# How does RCI know which points are expiring and which are new?



## JWR (Apr 17, 2012)

I just bought a second TS off ebay. (I was a retail victim and didn't know better, so I'm leveraging my RCI account with a basically free second TS). So, one of my TS renews every other year in January. The other is every year in October. I just bought it today, so the points haven't transferred yet. I'm wondering how the RCI website handles multiple TS accounts, when the points expire at different times. Does it let you select WHICH points you want to use when you book a resort?


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## Conan (Apr 18, 2012)

If it's RCI Weeks, the TP you get when you deposit a week expire two years from the end of the month to which your deposited week belongs.

If it's RCI Points, your account has a "use year" that's the same no matter what you own.  My use year, for example, runs November 1 to October 31.  

So if I get points from a July 2012 week they belong to my "2011 Use Year" that began November 1, 2011, and the points from that deposit are good for exchange vacations through October 31, 2013 which is the last day of my 2012 use year (unless I pay a fee to extend).


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## fishingguy (Apr 18, 2012)

*In the bigger scheme of things...*

Having a _Use Year_ can be confusing to a newbe, especially with owning properties that have specific weeks assigned to them.  But when you get a points account and accept the deposited points in lieu of staying at the property on your anniversary date, your points are awarded within the subsequent account annual window.

I like the ability to borrow ahead on your points from the next use year, after using all of the points from the current year.  It's a great way to 'buffer" unexpected vacations that you see and can't resist, or to come up with some extra points that you don't have to make an exchange because you're a little short.  Also there's no worry about expiring points, unless you end up canceling vacations.  

So from Conan's example, if you are in your 2011 Use Year, use all of 2011's points and borrow from your 2012 Use Year.  There's no fee for doing this (right now :hysterical: ).


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## Chilcotin (Apr 18, 2012)

*I'm confused about my RCI points too*

When I got my timeshare it came with 98000 points for the 2011 use year which I have used up.  What I can't figure out is why points were taken from my 2013 use year when I still have 2012 points unused? It is for a booking in 2013. I'm glad my use year is Janaury 1 to December  31 but it is still confusing  

Here is my account details:


Paid Through Date ...  December 31, 2013  
Membership Term Expiration Date ...  December 31, 2014  
Use Year Dates ...  January 01, 2012 
December 31, 2012  

RCI Points saved from  2011 Use Year* ...  0  
Unused Saved RCI Points will expire ...  December 31, 2012  

Current Use Year ...  2012  
2012  Annual RCI Points Allocation ...  98,000  
Current Use Year Balance ...  31,700  

2013 Use Year Balance ...  84,000


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## JWR (Apr 18, 2012)

I have a points account and an assigned week with both of my timeshares. If I decided to actually use my assigned week, I assume those next year points go away, right?



fishingguy said:


> Having a _Use Year_ can be confusing to a newbe, especially with owning properties that have specific weeks assigned to them.  But when you get a points account and accept the deposited points in lieu of staying at the property on your anniversary date, your points are awarded within the subsequent account annual window.
> 
> I like the ability to borrow ahead on your points from the next use year, after using all of the points from the current year.  It's a great way to 'buffer" unexpected vacations that you see and can't resist, or to come up with some extra points that you don't have to make an exchange because you're a little short.  Also there's no worry about expiring points, unless you end up canceling vacations.
> 
> So from Conan's example, if you are in your 2011 Use Year, use all of 2011's points and borrow from your 2012 Use Year.  There's no fee for doing this (right now :hysterical: ).


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## Conan (Apr 19, 2012)

JWR said:


> I have a points account and an assigned week with both of my timeshares. If I decided to actually use my assigned week, I assume those next year points go away, right?


 
Once a week you own has an RCI Points contract associated with it, the annual points are automatically issued for it.  If you want to use your week and not get the points, you need to tell them quite far in advance - - something like 11 to 13 months ahead but you should call RCI Points and find out for sure.


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## JWR (Apr 19, 2012)

I understand that, but how do they know what points I'm using to book a trip? Do they use the oldest first? The first to expire? One TS gives me 33,000 points every other January, the other is 41,500 pts every October. So it'll be hard to keep track.



Conan said:


> Once a week you own has an RCI Points contract associated with it, the annual points are automatically issued for it.  If you want to use your week and not get the points, you need to tell them quite far in advance - - something like 11 to 13 months ahead but you should call RCI Points and find out for sure.


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## fishingguy (Apr 19, 2012)

*I'll take a stab at your last question*

Unless you have 2 separate RCI Points Accounts, all the points will be deposited into one account, on your *account* anniversary date -- not the date [month] listed on the deeds.  (So the Jan and Oct points will both get deposited into your account at the same time, on the account anniversary date.)  The anniversary date is set up when you bought your first property, and opened your account.  So one use year you will get 74.5K (33K+41.5K) on the account anniversary date, and the following year you will get 41.5K on the next anniversary date.  Points deposited into your account on the anniversary date are for a use year, each anniversary date starts a new use year.

Once points are deposited in your account, they are mixed together, just like the $$$ in your checking account. The use year is the only thing associated with them after they get deposited.  Points from one year are not mixed with others.
------
Now, some people do have 2 or more separate RCI Points Accounts (and even 2 separate RCI Weeks Accounts).  They do this because they can work around blocks (e.g. Disney block on Orlando Points ownerships), but more likely have deeded owners who are different from one property to the other(s).  Some will deliberately deed a points property different when they make a purchase, so they can specifically work around a regional block, but that also results in additional annual membership fees in most cases.  I don't suspect you have 2 or more separate accounts, but thought I'd mention it.


