# purchasing points



## toontoy (Sep 9, 2020)

Hi

I currently have a 6,000 point contract and the anniversary date is sept. I am looking to add another 6,000 points. With the resale prices right now it seems like a time to buy. I noticed that if they are combined the maint fee is much lower. Do I have to buy a sept year or will it be modified. I purchased the original points resale a couple years ago. I am learning the ropes of worldmark.


----------



## Firepath (Sep 9, 2020)

You don't have to buy the same anniversary month. When they combine the accounts, I think they use the earlier of the two.


----------



## easyrider (Sep 10, 2020)

toontoy said:


> Hi
> 
> I currently have a 6,000 point contract and the anniversary date is sept. I am looking to add another 6,000 points. With the resale prices right now it seems like a time to buy. I noticed that if they are combined the maint fee is much lower. Do I have to buy a sept year or will it be modified. I purchased the original points resale a couple years ago. I am learning the ropes of worldmark.



While the mf is lower you will only have one housekeeping token. I think it is better to have multiple accounts of 10,000 points. If I was looking for another account and I had a 6000 point account I would buy a 10,000 point account and use the 6000 point account to prop up the 10,000 point account and for bonus time.

Bill


----------



## geist1223 (Sep 10, 2020)

First off if you combine you decide which is the surviving account. Also wait until both Accounts have had their anniversary date and new Points for the Calendar year. Also before you start the combine transfer all the Points from the Account going away to the Account surviving. That way you will have access to those Points for the months the combine is going to take.

It is silly to combine 2 6K Accounts. You end up with 1 HKC vice 2. You do keep 2 GC. If you are going to combine it is better to end up with a 20K Account.

Consider when you buy the new 2nd Account of whatever size you can have it combined at the time of purchase so you only pay 1 $299 fee.


----------



## Eric B (Sep 10, 2020)

geist1223 said:


> ...
> 
> It is silly to combine 2 6K Accounts. You end up with 1 HKC vice 2. You do keep 2 GC. If you are going to combine it is better to end up with a 20K Account.
> 
> ...



I agree with most of what @geist1223 says, but think you should do the math and consider whether a 12K account is better than two 6K accounts for yourself if you find yourself in the position of needing to decide whether to combine them.  The dues for a 6K account are currently $741.65, so for two 6K accounts the dues would be $1,483.30.  The dues for a 12K account are currently $1,087.45, which is $395.85 less than paying the dues on the two separate 6K accounts.  It is true that you get 1 housekeeping token for each account until you get to 20K, so you have 2 tokens for the separate 6K accounts instead of 1 token for the 12K, but the value of the extra token is offset by the lower dues more than it would cost you to just pay for the additional token (max cost is $163 this year if you reserve a 4 BR, which might be tough to do for that many credits).  Assuming the max avoided cost for housekeeping, a 12K account costs $232.85 per year less than two 6K accounts with their extra token.

With two 6K accounts you do have some additional usability (e.g., Bonus Time and waiting lists) that might be worth paying that extra $232.85.  Whether the additional usability is worth the extra cost is up for debate; there are some that swear by multiple small accounts.  I wouldn't begrudge them their opinions because it's a very personal weighing of the value of the utility everyone must decide on themselves, or stumble into.  IMHO, folks ought to educate themselves and figure out for themselves what criteria they should use to make the decisions and then make informed ones.  12K isn't an inherently bad size for an account, the dues and benefits are the essentially the same as an 11K account because of the way dues are set, so if you wind up with one, the credits you use are less expensive (i.e., go further) than they would be with an 11K account.  It's also a good amount because it's a multiple of a 6K to deposit in II as a 2 BR Blue week.  YMMV.


----------



## sue1947 (Sep 10, 2020)

Eric B said:


> the dues and benefits are the essentially the same as a 10K or an 11K account because of the way dues are set,


Nope.  The dues for 10,000 credits are less than for 11- or 12,000.


----------



## Eric B (Sep 10, 2020)

Oops; you're right, that level starts at 10,001 points.  Fixed it.  Thanks!


