# Can I get out of RCI points?



## CaliDave (Sep 26, 2008)

I recently bought a couple RCI points weeks.. because I wanted to underlying week, not the RCI Points. 

One ownership I am going to sell through the resort's resale dept. 
I got a call from the resort and they asked if I could get it out of RCI weeks.. they said its very difficult to sell while in points.. people buy at this resort to use the week. 

She said they have never successfully sold a RCI points resale at the resort for prime season, only off-season..

My contract supposedly ends in 2010 wit RCI.


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## janej (Sep 26, 2008)

Do you want to get rid of RCI point just so that you can sell?  

I don't think the people you spoke with understand RCI points.  The owner can still use their week if they don't want to trade through RCI.  Maybe they have to pay the RCI point membership any way?  I am not sure.  That could be a negative if people just want to buy a week and use it.

I am RCI point member and I am happy about the program.  It is not too practical for shorter stays due to the fees.  But it still gives me a lot more options for trading my two weeks as 93k points.


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## CaliDave (Sep 26, 2008)

janej said:


> Do you want to get rid of RCI point just so that you can sell?
> 
> I don't think the people you spoke with understand RCI points.  The owner can still use their week if they don't want to trade through RCI.  Maybe they have to pay the RCI point membership any way?  I am not sure.  That could be a negative if people just want to buy a week and use it.
> 
> I am RCI point member and I am happy about the program.  It is not too practical for shorter stays due to the fees.  But it still gives me a lot more options for trading my two weeks as 93k points.



I dont think they buyers want to deal with RCI at all.. they just want to use the fixed week.  and yes, I want to get out so I can sell it. 

I'll get much more if I dont have to deal with the RCI "contract"  that im sure the previous owner paid $3K for the conversion


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## GrayFal (Sep 27, 2008)

CaliDave said:


> *I don't think they buyers want to deal with RCI at all.. they just want to use the fixed week.  *and *yes, I want to get out so I can sell it.*
> 
> I'll get much more if I don't have to deal with the RCI "contract"  that I'm sure the previous owner paid $3K for the conversion


I am glad Jane answered as she did - because that was my understanding, too.

*If the new owner wants to use the week at the resort every year, there is no issue.*
If they wanted to deposit with RCI - they would HAVE to deposit it as points...but once the 3 year 'commitment' is finished, there is no obligation to continue with points.
*That is why it should not impact your ability to sell the week - as long as u can explain it to the buyers as stated by Jane.*

They would also have the option to deposit with II (if dual affiliated) or SFX or DAE as a week at any time - the 'points' designation is only pertinent to RCI.


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## CaliDave (Sep 27, 2008)

unfortunately.. I wont be talking to the resale buyers.. its the resorts resale department who will find the buyer. 

Which doesn't have a handle on RCI points or how it works. I doubt they are willing to learn or be able to explain.

I might just have to rent out the week for a couple years until I can get out of my RCI contract in 2010.

DO I just call RCI a certain time before 2010 abnd let them know? I want to make sure its not some "auto-renewing" contract and I'm stuck another 3 years. 



GrayFal said:


> I am glad Jane answered as she did - because that was my understanding, too.
> 
> *If the new owner wants to use the week at the resort every year, there is no issue.*
> If they wanted to deposit with RCI - they would HAVE to deposit it as points...but once the 3 year 'commitment' is finished, there is no obligation to continue with points.
> ...


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## Fern Modena (Sep 27, 2008)

Points agreements don't "auto renew." You have to sign a new agreement every three years.  So if you don't sign one, there is no renewal.  In fact, if you don't sign a Points Transfer agreement, the resale won't be points anyway.  At least I think this is so, since you must sign one to transfer the points.  Call RCI and ask how to do it...

Fern


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## nightnurse613 (Sep 27, 2008)

I am TOTALLY CONFUSED    You bought two RCI POINTS weeks and you want to get out because you wanted to buy the underlying weeks and the resort says they have NEVER successfully sold a POINTS week to anyone (other than you) because people want to use the deed designated prime week. First off, I thought your reservation privileges were the same regardless of whether you owned points or weeks.  Aren't the points tied to an underlying prime week? Sheesh, just when I thought I was beginning to understand RCI points.


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## skimble (Sep 27, 2008)

nightnurse613 said:


> I am TOTALLY CONFUSED    You bought two RCI POINTS weeks and you want to get out because you wanted to buy the underlying weeks and the resort says they have NEVER successfully sold a POINTS week to anyone (other than you) because people want to use the deed designated prime week. First off, I thought your reservation privileges were the same regardless of whether you owned points or weeks.  Aren't the points tied to an underlying prime week? Sheesh, just when I thought I was beginning to understand RCI points.



