2022 UY pts + borrowed 2023 UY pts if needed (50% limit right now).

 

[DVCSunDevil]

No, you are not overthinking it. UY can get confusing, especially when you are new to DVC.

That’s all I wanted to add…there have already been some great comments that cover it. Good luck on the future purchase!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hi! So ive been stalking resale contracts for a while now and I just want to make sure I understand how it all works…so if we traditionally travel to Disney jan, feb or March and are looking to buy a contract with a June use year: should we plan to immediately bank any 2022 points on the contract and then could make a reservation for Feb 2023, using the banked 2022s then spilling over into the 2023s…this would be assuming we have no plans to travel again the rest of 2022! Do I have it right? I think I’m overthinking “use year” but you can use your points anytime in the calendar year right, even if they don’t populate before you travel???

UY is different from calendar year so each UY has a slightly different period that certain UY points can be used. For example a Feb 22 UY means that those 22 points can be used for stays anytime between 2/1/22-1/31/23. June 22 UY though is 6/1/22-5/31/23. Another example - Sept 22 UY would be 9/1/22-8/31/23.

If you don't already own DVC then you might want look for a different UY than June for typical Jan-March travel as has been noted by a few others. Aug, Sept or Dec would be better to provide a little free protection against last minute cancellations where you could benefit by still being in your banking window. That may never happen but like most insurance you hope to never have to use it however you're happy to have it if you do need it.

However, you are correct that you can travel at anytime during the year. The points you can use just varies depending on the UY.

 

[clemsondisneygirl]

Thanks everyone for your replies! I think I’ll narrow my stalking down to October or December UY!