New points purchased, lost a year

[tammster]

I purchased 1,500 points in 2014 and ended up with a use year of Nov 1 – Oct 31st. I knew pretty soon that 1,500 points will be hard to work with so when we went to a presentation up in Orlando on Nov 1st of this year, we agreed to purchase an additional 3,500 points ($10.93 per point, 250k bonus rewards points & 3,500 points to finance for 18 months… not sure if that last part was a good decision but I guess I can re-evaluate after that time).

Anyway, we obviously didn’t close yet but on the vacation club website the 5,000 points are showing available in the 11/1/16-10/31/17 year. The guy on chat said that since the closing will happen in December, they have to align the new points to the same year as the old. I guess that makes sense but the result is basically me losing 3,500 points. Has anyone had luck changing the year or possibly just keeping two separate years? I know that would be super confusing but it might be better than losing 3,500 points. I’m going to contact my sales rep but thought I’d ask here too since you guys seem to know everything about this stuff.

 

[Fasttr]

I believe you can have 2 different Use Years. They would not be that far off from each other (Nov vs Jan), so it doesn't seem as if it would cause that much of an issue from a usage/tracking perspective.

That said, are you familiar with the point rental market? Using that for additional points would be far cheaper than purchasing the additional 3500 points. HERE is a link which explains it pretty well.

The annual costs to rent are very similar to the annual MF's if you owned the points, but you have no upfront costs....which is huge.

 

[BocaBoy]

And of course while you "lose" a year of points, you also do not pay the maintenance fees for that year. If you want the use year to be the same as your other points and do not want to wait a year, I would think they would sell you points with a first use year of 11/15 through 10/16. This was probably not their default position because your first year would be less than 12 months. If you want the points for the 12 months ending in October of 2016, tell them that is want you want or you will rescind. I really don't think you would have a problem having it structured that way.

 

[SeaDoc]

I purchased 1,500 points in 2014 and ended up with a use year of Nov 1 – Oct 31st. I knew pretty soon that 1,500 points will be hard to work with so when we went to a presentation up in Orlando on Nov 1st of this year, we agreed to purchase an additional 3,500 points ($10.93 per point, 250k bonus rewards points & 3,500 points to finance for 18 months… not sure if that last part was a good decision but I guess I can re-evaluate after that time).

Anyway, we obviously didn’t close yet but on the vacation club website the 5,000 points are showing available in the 11/1/16-10/31/17 year. The guy on chat said that since the closing will happen in December, they have to align the new points to the same year as the old. I guess that makes sense but the result is basically me losing 3,500 points. Has anyone had luck changing the year or possibly just keeping two separate years? I know that would be super confusing but it might be better than losing 3,500 points. I’m going to contact my sales rep but thought I’d ask here too since you guys seem to know everything about this stuff.

Tell them you want to pay for alternative use (alt-use) for 11/1/15-10/31/16, which will be roughly the amount of the maintenance fee for the year. Enjoy...

 

[tammster]

Thanks everyone. I did speak to my sales rep and she said she could request to do that, and that I would, of course, need to pay the fees. So now I'm trying to decide if its worth it. Roughly $1750 of fees for points that MAY result in the same amount of value. If I had a big trip planned in the next year or so I'd be more tempted I guess.

Again, thanks for the help!

 

[BocaBoy]

Thanks everyone. I did speak to my sales rep and she said she could request to do that, and that I would, of course, need to pay the fees. So now I'm trying to decide if its worth it. Roughly $1750 of fees for points that MAY result in the same amount of value. If I had a big trip planned in the next year or so I'd be more tempted I guess.

Now I am confused. I thought the point of your post was that you wanted the use of the points in the next year ending October 2016. Did you think you were getting that usage for free? (That sounds rude, but i don't mean it to be. I am just trying to understand your original concern.)

 

[tammster]

Now I am confused. I thought the point of your post was that you wanted the use of the points in the next year ending October 2016. Did you think you were getting that usage for free? (That sounds rude, but i don't mean it to be. I am just trying to understand your original concern.)

Honestly, I have only owned points for a year and really didn't understand the process. I assumed I would be paying the fees anyway but the points would be delayed. I feel kinda stupid but I guess it's all just a learning process.


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[BocaBoy]

I feel kinda stupid but I guess it's all just a learning process.

No worries. We have all "been there, done that".