The problem is not tied to a fixed week; it's floating weeks.  Once you sign up for Points, you are no longer assigned a usage week through the resort; they assign it to RCI.  It's then your responsibility to make your reservation through RCI.  
However, there are some resorts (like the one that Dave is referring to) that have very few prime weeks available in the system.  So, while, in theory, he could book a week at this resort (with no exchange fee) he cannot.  I asked someone at the management company, and he may have the only Points prime week at this resort.  
Thus, in theory, he should be able to book the week he wants, and it would make no sense to get rid of the Points affiliation.  But in this case, it makes perfect sense.  

It even makes sense for a person with a fixed week.  I have a one-month window to book my Points week.  If I miss that window, there's a chance that it could be gone in the system, and I'd lose it altogether.  To guarantee use of my fixed prime week, I may want to divest the Points.


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## CaliDave (Sep 29, 2008)

Steve,

You are somewhat correct.  Yes, I'd like to get out of the points for the RCI points floating week you are referring to .. but the one I am trying to sell is a fixed summer week at another resort. I think you are also selling a week through their resale dept.


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## Jennie (Oct 2, 2008)

Does the resort actually have a buyer (or buyers) willing to purchase your week? If not, how likely is it that they will obtain a quick sale for you? I wouldn't give up the RCI Points status of the week unless you are fairly certain that a buyer will be found soon. Why don't you tell the resort to proceed to find a buyer, as if it is a fixed week, but do not drop out of Points until you explain the options to the buyer-to-be and let him decide whether or not to keep it in RCI Points.

Have you thought of trying to sell the week yourself? There are many people looking for RCI Points packages that have a good underlying fixed week.

You need to pay an annual fee to RCI for your Points membership. I think that if you do not pay the fee, you're "kicked out" of the program. Call RCI to double-check this.  If I'm correct, then you would be out much sooner than the end of the 3 year contract you have with RCI. 

Don't forget to notify RCI Points about one year in advance of the check-in date that you will be using your week instead of receiving RCI Points that year. You can always obtain a guest certificate for the new owner. Or you can later change your mind and have the week deposited into RCI Points.
The date by which you need to notify RCI that you will be using your week appears at the top of the left column under "Home Resort" when you go to the RCI web site.


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## CaliDave (Oct 2, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. The resort does not have a buyer, they called me after I submitted the resale form. Advising me that they never have luck selling the weeks as RCI Points.  The resort charges a 30% commision, but they should have no problem getting between $12K - $15K ..   If I sell it on my own, I'll be lucky to get $2K on ebay. 

I was just looking for an easy way to get out. I'm not sure why RCI makes everything so difficult and complicated. 

Unfortunately, my week is week 26.. so I'm out of luck for 2009 points. 
I guess I'll just wait and see what I can do 

I don't think the resort wants to mess with the points and making guest certs and explaining a system to a new buyer.. when they don't know anything about it.


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## pranas (Oct 2, 2008)

I was told the same thing but did receive a referral to a real estate agent in the area who does sell weeks that have been conveted to points.  The explanation about reserving early, etc. didn't cut it.


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## irish (Oct 4, 2008)

are you sure the resort knows nothing about RCI points, or do they just want the opportunity to"convert" the week for the new owner to a points week thereby getting another $2500-2700 for the conversion?  from what i understand,RCI charges about $300. for the conversion all the rest of the money is GRAVY for the resort.
just my suspicious mind at work.


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## roadtriper (Oct 12, 2008)

irish said:


> are you sure the resort knows nothing about RCI points, or do they just want the opportunity to"convert" the week for the new owner to a points week thereby getting another $2500-2700 for the conversion?  from what i understand,RCI charges about $300. for the conversion all the rest of the money is GRAVY for the resort.
> just my suspicious mind at work.



I guess I have a Suspicous mind also, as I read through this thread  I had these same thoughts!   A resort has to "Choose" to be in the RCI points program, I can't believe they don't understand the points system.  I think they are banking on the fact that you don't understand the points system.RT


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## SDKath (Nov 17, 2008)

I guess I am confused.  Isn't this discussion kinda irrelevant.  The question is HOW does one get out of RCI points on a resale.  I had this same question in the summer when I bought a week that was committed to RCI (and the seller didn't tell me this till after contracts were sent to me).  I wanted out.

Someone advised me that when a week ownership exchanges hands, the RCI membership is dropped UNLESS you opt to continue it.  Another person told me that no matter what, when the person paid $3000 for the RCI points, they signed up the week for 3 years and it cannot be undone.

So does anyone know where the truth lies?  There are many good auctions right now on eBay with RCI points where I would want to have the week underlying it and for various reasons (resale, conversion into another system), I would NOT want it to be in RCI points...

Katherine


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## Joycee (Nov 17, 2008)

Hi, I agree with CaliDave.


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## CaliDave (Nov 17, 2008)

I talked to RCI points and they sent me a form to opt-out. 