----------



## Tacoma (Sep 15, 2020)

I agree with others that owning worldmark in multiples of 10000 points is the best way to go. I had one 10000 account and combined it with another 10000 account and I find 20000 is about the perfect size.  I can use 2 weeks a year or rent in points if my family wants me to book them reservations. I am thinking of buying a 5000 or 7000 account to keep separate so I would have 8 wait list requests and 2 bonus time bookings (I hope that's the correct term) as I could see myself using last minute bookings when we are both retired.  Right now not knowing whether one night stays are going to return after covid and having 4 more years until my husband retires I have kind of backed off on looking for the perfect second account.  So consider just buying a 10000 account and keeping it separate. Although you will pay more in maintenance fees you will get 2 HK tokens, 8 wait list requests, 2 bonus time bookings simultaneously and if you put the second account in your name and one different name(maybe a child or a sibling) you would have a way to avoid guest certificate fees for the member of your family who is most likely to use your timeshare.


----------



## geist1223 (Sep 15, 2020)

We thought that we would use a lot of BT when we retired.  We did not calculate the pets into the equation. We always have to schedule our House Sitter. She is in much demand plus has a regular job. She moved into our House. She and her sister own a 2 Bedroom Condo together. They both House/Pet sit. They are rarely at home at the same time.


----------



## Tacoma (Sep 15, 2020)

We don't have to worry about pet sitters as my husband has allergies so no pets for us.

Joan


----------



## toontoy (Sep 21, 2020)

thanks for all the info, The wife wants to debate things a bit more. Its interesting to hear the pro/cons about 10,000 and 12,000 point accounts. I didnt realize the maint fee per point wasnt fixed its variable. I was originally looking at something to compliment our HGVC ownership. not sure what we will do.


----------



## geist1223 (Sep 22, 2020)

Also remember that WM MF's are in 2,500 increments. So a 22,500 Point Account pays exactly the same MF as a 20,001 Point Account.


----------



## Mongoose (Sep 28, 2020)

geist1223 said:


> First off if you combine you decide which is the surviving account. Also wait until both Accounts have had their anniversary date and new Points for the Calendar year. Also before you start the combine transfer all the Points from the Account going away to the Account surviving. That way you will have access to those Points for the months the combine is going to take.
> 
> It is silly to combine 2 6K Accounts. You end up with 1 HKC vice 2. You do keep 2 GC. If you are going to combine it is better to end up with a 20K Account.
> 
> Consider when you buy the new 2nd Account of whatever size you can have it combined at the time of purchase so you only pay 1 $299 fee.


Hmmm,  Are the maintenance fees for 2 6K accounts like $1400 and a one 12K account like $1000.  That savings buys a lot of HK fees unless I'm missing something?


----------



## Eric B (Sep 28, 2020)

Dues for a 6K account in 2020 are $741.65, so two would be $1483.30.  Dues for a 12K account in 2020 are  $1087.45, for a difference of $395.85, which is the cost of about 3 1/2 HK tokens for a 2 BR stay.

This is, in part, because the 6K is at the low end of its price group (costs the same as a 7K account) and the 12K is at the high end of its price group (costs the same as an 11K account).  The gap might be lower for some other size accounts you look at if you're considering combining.  In general, it seems to me that combining gives you a less expensive overall cost even if it costs you an HK token.

The other thing I take into consideration is that when you use a different TS through the Exchange Plus program to convert a red week to WM credits, the cost can be even lower.  I just converted a couple of 2 BR red weeks at Woodstone at Massanutten; it cost me MF of ~$450 and an Exchange Plus fee of $129 for each to get 8,000 credits, 1 HK token, and 1 guest certificate for each one - cost was a total of ~$579 as compared to dues of $914.55 for an 8K account with 1 HK token and 2 guest certificates.  You can do up to 4 Exchange Plus deposits per year, which equates to having an option on an additional 32K in the 6K account you already own.


----------

