Anyone buy DVC without spouses knowledge?

[rayasmom]

I know that sounds terrible. I love Disney and DH tolerates my obsession. I have brought the kids several times by myself. I would love to buy a small resale contract, but it would be hard to get DH on board! Am I crazy??

 

[drag n' fly]

No (I would NEVER buy DVC without discussing it with him)....nuff said Crazy?..pleading the fifth on that one

 

[twinmom108]

I know that sounds terrible. I love Disney and DH tolerates my obsession. I have brought the kids several times by myself. I would love to buy a small resale contract, but it would be hard to get DH on board! Am I crazy??

Yes I did. We were at WDW in Sept 2001 and I couldn't talk my DH into going to the DVC tour so I went myself. I did not buy into DVC during the trip but I did decide to within a week after we got home. After about two months I knew I had to come clean. DH was livid (understatement). Our relationship did suffer, but DH allowed me to keep DVC.

In 2004 God made it clear to me that I needed to sell our DVC contracts and we used the money to finish our basement. DH has not been a very big Disney lover, but at that point he agreed to let us start using our Disney Visa to earn rewards. Since selling those first contracts I bought without DH's knowledge our relationship has gotten much better. In fact this year DH told me I could buy a VWL resale and I was also able to talk him into an AKV addon. DH came full circle! It's not as many points as I previously had, but it's really nice to be a DVC member again with DH's name on it too and he's okay with it this time!

This October I took one of our DS's to WDW and stayed at AKV. It was fabulous and also so great to hear "Welcome Home" again.

I feel fortunate that things worked out for us, but I don't think I would recommend buying DVC without the okay from your DH. I wish you well in your decision making and hope your DH will come around.

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

No. To be completely honest, I thought about it recently with the new incentive. I was going to add on 110 points at AKV without bothering to talk to DH. WIsely, I waited and brought it up to him and was promised that if I wait for CRV, we will get a 200 point add-on there.

If no CRV? We will get 200 points at the resort of my choice.

 

[jemiaule]

Yup, on the members cruise in fact.

Since my husband was in the room as I was writing this so I figured I should tell him. He just nodded as I told him; then I told him about this thread and said "do you care I got them". His response was "cool, whatever".

I figured he wouldn't mind, that is why I didn't even think to mention it to him until I read this thread.

 

[buzz5985]

My DH and I had talked about buying DVC, but that is as far as it went. I had pulled some money out of mutual fund I wasn't happy with, and needed to do something with it - so I bought a HH resale. When the paperwork came and I asked DH to sign - he was a little surprised - but that lasted about 10 seconds and he happily signed. We invested in our family. We have since added on - and I don't regret for one minute bidding on that resale, my DH follows happily. But he recently told me he never thought I would bid on a resale - that I was too frugal.

 

[brightspark]

Think it depends how you work the finances in your family. Who's money are you spending on it? If you are spending any of his money then he should definately have a say in it. If it's coming from your own personal account and you can afford it, then I guess it's OK. Seems weird to me though... it's a big financial commitment and dh and I always discuss those in length first!

 

[wilma-bride]

There was a thread on here a few weeks back about someone who was saving for an add-on without their spouse's knowledge. While a lot of people disagreed with the OP, I said that I was doing much the same thing. Any money I have (my own money, not joint finances) left over at the end of each month goes into a savings account, which I am hoping to use to add on when (if?) Contemporary DVC is announced. However, I must stress that regardless of the fact I am saving without his knowledge, I wouldn't dream of actually buying without discussing it with him first. I wouldn't like to think that he would make a major purchase that would affect me without discussing it with me first - and therefore I would afford him the same respect. If Contemporary is announced, I will tell him I have some savings that I am willing to use towards it (hopefully to pay it in full) and see what he says. I will not, however, buy without his agreement/approval as I suspect I would be heading for divorce courts if I did.

 

[salmoneous]

My wife is pretty darn anti-Disney. And we keep our finances completely separate, so it would have been easy to buy without telling her. But I decided to include her in the conversation - if for no other reason that it made sense to put her on the deed - and you can't do that in secret.

She gave me her best "whatever" look, asked a few key questions about how DVC works, then told me to go for it if I wanted. When the paperwork came, she carefully read over it and signed. That's probably the last she'll ever have to do with DVC.

 

[WendyinNC]

I recently added on 55 HH points so I could take the kids for 5 nights this summer with banking and borrowing. DH can't go. He knows I'm planning the trip and doesn't even question how I have enough points. DVC is not his thing. The only thing that was said was I told him we received our tax return and he said, 'Okay. Use it for something like paying down debt.' I said, 'Yes, I've got a plan for it.' I'm using it to pay off my Disney Visa that had a $0 balance until I put 1/2 down on my HH points. Oh, I'll tell him soon. He won't care at all. I just need to have the time to explain how the points work, the cost of adding on vs. the cost of paying cash, etc. Oh and his name is on the contract so I'm assuming when the paperwork comes he will need to sign.