It says that I will lose any unused points and well as any booked vacations. 

So if my week is a week 26.. and I have 08 points, and 09 points. Its too late to get my 09 weeks back. I need to use all those points , before canceling my week? 

What if I use them for airfare for next Aug? Will they cancel that? 

When do I have to tel them , that I want to use my 2010 week? And not put it in points? 

I also have a floating week, that I want out.. they are both in the same account and the form seems to indicate.. that I have to cancel the whole account. Which is fine, I want out of points, but I dont want to lose 200K points in the process. 

Its very confusing.


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## philsfan (Nov 17, 2008)

I don't know if this will help or not but to use the fixed week associated with the points you own, you need to notify RCI from between 396 days before check-in to 366 days before check-in.  This is the Home Week Priority Period.

From the points disclosure:

i. Home Week Priority Period. The Home Week Priority Period is designed to support a Member’s use of the Member’s Fixed Vacation Time. During the Home Week Priority Period, a Member who Deposited Fixed Vacation Time has the exclusive right to reserve the use of that Vacation Time, subject to the Network Documents. The Home Week Priority Period is begins 396 days and ends 366 days (approximately 13 to 12 months) prior to the first day of occupancy of the Fixed Vacation Time. If a Member makes a Home Week Priority Reservation, it must be made for the full week, and the Member will use the entire allocation of RCI Points® arising out of that Vacation Time to make the Reservation.


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## philsfan (Nov 17, 2008)

Your usage of floating time at your resort is governed by the Home Resort Priority period which is 365 days before check-in until 335 days until check-in.

Home Resort Priority Period. The Home Resort Priority Period is designed to support a Member’s use of Vacation Time at his/her Home Resort. During this period, Reservations of Vacation Time in the Home Resort are available on a first come first served basis exclusively to Members who Deposited Vacation Time at that Home Resort. The Home Resort Priority Period begins 365 days and ends 335 days (approximately 12 to 11 months) in advance of the start date of the relevant Vacation Time. If the Member makes a Home Resort Priority Period Reservation at the location where the Member Deposited Floating Time during the Member’s floating use period, the reservation must be made for a full week, and the Member will use the entire allocation of RCI Points arising out of that Vacation Time to make the Reservation.

It's not clear about whether you have to accept whatever week in your float becomes available or if you get to specify a speciific week or weeks that you will accept.


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## Clintshare (Nov 19, 2008)

*"resale department" ???*

CaliDave.. The resort's resale dept will have no trouble getting 12 to 13K for your timeshare... and you can expect to get 2K if you sell it yourself ????

I'm with poster "IRISH". My suspicious mind is suspicious also. 

Hmmmmm. Something amiss here.  Good luck.


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## JudyS (Nov 19, 2008)

GrayFal said:


> ......
> 
> They would also have the option to deposit with II (if dual affiliated) or SFX or DAE as a week at any time - the 'points' designation is only pertinent to RCI.


Unfortunately, that is *NOT* true.  If a week has been converted to RCI Points, it can *NOT* be used in any other exchange company.  Believe me, I have tried (and tried, and tried.)

The problem is, if a week has been converted to RCI Points, RCI will tell the resort that it is committed to the RCI exchange pool. This is true _even if you reserve the week during your Home Week booking window_.  The resort's records will still show the week as committed to RCI; therefore, all other exchange companies *will* reject the week once they try to verify it.

I have seen many posters here swear up-and-down that weeks converted to RCI Points can be deposited into other exchange companies, but I have *never* heard of anyone successfully doing this. In fact, I seem to be the only person here who has actually tried to do this. People who claim you can deposited converted weeks seem to be making assumptions about how RCI Points should work.  Unfortunately, that is quite different from how RCI points does work. 

For the same reason, you will have trouble renting out a week that has been converted to RCI Points.  When your renter tries to call the resort to verify that they can use your week, your resort will tell them, "Sorry our records show that RCI will be putting an exchanger into that unit."  The resort will not get anything from RCI saying that you booked the week during the home week booking window until approximately two weeks prior to check-in.  To rent a week that has been converted to RCI Points, you will need an RCI Guest Certificate.  Furthermore, back when Madge was here, she was unwilling to say whether RCI rules permit the owner of a week converted to RCI Points to rent that week out.

The reality is, *a week that has been converted to RCI Points is a week that has been deposited with RCI.*  You have the right to use the week yourself, but otherwise, the week behaves just like any other week that's been deposited in the RCI spacebank. 

There are also plenty of other reasons why someone might not want a week that has been converted to RCI, starting with the $224 or so extra transfer fee for converted weeks, and continuing with the hassle of reserving one's week during a narrow period each year and the expense of that $124 RCI Points membership every year, not to mention the various opportunities for RCI to mess up the reservation. 