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## JWR (Apr 21, 2012)

THanks, that answers it. I think my use year date is listed as Jan 1, so that should make managing points pretty easy every year.



fishingguy said:


> Unless you have 2 separate RCI Points Accounts, all the points will be deposited into one account, on your *account* anniversary date -- not the date [month] listed on the deeds.  (So the Jan and Oct points will both get deposited into your account at the same time, on the account anniversary date.)  The anniversary date is set up when you bought your first property, and opened your account.  So one use year you will get 74.5K (33K+41.5K) on the account anniversary date, and the following year you will get 41.5K on the next anniversary date.  Points deposited into your account on the anniversary date are for a use year, each anniversary date starts a new use year.
> 
> Once points are deposited in your account, they are mixed together, just like the $$$ in your checking account. The use year is the only thing associated with them after they get deposited.  Points from one year are not mixed with others.
> ------
> Now, some people do have 2 or more separate RCI Points Accounts (and even 2 separate RCI Weeks Accounts).  They do this because they can work around blocks (e.g. Disney block on Orlando Points ownerships), but more likely have deeded owners who are different from one property to the other(s).  Some will deliberately deed a points property different when they make a purchase, so they can specifically work around a regional block, but that also results in additional annual membership fees in most cases.  I don't suspect you have 2 or more separate accounts, but thought I'd mention it.


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## JohnPaul (Apr 25, 2012)

Chilcotin said:


> When I got my timeshare it came with 98000 points for the 2011 use year which I have used up.  What I can't figure out is why points were taken from my 2013 use year when I still have 2012 points unused? It is for a booking in 2013. I'm glad my use year is Janaury 1 to December  31 but it is still confusing :



I was confused by this for awhile as well.  I wanted them to use my oldest points to get the most time out of all points.  That's not what they do.

They (RCI) use the points that go with the year of your reservation.  My year starts July 1.  That means my 2012 year runs from 07/01/12 to 6/30/13.

I had about 60,000 points in my 2011 year and 130,000 in my 2012 year.  I wanted to reserve a ski trip in February 2013 for about 90,000 points.  

If I did nothing special, they would take the points from 2012 which would still leave me with 60,000 2011 points.

All I had to do was call and ask them to carry over my 2011 points to 2012.  Once that was done, I made my reservation and it used my 2012 points (including the ones carried over) leaving me with just 2012 points.

That way I didn't get left with 2011 points with an early expiration.


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## SOS8260456 (Apr 25, 2012)

JohnPaul said:


> All I had to do was call and ask them to carry over my 2011 points to 2012.  Once that was done, I made my reservation and it used my 2012 points (including the ones carried over) leaving me with just 2012 points.
> 
> That way I didn't get left with 2011 points with an early expiration.



Was there a fee for doing that?

Thanks.


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## JohnPaul (May 3, 2012)

SOS8260456 said:


> Was there a fee for doing that?
> 
> Thanks.



No fee as long as you did a transaction in the current year.  I think it might be $25 otherwise.


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## Free2Roam (May 4, 2012)

JohnPaul said:


> No fee as long as you did a transaction in the current year.  I think it might be $25 otherwise.



Just curious... Does this transaction have to be for a reservation in the current use year? Or is calling to book something for the next use year an acceptable transaction to get points carried over at no cost? 

I booked (by phone) a reservation for my next use year using points from my current use year... but I haven't used current use year points for a reservation in the current use year. Will I be charged $26 if I don't make a reservation with the remaining points from this use year in this use year? 

I almost confused myself trying to ask the questions... I hope it comes across clearly.


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## JWR (May 9, 2012)

I know what you're asking, but I don't know the answer. Does that help?  

You would think as long as you made any reservation, they wouldn't charge you. Then again, RCI charges for anything they can think of, so I wouldn't put it past them.



FreeIn2010 said:


> Just curious... Does this transaction have to be for a reservation in the current use year? Or is calling to book something for the next use year an acceptable transaction to get points carried over at no cost?
> 
> I booked (by phone) a reservation for my next use year using points from my current use year... but I haven't used current use year points for a reservation in the current use year. Will I be charged $26 if I don't make a reservation with the remaining points from this use year in this use year?
> 
> I almost confused myself trying to ask the questions... I hope it comes across clearly.


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## Free2Roam (May 9, 2012)

JWR said:


> I know what you're asking, but I don't know the answer. Does that help?
> 
> You would think as long as you made any reservation, they wouldn't charge you. Then again, RCI charges for anything they can think of, so I wouldn't put it past them.



Thanks for responding!   I suppose if I don't book anything in the next few months I'll find out.


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## JohnPaul (May 10, 2012)

FreeIn2010 said:


> Just curious... Does this transaction have to be for a reservation in the current use year? Or is calling to book something for the next use year an acceptable transaction to get points carried over at no cost?



Just got a renewal email from RCI Points that says "If you used at least some of your Points during the current Use Year, the remainder will be saved to the next Use Year for FREE."  There is also a link that seems to be reasonably clear that you must use some of the points from the use year points you want saved to the next use year.


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## Free2Roam (May 10, 2012)

JohnPaul said:


> Just got a renewal email from RCI Points that says "If you used at least some of your Points during the current Use Year, the remainder will be saved to the next Use Year for FREE."  There is also a link that seems to be reasonably clear that you must use some of the points from the use year points you want saved to the next use year.



Well it sounds like I should expect to be charged a fee in October! Thanks for the info.


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