Few noobie questions (might make a good stickie)

Tintino · Dec 7, 2010

I never had an RCI Points membership, but i'm looking to buy some from ebay... i have lots of questions:

1.
Found some offers that say "60000 points/year + bonus 120000 points available from 2009 + 2010"
... but the 60000 points from 2009 expire in April 2011 (4 months from now).
... so i assume i have to use these 60000 Points within 4 months from now
.... but closing takes months (they say sometimes up to 16 weeks)
So is it possible for me to use these points before closing?
------------------------
2.
Assuming i buy one of these offers, and i can somehow use these points before closing...
How fast will i be able to get my RCI points membership and to browse through RCI points exchange and book a vacation?
------------------------
3.
Assuming again that i can somehow use these points before closing...
Do i have any (real) chance of booking something nice through RCI Points exchange, before my 2009 points expire worthless?
--------------------------
4.
Would my cousin, who already has an RCI Points membership, be able to use MY unused 2009 points from my purchase above, to book something for me?.. Will this save me the need for an RCI membership fee ? I trust him enough ..but i don't even know if this is possible.
-------------------------
5.
Does every member of RCI points see the SAME offers at any one time? Or does RCI show different offers or prices to different members, basedon some internal criteria (such as how many points they have banked with RCI).
-------------------------
6.
My cousin - who again, has been "timesharing" for 5 year now, says it's best to NOT deposit more than 72000 points with RCI. Is it because #5 above?
-------------------------
7.
If i buy the offer above (that comes with 60k points from 2009 and 60k points from 2010) will these points automatically deposit in my RCI Points and is it a bad thing?

In the end.. i have to thank you all in advance.. and please understand i know next to nothing compared to all of you, but i've been reading a lot... too bad RCI's site is only for members.. and looks like you can't be a RCI Points member without haveing a timeshare..

I would love it if i could experience the RCI Points exchange system/website before i buy anything, but it looks like i can't.
I asked my cousin if he'd let me use his RCI Points website id/pass to "take a look" at the RCI site, but he said NO !

fishingguy · Dec 7, 2010

tintino, you asked a lot of questions.... I'll take a whack at trying to answer them.... I appologize for the long post ahead of time.

Found some offers that say "60000 points/year + bonus 120000 points available from 2009 + 2010"
... but the 60000 points from 2009 expire in April 2011 (4 months from now).
... so i assume i have to use these 60000 Points within 4 months from now
.... but closing takes months (they say sometimes up to 16 weeks)
So is it possible for me to use these points before closing?

Yes, the 2009 points expire in April, so your concern is warranted about being able to use them. You might be able to get the seller to book a vacation for you with these points, but the seller will want you to pay for the exchange and of course that would depend on availability of what you want to exchange into -- no guarantees for sure. Some will do this and some will not....

Closing is only part of the issue; getting the RCI account transferred to you, and getting the resort updated with your new deed, and getting maintenanece fees paid could conceivably take longer than 16 weeks with a typical eBay seller. You might just want to write the 2009 points off, and if things get done in time, it's a nice bonus for you. Unfortunately in the real world, any glitch or minor slow-down in the long-drawn out process of transferring ownership, can cause a bigger delay in things (more on this later).

Another option might be to ask the seller to extend the points for an additional 12 months, of course you'd have to pay the ~99$ fee. But this is a tricky option that may not even be possible, depending on the status of the previous owner RCI account, the actual process involved in transferring ownership and deeding, if the previous owner is different from the seller, and other factors. [This has to be done via the phone; and the names on credit cards, etc. will come into play.]

Assuming i buy one of these offers, and i can somehow use these points before closing...
How fast will i be able to get my RCI points membership and to browse through RCI points exchange and book a vacation?

As previously addressed, closing is only part of the issue with eBay sellers -- things can get painstingly slow; and then you end up at the mercy of the county recording the deed, the county sending the deed back so it can be forwarded to the resort, and the resort processing the deed into their records. Everything is done in series and through the mail, and of course communications are infrequent. [Some counties seem to have a 4 to 8 week backlog in processing.] Then you get to the RCI part and that takes time, they need to confirm with the resort that you have paid M/F's and own the unit, and so on. So you and your seller/title company have no control over the timing of things and trust me, they get drawn out and no amount of bugging/hounding them will help! I've had my RCI points/account transfers take from 2 to 5 weeks to get done after the resort processing was done; so I could finally use the points, browse, etc. [Oh yeah, you should also expect a problem with the processing along the way with a few of the eBay Sellers, since they are noted for making clerical errors or making submisssions without the proper funds, etc. You'll likely find typos, wrong info, etc. when you review what they are submitting; so it will take time to get it corrected.]

