# [ 2015 ] Considering Worldmark credits mainly for RCI and II trades



## LAI (Jul 15, 2015)

Hi,

I'm a newbie and thinking about buying 10,000 - 12,000 resale Worldmark credits. My reasoning for buying points/credits is as follows:


don't want to be tied to a home resort as we like traveling to new places
Worldmark's high trade value on RCI and II
quality of resorts (although I have questions about how often they're updated, etc.)
nice range of west coast locations

The main issue is that I actually live on the east coast and while I could use the credits to go to St. Thomas, I wonder if it makes financial sense to trade into RCI or II a lot of years. 

Are there any folks who use their Worldmark credits to trade on RCI or II every year (or most years)? How many credits do you have and does it make financial sense given the exchange fee and the MFs?

Thanks!


----------



## arch53 (Jul 15, 2015)

*Worldmark Provides Exchange Flexibility*

About 6 years ago, I purchased 7,000 Worldmark credits for trading purposes. I live on East coast (Maine) so no Worldmark resorts are close. I have stayed in a Worldmark resort for one night(Solvang, CA--it was nice but not terrific.). My experience with trading has been in Interval International exclusively. For our winter  vacation (late February/March) in Florida or the Caribbean--- this is in prime season ---we do not depend on timeshare vacation exchanges for vacations.Instead we usually use VRBO or other home rental site. Generally, we will give II a shot and  I will put in for an exchange about a year out for a vacation timeshare location we are interested in. If there has not been a match within two to three months we then use VRBO since the rental inentory will start to significantly diminish after this point. We have generally not gotten a match in that time frame but if we had waited longer, who knows. Our greatest use involves shoulder season vacations; you can relatively easily trade into Westins, Marriotts, Hiltons in shoulder seasons/off-seasons as well as other top quality resorts. Our experience is that Worldmark is a very strong trader in II for shoulder season or off season and fairly strong for non-name brand/independent resorts in prime seasons. II allows great flexibility including requiring only 4,000 credits for any size units in flextime and you can use Request First without depositing any credits. All in all, Worldmark provides a flexible and fun method to access exchange timeshare inventory with a low purchase price and relatively low maintenance fees.


----------



## uscav8r (Jul 16, 2015)

arch53 said:


> ... I have stayed in a Worldmark resort for one night(Solvang, CA--it was nice but not terrific.). ...


Too bad you went to Solvang for your first visit to WM. It was my first visit, as well, after my initial purchase, and I was sorely disappointed. Happily most of the other WM resorts I have been to are much, much better.


arch53 said:


> About 6 years ago, I purchased 7,000 Worldmark  credits for trading purposes. ...


I do not currently use WM as a trader, but I have begun looking at it. One of the benefits that WM has in the trading scenario is the ability to search with the power of a 3BR, even if you are only looking for a 2BR or 1BR. I'm not sure, but I think the only way you can get that to happen is if you have 12k available. Not sure if this means 12k from a given use year, or 12k overall (i.e., 7k banked + 7k current or "to borrrow")...


----------



## brigechols (Jul 16, 2015)

LAI said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm a newbie and thinking about buying 10,000 - 12,000 resale Worldmark credits. My reasoning for buying points/credits is as follows:
> 
> ...


I have a 6000 credit account used for short stays in New Orleans, New Braunfels, and Anaheim. When I want to stay longer periods or trade through RCI or II, I rent extra credits from other WM owners.


----------



## LAI (Jul 16, 2015)

Thanks for all the info. For trading, I'd mainly trade for the Caribbean or Mexico in June/July, and for travel out west, I would use other WM resorts, so it sounds like this might be a good option.  

I saw a number of Wyndham properties in the WM resort guide. Could I reserve with those with my WM credits?


----------



## uscav8r (Jul 16, 2015)

LAI said:


> Thanks for all the info. For trading, I'd mainly trade for the Caribbean or Mexico in June/July, and for travel out west, I would use other WM resorts, so it sounds like this might be a good option.
> 
> I saw a number of Wyndham properties in the WM resort guide. Could I reserve with those with my WM credits?



If you buy resale, which is financially the prudent action, then you will not have direct access (via Club Pass) to any Wyndham resorts unless you use RCI to exchange into them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## bnoble (Jul 16, 2015)

> The main issue is that I actually live on the east coast and while I could use the credits to go to St. Thomas, I wonder if it makes financial sense to trade into RCI or II a lot of years.


Personally, I think it is unwise to plan to depend on exchanges for the majority of your vacation travel. Exchange is a moving target, and what works today might not work tomorrow.  I would consider instead a smaller WM purchase that will meet your west coast needs via saving/borrowing, and either rent or buy something else for your east coast/mexico/caribbean plans.


----------



## PassionForTravel (Jul 17, 2015)

If you want Wyndham properties you are better off buying Wyndham than buying Worldmark, unless you are willing to go through RCI. But most Wyndham inventory goes into RCI points (not RCI weeks). Resale WM accounts can only be RCI weeks.

For exchanging WM is a very strong trader in II and will pull anything that isn't under preference. Preference in II applies to Marriotts and Starwoods, once a unit drops out of preference, WM will pull it. It will pull Hyatt's and independents without an issue.

In RCI WM will pull anything. Just about every year I use WM to pull a HGVC resort in Hawaii (I just need to keep going to different ones since there is a 1 in 4 rule). 

If you buy an account don't buy 12K buy 10K. It's the most MF efficient. A studio in II or RCI will cost 8K credits, a 1 bd will cost 9K credits, a 2 bd will cost 10K credits. If you are inside flex (45 days RCI, 60 days II) any size unit is 4K credits.

