What kind of Points Banker are you?

[Genie+]

I’m a total beginner, so someone correct me if I’m wrong, but if you cancel after the banking deadline aren’t you dealing with points in holding or “distressed” points or what-not? Meaning you have to use them by the end of the UY the points are now in, and it has to be a reservation that happens within 30 days of booking it?

I’m sure I got at least part of that wrong, so someone feel free to step in and save me from myself.

Holding happens if you cancel within 30 days of a trip.

It’s confusing at first, at least it was for me.

An example might work best to show different ways it can work depending on timing:

You have Dec UY and book an Oct 4-11 trip. That trip is in your banking window - it’s after the July 31st banking deadline.

If you cancel this Oct trip in July or sooner, you may still bank these points.

If you cancel this trip in Aug, you’ll need to use the points before they expire on Nov 30th.

If you cancel this trip after Sept 3rd (30 days or under), you’ll need to use the points before they expire AND they’ll also be in holding because the trip was cancelled at less than 31 days out.

Holding means you’ll only have choice of reservations within the next 60 days, and that’s on a rolling basis.

Say I cancelled my Feb trip (which is early in my Dec UY) less than 30 days out and they go into holding. That removes my ability to bank them. I’d still have until Nov 30th to use them before expiring though, and I could keep checking each week, even for many months, looking at what inventory pops up within the next 60 days window that I could use. When I look on March 4th, I can only book something available between then and May 3rd with my holding points. That keeps rolling so if I come back on April 15th, I could look for something up to June 14th. It’s on a rolling basis.

When the cancellation happens close to the trip (under 31 days out) during the banking window, the points’ expiration is looming near regardless of the holding. Holding does make it somewhat harder but either way it’s still a scramble finding something before they expire in a few short months.

 

[RuntheMouse]

I’m kind of all over the place! We have 3 UY so I have trips spread out throughout the year. If everything is set, I’ll bank early. If things are up in the air, I’ll wait a bit. Just last week I banked during a reservation, that was a first for me.

 

[MagicDVC]

I bank as soon as we know we are done with vacations for the UY. I do have a reminder in my phone to bank points. This was the first time in 8 years that we borrowed points.

 

[RivGirl]

Holding happens if you cancel within 30 days of a trip.

It’s confusing at first, at least it was for me.

An example might work best to show different ways it can work depending on timing:

You have Dec UY and book an Oct 4-11 trip. That trip is in your banking window - it’s after the July 31st banking deadline.

If you cancel this Oct trip in July or sooner, you may still bank these points.

If you cancel this trip in Aug, you’ll need to use the points before they expire on Nov 30th.

If you cancel this trip after Sept 3rd (30 days or under), you’ll need to use the points before they expire AND they’ll also be in holding because the trip was cancelled at less than 31 days out.

Holding means you’ll only have choice of reservations within the next 60 days, and that’s on a rolling basis.

Say I cancelled my Feb trip (which is early in my Dec UY) less than 30 days out and they go into holding. That removes my ability to bank them. I’d still have until Nov 30th to use them before expiring though, and I could keep checking each week, even for many months, looking at what inventory pops up within the next 60 days window that I could use. When I look on March 4th, I can only book something available between then and May 3rd with my holding points. That keeps rolling so if I come back on April 15th, I could look for something up to June 14th. It’s on a rolling basis.

When the cancellation happens close to the trip (under 31 days out) during the banking window, the points’ expiration is looming near regardless of the holding. Holding does make it somewhat harder but either way it’s still a scramble finding something before they expire in a few short months.

I will now call you Professor. Thank you for explaining all of that! Truly!

I think I’m going to have to make myself a flow chart….

 

[Genie+]

I will now call you Professor. Thank you for explaining all of that! Truly!

I think I’m going to have to make myself a flow chart….

You’re very welcome. This board helped me so much. Reading people’s questions and answers around DVC rules was easier than trying to figure it out from DVC’s fineprint lol.

 

[atthebeachclub]

When I first bought, I banked way too soon, and ended up wanting the points.

I say wait until a few days / weeks before your banking deadline to make absolutely sure you don’t want to use them.

This happened to me. Ugh! Never again. Had to use my very very special Beach Club points somewhere I didn’t want to, just to get out of a pickle.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Great question-I always wonder when others bank too. We have contracts at 3 different resorts, one of which is Hilton Head, and once we book our yearly trip there, if I have any HH points left, I bank those. The others I usually bank at the beginning of the calendar year, when all our vacations are mostly planned and booked for the calendar year, and it's <7 months until we get new points (our use year is August). Banking and Taxes get scheduled about the same time.

 

[Dobermanns]

For the first several years of ownership, I banked as soon as trips were booked at 11-months. It worked well. The last few years, however, I often either extend or add trips (thanks for the flexibility in retirement), my usual banking habit often led to borrowing after banking. So now I just wait till much later in the UY to bank.

 

[Aussie RJ]

Since the Covid issues with points we couldn’t use as international guests. We are borrowers, it works better for us to use the points from a year ahead.

 

[Rochester Disney Fan]

I only had the opportunity to bank once and I waited until the last minute to bank my 2 points just in case.

 

[IDSkinner]

Great thread with a lot of interesting and differing opinions. I like the fact that we all have our own angle.

About us, I'm a planner and my wife is not and she'll proudly tell you so. I've learned to quietly plan and weave some surprises in there for her and that's the way she likes it. We both love DVC and regret we didn't do it long ago. Although we traveled many times to DW, we just ignored the 'timeshare' thoughts.

My wife and I are empty nesters(upper 50's) from Idaho. We bought 200 pts(September use year) at the GF three years ago(that's another story as to why we changed our minds). Car trips are out due to distance, so we rely on flights and work to find the best deals which we've been using Southwest with the companion, currently. Points Guy has some good recommendations if others fit the same travel model. Basically, for two years, we use points only for the primary and the other flies for $12.50. So airfare is extremely reasonable and we'll switch off the companion primary after the companion pass drops from the other(every two years).

So, we purchase an annual pass and get three to four trips in that year of use and then take a break, stack points, and go again. Regarding how we bank, it's based on the aforementioned pattern to bank.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I bank if I know I need to points to book. Or if I know I'm definitely done traveling for that UY. We can really only go a certain amount of times a year and we know when we're "done" so I just bank as soon as I'm 100% sure. So far it's been well before the banking window closes. But we've only been members since 2023.

We are June UY. Our next trip for VGC is December 2025. As soon as flights are released (mid-March), we will firm up our dates. I originally figured I wouldn't bank leftover points until our December trip is here. However....we're probably going in June 2026 and will need to book in July....so I'll want to use those banked points at that time. Which, if I'm doing this right....means I'll basically be banking our 2025 points at the very start of our UY, right?

 

[AstroBlasters]

What is this “banking” points that you speak of? ABB Always Be Borrowing

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

I set a yearly recurring alarm on my phone for a few weeks before our banking deadline. I have found there are a lot of situations that impact how/if we bank points so I like to wait. In the fall of 2020 I booked a last minute weekend trip and was glad to have the points available. Last year we both borrowed and banked points. The original reservation was more than our yearly allotment, then at 7 months we changed to a different resort and got 50 points back so I ended up banking those.