Assuming again that i can somehow use these points before closing...
Do i have any (real) chance of booking something nice through RCI Points exchange, before my 2009 points expire worthless?

I wouldn't count on it based on my experience with several eBay Points properties [~350K points] over the past year. If it happens I think you'd be lucky. But hey, maybe I've gotten the slower seller/closing companies in the 4 that I've had?

Would my cousin, who already has an RCI Points membership, be able to use MY unused 2009 points from my purchase above, to book something for me?.. Will this save me the need for an RCI membership fee ? I trust him enough ..but i don't even know if this is possible.

Your seller may not have physical access to the previous owners RCI account, so may not be able to transfer points to "a family member/friend". So I don't know how much success you'd have going this route.

You will have to pay a fee in the end anyway, since the RCI account will at least need to be in the same names that are on the deed to use new points that get deposited each anniversary. In addition, some sellers may not be open to doing a transfer to another party anyway, since this puts them at risk for something to go wrong, getting scammed, etc.

Does every member of RCI points see the SAME offers at any one time? Or does RCI show different offers or prices to different members, basedon some internal criteria (such as how many points they have banked with RCI).

You will have priority at your home resort and home resort group. So you will likely have access and even reduced exchange fees during the times that you have this priority. (Other RCI points members may not get these exchange prices or even see these at this time.)

When searching for a normal points exchange when the priority period is not in affect, you'll see everything available at the time. I've never obeserved any reduction in what I've been able to see I don't think; I suspect that is because you can always borrow points from the next year? In my case I can borrow up to 350K points in 2011 if I needed to.

My cousin - who again, has been "timesharing" for 5 year now, says it's best to NOT deposit more than 72000 points with RCI. Is it because #5 above?

I don't know for sure, but don't think so. I suspect this has to do with some reports where a few have mysteriously "lost points" from a balance after a system update or maintenance. I've never had that problem, but I page print my account balances before and after each exchange; and before any system update when RCI takes the Points System down for mainenance. However, you can't really control this with a normal RCI Points account, because the points are deposited automatically on the anniversary date.... but read the next paragraph! [The only other time you'd have a deposit is when you do a Points for Deposit from a week at a non-RCI points resort. You control when that happens, but again I've never had any problem with losing any points or making any Points for Deposits.]

I did have another thought when I saw your mention of 72000 points -- I believe that is the same number that Whyndam points owners don't deposit over when making an exchange.... anything above that doesn't necessarily get you any better exchange(?). So maybe your cousin has the two systems mixed up together? [Oh yeah, if you are trying to convert Whyndam points into RCI points you've got a lot more homework to do...]

If i buy the offer above (that comes with 60k points from 2009 and 60k points from 2010) will these points automatically deposit in my RCI Points and is it a bad thing?

These points will automatically show up in your account, when the account transfer is completed. I don't know of any other way you could realistically get this done. It's what has always happened to me, and I haven't had any problem. [It is nice seeing your account take a step-jump when the transfer occurs!]

I would love it if i could experience the RCI Points exchange system/website before i buy anything, but it looks like i can't.
I asked my cousin if he'd let me use his RCI Points website id/pass to "take a look" at the RCI site, but he said NO !

I don't blame him....

Good luck!

rickandcindy23 · Dec 7, 2010

RCI Points can transfer to anyone, and the seller should be willing to make that call to RCI.

We own +/- 400K points and have them in our account at all times. It's way too many points, now that the new RCI weeks exchange system is working for us. We have too many TPU's in RCI weeks to consistently use as many points as we have in the past. Our weeks will net us two vacations per week owned now, so we are disappointed that we bought our last bunch of RCI Points. I would not recommend RCI Points now, with the values as high as they are for our favorite places.

I can equate it this way:

If I deposit my prime summer Colorado weeks in RCI, I get 45,500 points. It costs me 38K points to stay in Orlando in off-season at our favorite resort.

