Pay cash or finance

[tom1944]

I am not a proponent of financing a product like DVC.

 

[Kingdome8]

I dont mind financing really. I just financed a 50 point 5 year at riviera. After down payment even If I paid min payment only, the interest for a year is basically one night at the riviera. Lol.

 

[Cfabar1]

Does DVC still allow for the 90 days spread out payments? If so, can someone explain how that works. I had not heard of that before. I had heard about the 6 months w Disney Visa.

Also, can you use Disney Gift Cards at all with direct purchases?

 

[Sandisw]

Does DVC still allow for the 90 days spread out payments? If so, can someone explain how that works. I had not heard of that before. I had heard about the 6 months w Disney Visa.

Also, can you use Disney Gift Cards at all with direct purchases?

I just asked my guide to have them bill my CC over the 90 days and they agreed!

So, they did the deposit when I agreed, another payment was billed on April1st, May 1st and balance on June 1st. So, I didn’t have to finish paying it all off until Dec!!

 

[Tech4444]

A lot of people say only pay cash but they have no problem financing that $40k car they don’t need. If you want DVC and you can afford the payment there is nothing wrong with financing.

 

[tom1944]

A lot of people say only pay cash but they have no problem financing that $40k car they don’t need. If you want DVC and you can afford the payment there is nothing wrong with financing.

I wouldn’t finance a $40,000 car either.

 

[DLgal]

A lot of people say only pay cash but they have no problem financing that $40k car they don’t need. If you want DVC and you can afford the payment there is nothing wrong with financing.

This is a weird take. I would say a car is *usually* a need, and a $40,000 car is even cheaper than average as far as cars go, at this point. I mean, if my 2007 Honda CRV died tomorrow, I'd get another one, and it would probably cost close to $40,000. I'd need to finance at least part of that.

I'd agree with you if you said an $80,000 car, because at that point, its probably a luxury car and no one needs that. But no one ever NEEDS a timeshare. It's fully an optional purchase.

 

[Kingdome8]

This is a weird take. I would say a car is *usually* a need, and a $40,000 car is even cheaper than average as far as cars go, at this point. I mean, if my 2007 Honda CRV died tomorrow, I'd get another one, and it would probably cost close to $40,000. I'd need to finance at least part of that.

I'd agree with you if you said an $80,000 car, because at that point, its probably a luxury car and no one needs that. But no one ever NEEDS a timeshare. It's fully an optional purchase.

I need the time share. Lol. Now that I have a glimpse of how many more trips I can take at better places. We’re Staying at aulani in one bedroom ocean front. Think I saw before discounts paying cash would be 1500-1700 a night. Yeah I’ll gladly pay the 300 a month payment. Otherwise would never stay there.

 

[J-Dog]

I am not a proponent of financing a product like DVC.

I wouldn’t finance a $40,000 car either.

My comment is not targeting you specifically, and I'm not really sure if this is insulting or complimentary. But your comments seem to me that, if you are someone who doesn't need to finance a vehicle in today's current economy - when almost every middle class American has to finance a car - that speaks to the affluence of some DVC owners.

I don't know if DIS posters are especially affluent, or just that most DVC owners are especially affluent, but if that's the case, then that will probably affect their opinions on financing DVC.

i.e. if you are richer than most people, then that's certainly going make financing less necessary for you, individually.

Well, I am not affluent, and I financed DVC because it seemed like a sound investment that also "forced" us to take yearly vacations, which is something that I wouldn't do otherwise. We did finance - although it was 2 years ago using a HELOC loan with much lower than current interest rates - and I don't regret it whatsoever at this point.

 

[tom1944]

My comment is not targeting you specifically, and I'm not really sure if this is insulting or complimentary. But your comments seem to me that, if you are someone who doesn't need to finance a vehicle in today's current economy - when almost every middle class American has to finance a car - that speaks to the affluence of some DVC owners.

I don't know if DIS posters are especially affluent, or just that most DVC owners are especially affluent, but if that's the case, then that will probably affect their opinions on financing DVC.

i.e. if you are richer than most people, then that's certainly going make financing less needed for you, individually.

Well, I am not affluent, and I financed DVC because it seemed like a sound investment that also "forced" us to take yearly vacations, which is something that I wouldn't do otherwise. We did finance - although it was 2 years ago using a HELOC loan with much lower than current interest rates - and I don't regret it whatsoever at this point.

My economic situation is great now. Better than it’s ever been.

Over the course of my life it has not been near as good as it is now. In fact I wanted to purchase DVC in 1996 but did not based on our economic circumstances.

Over the course of my life I made a decent salary but lived in a very high cost area.

So that I was able to pay bills I always worked 2 jobs. In fact I worked everyday straight from 1991 through 1995 from 3am to 6am before going to my full time job.

I know the struggles that the average person faces and made decisions and delayed purchases as required.

I do not begrudge anyone else or the decisions they make. I just reply to what I would do.

Whenever possible I do not borrow and if I do borrow it is for essential items not wants.

I worked for over 40 years in a job that saw how people make different financial or economic decisions and the consequences and impact they have.

 

[DLgal]

I don't know if DIS posters are especially affluent, or just that most DVC owners are especially affluent, but if that's the case, then that will probably affect their opinions on financing DVC.

From my many years on these boards, my takeaway is this:

People on the DIS are either dirt poor or 1% ers, but somehow everyone is convinced they are middle class.