The good news is, it is easy to break an RCI Points contract as part of a sale.  You just check off a box on the Membership Transfer Agreement.  However, if next year's week has not been reserved during the Home Week booking window, you probably will not have use of that week.  Also, if the week is the only converted week in the seller's RCI Points account, you will probably lose the use of any points in the account, as the account will go away. 

I was also told by VRI that the resort can break the RCI Points contract at any time, even if the 3 years aren't up and if there is no sale.  Whether management companies other than VRI would know how to do this is an open question, however.


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## JudyS (Nov 19, 2008)

Fern Modena said:


> Points agreements don't "auto renew." You have to sign a new agreement every three years.  So if you don't sign one, there is no renewal. ....


Fern, have you had an RCI Points contract renew, and if so, what was the management company?

Of the three RCI Points contracts I own, one has passed the 3-year mark.  I didn't get anything from RCI telling me the 3 years were up and asking if I wanted to renew the RCI Points contract.  Instead, they just renewed the contract and billed the resort for the renewal fee. (Yep, RCI charges you a fee when the 3 years are up.)  Eventually, the resort billed me, but I had a hard time telling what the fee was for.  (The bill just said, "RCI Fee."  I hadn't even known there _was _a fee for the 3-year renewal.)

Since the week was a resale, I didn't realize that the 3-year contract was almost up.  I was pretty surprised to find that the 3 years were up, that RCI had already renewed the contract for 3 more years, and that I was being billed by the resort for the contract renewal.


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## CaliDave (Nov 19, 2008)

Clintshare said:


> CaliDave.. The resort's resale dept will have no trouble getting 12 to 13K for your timeshare... and you can expect to get 2K if you sell it yourself ????
> 
> I'm with poster "IRISH". My suspicious mind is suspicious also.
> 
> Hmmmmm. Something amiss here.  Good luck.



I've sold this same resort several times with the resale dept.. never in points.

They have always sold them quickly for a lot of $$.   In this economy, I'd guess closer to $9K.. they might get.  by the time I get out of RCI Points.. It might be down to $2K


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## Egret1986 (Nov 19, 2008)

*Wow, I didn't know anything about the RCI contract renewel fee*



JudyS said:


> Fern, have you had an RCI Points contract renew, and if so, what was the management company?
> 
> Of the three RCI Points contracts I own, one has passed the 3-year mark.  I didn't get anything from RCI telling me the 3 years were up and asking if I wanted to renew the RCI Points contract.  Instead, they just renewed the contract and billed the resort for the renewal fee. (Yep, RCI charges you a fee when the 3 years are up.)  Eventually, the resort billed me, but I had a hard time telling what the fee was for.  (The bill just said, "RCI Fee."  I hadn't even known there _was _a fee for the 3-year renewal.)
> 
> Since the week was a resale, I didn't realize that the 3-year contract was almost up.  I was pretty surprised to find that the 3 years were up, that RCI had already renewed the contract for 3 more years, and that I was being billed by the resort for the contract renewal.




Always learning something new here.  How much was the fee?  I thought the 3 years would start when I became the owner.  Would I call RCI to find out when the RCI contract is up?  I own two Points resorts; one is a VRI resort and the other is not.  Another RCI fee?


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## djyamyam (Nov 19, 2008)

JudyS said:


> For the same reason, you will have trouble renting out a week that has been converted to RCI Points.  When your renter tries to call the resort to verify that they can use your week, your resort will tell them, "Sorry our records show that RCI will be putting an exchanger into that unit."  *The resort will not get anything from RCI saying that you booked the week during the home week booking window until approximately two weeks prior to check-in. * To rent a week that has been converted to RCI Points, you will need an RCI Guest Certificate.  Furthermore, back when Madge was here, she was unwilling to say whether RCI rules permit the owner of a week converted to RCI Points to rent that week out.



This is not necessarily the case with all resorts.  A resort has the capability of downloading the reservation information from RCI at any time.  Most of the time, this is an automatic process and happens as you noted above.  However, every resort has the ability to do this on a manual basis.  Depending on your resort and management company, they may then be able to move this into their internal reservation system as a regular reservation.


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## gorevs9 (Nov 20, 2008)

JudyS said:


> For the same reason, you will have trouble renting out a week that has been converted to RCI Points.
> Furthermore, back when Madge was here, she was unwilling to say whether RCI rules permit the owner of a week converted to RCI Points to rent that week out.


I posed the question to RCI about renting a home week.  For what's it's worth, here's their response.

_"As long as you reserve your home week (if you own fixed weeks) or the unit type and season that matches your floating ownership and confirm during the home week or home resort period, you may use or rent out that week.  If you reserve a unit which does not match your ownership, or reserve after the home week/home resort priority reservation period, you may not rent out the unit."_​


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