If I use that same Colorado week, worth 25 TPU to stay in our favorite Orlando resort, I can get two weeks of vacation with it through weeks.

Just a short time ago, I was enamored with RCI Points, now the system is not impressing me at all, even as I look at the value of my blue week in weeks, I can do better than RCI Points. We own some of our points in Montana, at a resort that is very popular. We may have to take them out of RCI Points. I can sell those weeks individually, based on the # of TPU's they get.

Advertising is going to look different, with the new RCI weeks. People will advertise their units as the # of TPU's for each week in the float period. And competition will be brutal for those prime weeks with the highest TPU's.

fishingguy · Dec 7, 2010

rickandcindy wrote:

RCI Points can transfer to anyone, and the seller should be willing to make that call to RCI.

This of course assumes that the eBay seller is the same as the owner, or at least has full access to the Points account associated with that property. However, that may not be the case for a PCC or similar eBay seller, who does not own and/or have the RCI account in his name. (Power of Attorney for the deed is a good example.)

Lastly, an RCI account can expire, but still be in the grace period for the account to be transferred. In this case there would be no way to get any points out of it (short of reactivating the old account), without transferring everything to a new owner along with the newly deeded ownership.

Advertising is going to look different, with the new RCI weeks. People will advertise their units as the # of TPU's for each week in the float period. And competition will be brutal for those prime weeks with the highest TPU's.

- and -

I would not recommend RCI Points now, with the values as high as they are for our favorite places.

I don't really have any opinion one way or the other, about the latest changes on the weeks side of RCI -- don't use them that way. However, I doubt that everyone thinks as positively about those changes, based on what I've seen posted.

About the only thing I can offer the OP in this regard is to go with what you think will work for you. But regardless, always buy first where you can or want to stay.

Tintino · Dec 8, 2010

Thank you for the detailed response.

If the seller can transfer the 2009 points (that expire in April 2011) to another RCI Points account, how long will that take, and how much does that cost ?

Jennie · Dec 13, 2010

Tintino said:
Thank you for the detailed response.

If the seller can transfer the 2009 points (that expire in April 2011) to another RCI Points account, how long will that take, and how much does that cost ?

You need to clarify what source the seller's points are coming from.

Sometimes the offer is for a one-time transfer of excess points directly from one owner's account to another. That would be a one shot deal--more like a rental of Points whereby the owner continues to own the week from which the RCI Points are derived.

He/she would continue to be responsible for the payment of future year's fees (RCI Points membership, annual maintenance fees, possible Special Assessments)) and, of course, since he would still own the "underlying week" he would own and be able to make reservations for his own needs, or rent the Points again through ebay, craig's list, to friends etc...

Or the seller may be selling the week permanently, and transferring the unused points to you to sweeten the deal.

If this would be a "one shot" transfer of RCI Points to you, you would need to already have an RCI Points account into which the expiring points could be deposited. But you don't have one. So, unless an existing member is willing to allow the Points to come into their account, and let you search and book reservations through that account, the rental of Points would not work. And if you could work through someone else's account, they would have to pay the exchange fee using their credit card, and worry about getting timely reimbursement from you AND it would cost $49. (or is it $59. now?) to purchase a guest certificate in your name, and maybe cancellation insurance if you wish to have it.

The RCI Points program has worked fairly well for me because I usually book vacations over one year in advance, and I search early and often for what I want. But I've been with RCI long enough to know that they are likely to alter the program again and again, and never in favor of their members. Also, as more and more people come aboard, there will be more and more competition for the weeks in inventory. Many owners of excellent weeks use them for their own vacations, or rent them at a price that at least covers, and usually exceeds the maintenance fees on the unit. This further erodes the quantity and quality of what those Ebay Points will

Bottom Line: get more information, and consider renting timeshares directly from owners before taking on the burden of ever-rising owners fees.

Buy only after you find a resort at the right location. with a low ticket price, that you could see yourself using most every year, and that can be easily rented in any years when you do not wqnt to use it.

You have asked great questions and have come to the best place for the annswers Good luck!

Few noobie questions (might make a good stickie)

Tintino

fishingguy

rickandcindy23

TUG Review Crew: Elite

fishingguy

Tintino

Jennie