 

[Sandisw]

This is a weird take. I would say a car is *usually* a need, and a $40,000 car is even cheaper than average as far as cars go, at this point. I mean, if my 2007 Honda CRV died tomorrow, I'd get another one, and it would probably cost close to $40,000. I'd need to finance at least part of that.

I'd agree with you if you said an $80,000 car, because at that point, its probably a luxury car and no one needs that. But no one ever NEEDS a timeshare. It's fully an optional purchase.

True but I think the general thought is that whether people finance or not is a personal decision and what may be wrong for one person is not for someone else.

My only advice is that people need to be comfortable with all the what ifs and that if they had to sell, they know what they will do and that financing makes things different.

 

[Tech4444]

This is a weird take. I would say a car is *usually* a need, and a $40,000 car is even cheaper than average as far as cars go, at this point. I mean, if my 2007 Honda CRV died tomorrow, I'd get another one, and it would probably cost close to $40,000. I'd need to finance at least part of that.

I'd agree with you if you said an $80,000 car, because at that point, it’s probably a luxury car and no one needs that. But no one ever NEEDS a timeshare. It's fully an optional purchase.

If you want to talk bad financial decision let’s talk buying a brand new car haha … maybe a conversation for another time.

 

[J-Dog]

True but I think the general thought is that whether people finance or not is a personal decision and what may be wrong for one person is not for someone else.

My only advice is that people need to be comfortable with all the what ifs and that if they had to sell, they know what they will do and that financing makes things different.

I totally agree, and I will say that we went in assuming that we would never sell, or get $0 per point to sell, and we were still okay with it because the financing won't break us and the product is worth it.

 

[Sandisw]

I totally agree, and I will say that we went in assuming that we would never sell, or get $0 per point to sell, and we were still okay with it because the financing won't break us and the product is worth it.

This was our thinking and would have financed but adjusted things and didn’t end up.

But it’s why we also lease our cars. We can deal with the extra cost because we want what it gets us!

 

[DLgal]

If you want to talk bad financial decision let’s talk buying a brand new car haha … maybe a conversation for another time.

I don't know. It's never done me wrong. We buy Hondas and they last forever, and even still have very high resale value. Like I said, I am still driving my 2007 CR V I got new at the time. If I wanted to sell it right now, I'd get nearly $10,000 for it. I paid $23,000 for it in 2007.

 

[fumanchu2488]

'Finance' is also a loaded term. Two years ago we 'financed' our new car at a 0% interest rate. So in my eyes that wasn't really 'financing' as the term usually implies interest.

Also, I agree with the rule of thumb is never to finance (with interest) a depreciating asset. So cars are something I agree should not be financed with interest.

However, you could look at DVC and the general usage, appreciation and comparison to cash rates and argue that it isn't necessarily a depreciating asset. I would never finance anything over a 10 or 20 year loan with 9% or 18% interest. But if you have a plan to pay it off quickly and limit the interest paid (which you can easily calculate) then I would say 'financing' isn't a bad alternative. If your plan is to truly finance and pay it over the entire life of the load then I would definitely advise against that because you would probably be better off paying for cash stays (even at Deluxe resorts) and get the promos and benefits that come with those packages that us DVCers don't get.

 

[Cfabar1]

Nobody who cares about frugality would be interested in taking expensive Disney vacations year after year - and staying at DVC resorts instead of the numerous (potentially nicer) hotel options nearby in my opinion.

I do think that DVC offers people who enjoy taking nice vacations to do so with some cost savings they trade for the promise to spend that money year after year on Disney Vacation Club.

Whether and how you finance it is up to you. There might be better or worse financial decisions, that's where doing the math and/or consulting with your accountant or financial planner is much better than asking on a Disney message board. Financing is financing, it might be at 0% might be at 30%, might be a week or might be 10 years. Financing is a way to have someone else pay for something you are purchasing. Whether it is a good thing for you or not, really depends on your individual situation. I recently financed a DVC contract by doing a balance transfer on a credit card. The money sitting in my bank account is earning a higher interest rate than the fee was to transfer the balance. To me, that was a good financial decision. Other people would say it isn't.

 

[pianomanzano]

We were somewhat creative when we added our direct points. We opened a Southwest credit card that gave an additional bonus 100,000 points if you spend at least $12,000. Those points counted towards a companion pass (buy one get one free flights on Southwest). We charged the whole amount to the card and transferred the balance to a different card with a 0% interest offer for balance transfers (0% good for 20 months) after a 3% balance transfer fee.

The points from the purchase alone has been good for 6 round trip Southwest flights to Orlando and another 6 free flights from the companion pass (which we still have until the end of this year) we earned from the purchase, well worth the 3% balance fee we've paid.

 

[Anthony1971]

There was a time you couldn't Finance DVC Later a company more like a credit card allowed it at like 21% interest. later in the Mid 2000 I believe Disney start Financing. So here is my take if yo can avoid financing then that is always the best option with this and many other things. If you finance make sure it is through Disney do not ever get a second mortgage, line of credit etc.... If you cant make your payments yes it will hurt your credit but in the end Disney will simply take the points back. There are a lot of points on either side but to me this is a luxury period worse part is DVC is not biggest cost your dues will surpass the buy in -ours did years ago- but more costly is getting to Disney buying park tickets and food... A luxury car comes with longer warranty in general and usually the first few years of service so at least you know the first few years are gas only or electric to not offend anyone...................