Ian


----------



## LAI (Jul 17, 2015)

*Thanks!*

PassionForTravel--thanks for this info. 




PassionForTravel said:


> If you want Wyndham properties you are better off buying Wyndham than buying Worldmark, unless you are willing to go through RCI. But most Wyndham inventory goes into RCI points (not RCI weeks). Resale WM accounts can only be RCI weeks.
> 
> For exchanging WM is a very strong trader in II and will pull anything that isn't under preference. Preference in II applies to Marriotts and Starwoods, once a unit drops out of preference, WM will pull it. It will pull Hyatt's and independents without an issue.
> 
> ...


----------



## Great3 (Jul 17, 2015)

LAI said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm a newbie and thinking about buying 10,000 - 12,000 resale Worldmark credits. My reasoning for buying points/credits is as follows:
> 
> ...



I brought only for exchange, but only planned on using it for Hawaii, which I find worth it used for this purpose.  For other destinations, not as much.  So, it really just depends on what you plan on using it for, whether it is makes financial sense.

But the trading power is Awesome.  If you only plan on exchanging, this is where most timeshare owners gets disappointed, not getting the resorts they want even though it's available.

Great3


----------



## lbrannma (Jan 13, 2016)

I'm in a similar situation, live on the East coast, and have 13,400 WM credits expiring in March. I also have II and RCI memberships. My understanding is that I am able to deposit the 13,400 credits into II and have them available for the next two years. We plan to do this (and hopefully book the II available property in midtown Manhattan for a week). Am I missing anything (e.g. are there other options for my credits which would lengthen their period of validity and provide access to East coast timeshares)? Thanks.


----------



## taterhed (Jan 14, 2016)

lbrannma said:


> I'm in a similar situation, live on the East coast, and have 13,400 WM credits expiring in March. I also have II and RCI memberships. My understanding is that I am able to deposit the 13,400 credits into II and have them available for the next two years. We plan to do this (and hopefully book the II available property in midtown Manhattan for a week). Am I missing anything (e.g. are there other options for my credits which would lengthen their period of validity and provide access to East coast timeshares)? Thanks.


 
The 'deposit first' method is what you're describing.  Remember:  this is only desirable is you're trying to prevent loosing (expiring) credits.  The preferred method is request first.  Place an OGS--in hopes of getting a match--and only deposit the credits if the match doesn't hit by March xx. Value of deposited week will be variable based on week deposited by WM.

The info on "spacebank with Interval"  "deposit first" is in this old handbook.  The info is pretty good--but old.   So, go here and read about it:  https://www.worldmarktheclub.com/education/pdfs/OwnerEdHandbook2005.pdf

Anything else in this old handbook is subject to change; and probably has.  Interval International info for Worldmark is not very good in the new handbook.


----------



## lbrannma (Jan 15, 2016)

Thanks... it appears that I cannot deposit the entire 13,400 credits since the number deposited must correspond with the amount needed for a week's stay. Suppose the amount is 9,000 credits. How would I be able to extend the validity of the other 4,400 credits? Could I deposit them with RCI?


----------



## LLW (Jan 15, 2016)

lbrannma said:


> I'm in a similar situation, live on the East coast, and have 13,400 WM credits expiring in March. I also have II and RCI memberships. My understanding is that I am able to deposit the 13,400 credits into II and have them available for the next two years. We plan to do this (and hopefully book the II available property in midtown Manhattan for a week). Am I missing anything (e.g. are there other options for my credits which would lengthen their period of validity and provide access to East coast timeshares)? Thanks.





lbrannma said:


> Thanks... it appears that I cannot deposit the entire 13,400 credits since the number deposited must correspond with the amount needed for a week's stay. Suppose the amount is 9,000 credits. How would I be able to extend the validity of the other 4,400 credits? Could I deposit them with RCI?



You may rent out the credits to other owners for cash. If you have credits expiring in 3 months it means you are not using your credits, probably because you are on the East Coast, and have not learned how to effectively do exchanges using WM. Rent the old credits out for cash, and you have plenty of new credits coming up for exchanges, which you need to learn.

Learn how to rent and what credits are renting for here:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=67

Deposit First should not be attempted by beginning exchangers. WM assigns your week and the only say you have is season and size. The week you get may be a dog (Galena, Lake of the Osarks, etc.) with weak trading power that you may not be able to exchange into an average power week, not to mention a week in midtown Manhattan that would require high trade power.

Read all about exchanging using WM here:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=25

especially these ones:
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=26192
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6204
http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=10111

Request First is a much less challenging method to exchange.


----------



## taterhed (Jan 15, 2016)

LLW said:


> You may rent out the credits to other owners for cash. If you have credits expiring in 3 months it means you are not using your credits, probably because you are on the East Coast, and have not learned how to effectively do exchanges using WM. Rent the old credits out for cash, and you have plenty of new credits coming up for exchanges, which you need to learn.
> 
> Learn how to rent and what credits are renting for here:
> http://www.wmowners.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=67
> ...



Outstanding advice LLW. I knew somebody with WM would make a better post...

Keep in mind:  if you decide to rent-out the credits (a good thing) you need to do it now.  Register on the site (wmowners) and get going. Without any history or feedback, some owners may be wary of renting from you.  You'll also need to price the credits at a good price; due to the short window and your lack of reviews.  But, you should still rent them pretty quickly.

You do realize you could have had an on-going search for the desired reservation running already, right?  Also, if you have doubts about using your (expiring) credits this year, rent them early--you can always rent some back in the next year etc....

cheers.


----------