 

[Bopsmom]

DH and I have been married for 15+ years. We made an agreement in the beginning never to spend more than $150.00 without letting the other person know. Actually, he was the one that would go out and buy big expensive things without letting me know (a $500.00 suit he bought comes to mind ).
I know $150.00 doesn't sound like a lot of money especially if you go to the grocery store , but the agreement has kept us happy for many years.
I don't think I could purchase anything as big as a DVC contract without at least a conversation. Community property-community debt. Be a team! You never know, you might end up with a bigger contract with him on board. Best of luck.

 

[nunzia]

Well, we are still in the process of buying our first (small resale). I took him out to dinner (our house is a zoo and you can't have a conversation without phones ringing, people at the door, etc) and just explained how it all worked. We are both big Dinsey fans (he of the trips, me of the whole thing) and since I do the finances, he knows I'll make it work. As long as we con do something non Disney for a vacation once in awhile (All Inclusive in Mexico is his favorite) then he's fine, as I already plan all the trips and organize everything. He basically packs his suitcase and happily goes whenever I point him.
That said, most of our 'extra' cash is tied up in trying to get some semblance of a retirement stash, so trips and DVC costs will mainly come from my second job and Ebay hobby.
I can't imagine just buying one without telling him, because then his name wouldn't be on the deed.

 

[rayasmom]

Okay, that's good to know about the deed. I hadn't thought about that part! We really don't keep our finances separate. I just went back to work full time after a few years of staying home or part time with the kids. So we had decided to pay down some debt with my paycheck. I have been diligent with doing this, but would love to put some aside for a resale. Hopefully I can work some magic with DH at some point to get him on board.

 

[crisi]

I agree it depends on how your marriage and the finances within are structured. At one point in our marriage we each had our own money that wasn't answerable to the other, although I would have had to save for years to afford even a small DVC contract on my "allowance."

Now that we completely share finances (which occurred with kids), my husband can't spend that sort of money (nor can I) without us both being on board. (However, there is no longer any accounting for small expenses - I can go spend a few hundred without any reprocussions).

 

[Judy WI]

We had talked about DVC a couple of years ago and I know he only half heard. He is not a disney fan and said I was crazy. So this last year I recieved some money when my grandfather passed so i bought at BCV and didn't tell him untill it was done. He was fine with it since I used that money. He still doesn't understand how the points work but is working on it.

 

[robinb]

We had talked about DVC a couple of years ago and I know he only half heard. He is not a disney fan and said I was crazy. So this last year I recieved some money when my grandfather passed so i bought at BCV and didn't tell him untill it was done. He was fine with it since I used that money. He still doesn't understand how the points work but is working on it.

Hmmm ... didn't he have to sign something due to the Marital Property law in WI? Or is that only when you take a loan?

 

[rayasmom]

We had talked about DVC a couple of years ago and I know he only half heard. He is not a disney fan and said I was crazy. So this last year I recieved some money when my grandfather passed so i bought at BCV and didn't tell him untill it was done. He was fine with it since I used that money. He still doesn't understand how the points work but is working on it.

Very similar situation. My grandmother died and I won't get very much money, but thought it would be nice to take that small amount to buy a small reslae. That way each year when the points come, it would feel more like an "inheritance" rather than just paying off a bill. KWIM?

Another motivation for buying a small contract, is that I am afraid of renting since I have not done it before. I have read the threads and understand that a great amount of trust is needed. Would I have trouble having points transferred if I had a small contract? Would that be easier than renting as a non-member?

 

[Tinkerdreams]

I actually had a CD before we were married (a LONG time ago). When we got married, I told my DH that someday I would like to do something special with it and he said it was fine by him.

A few months ago I was researching DVC and decided that this would be a nice purchase for us and to leave to our kids. So, I've cashed in the CD and decided that this was The Special Something that I wanted to do. My kids are thrilled that they will have many years of vacations to the House of Mouse, as my DS refers to it!!!

 

[Chester's Mum]

I know that sounds terrible. I love Disney and DH tolerates my obsession. I have brought the kids several times by myself. I would love to buy a small resale contract, but it would be hard to get DH on board! Am I crazy??

Yep, I just did it, 60 pts BWV. I feel your pain, my situation is almost exactly the same. DH really does not like Disney, the funny thing is that it was he who first got me started with it. I travel there once a year, just me and the kids. We probably spend about $5000 a year on our trips. We don't have the kind of financial situation that would allow an initial output of $16,000 and we don't do luxury debt if we can help it. I'm in charge of saving for our vacations, so if I purchase points as I have the money saved, its no skin of his nose.

There's no marital trouble here, and no secrets, I haven't increased our family debt load, and I haven't told him that I actually bought, but all of my DVC stuff is out in the open for him to see, he even picked up the mail when my membership card arrived. So I'm guessing he knows, he's not a stupid man, just uninterested in Disney.

Only you can gauge your family situation. If you think it would cause problems, you might want to think it through some more. I hope it works out for you.

 

[Merylj]

My DH is happy with our DVC purchase and add on, though I think I only discussed the initial purchase with him, the add on I mentioned as I was heading for the phone!
TBH he really isn`t interested in the fine detail, probably has no real interest in how DVC works. He knows I won`t get us into financial difficulties and loves his WDW vacations. There are probably alot of spouses like him