RCI Points - Current Use Year Balance & Expiration Dates

[flexible]

Below is my RCI point account information online right now. I might not be back in USA by March 31 and my internet connection is not always strong enough to call RCI with SKYPE.

Does anyone know if: Current Use Year Balance ... 19,000 means:
- 19,000 expire April 01, 2010
- I'd need to pay to the fee to roll those forward one more year
- They MIGHT roll forward anyways and MIGHT be part of the 2011 Use Year Balance ... 347,875 because I MIGHT have already paid the rollover fee. I seem to remember speaking to RCI Points last summer trying to understand this and paid the fee while I was in the US because they said you cannot do it online. But I could be confusing that call with summer 2009.

Also is 2011 Use Year Balance ..347,875 mean that those points expire April 01, 2012?


Paid Through Date ...
March 31, 2013
Membership Term Expiration Date ...
March 31, 2013
Use Year Dates ...
April 01, 2010
March 31, 2011
Unused Saved Points Will Expire ...
March 31, 2011
Current Use Year ...
2010
2010 Annual Points Allocation ...
30,000
Current Use Year Balance ...
19,000
2011 Use Year Balance ...
347,875
You may borrow from your 2011 Use Year Balance. *Not a running balance.

Thanks. I hate letting RCI Points expire unnecessarily. About 2008/2009 when we planned 8 weeks of Summer 2009 in Europe, I moved many RCI weeks deposits to RCI Points and used about 300,000 or so. In December 2009, I ordered a RCI Points Partner Credit Card with 25,000 RCI Points because I was told those points would have expire April 1, 2010 BUT after I received it another RCI guide explained they would not have expired.

If these 19,000 will expire soon, I'll order another credit card for 25,000 RCI Points which I think can be done each year. If not, I'll let them sit in the account and try to use the balance by April 1, 2012 when I think all but about 30,000 expire.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Conan]

I think your question turns on whether the current use year (ending 3/31/11) balance of 19,000 originated in the current year (which would automatically carry to the 2011 use year ending 3/31/12) or originated in the preceding year (making the current year already year 2) in which case RCI will charge a fee ($4.80 per thousand last time I checked) to give those points a third year.

If you phone RCI they should be able to tell you and arrange for the extension if needed.

 

[cclendinen]

Points accounting.

The Current Use Year Balance usually consists of the current use year points and any saved points from previous use years. It is possible for the current use year balance to contain points from the current use year and two previous use years. At the beginning of a new use year the previous use year will be automatically saved (as long as you had a transaction during that year). Any points from the year prior will expire unless you pay to extend them another year. Normally you will use the oldest points first, but there are exceptions to this. This why it is important to track your points by use year in a worksheet, because you cannot just look and the current use year balance and know which year the points represent.

You are currently in your 2010 use year and will start you 2011 use year on 4/1/2011. Assuming that your current use year balance is all 2010 use year points they will expire on 4/1/2012. You would also have an option to pay to extend them another year at anytime before the end of your 2011 use year.

Here is another thread with details on points accounting.
http://tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128278

 

[Gemini3]

requesting a RCI points accounting

You can request a running balance from a RCI rep. They mailed it to me within a week of my request. I don't know why they could not send it electronically but I did receive the information I was looking for. The report went back six years to when I started a points account.

I have added points by pulling in some weeks deposits as well. The on-line accounting is confusing when adding the additional points. My May 2011 weeks deposit was added to my 2011 usage year (Aug 1, 2011 - July 30, 2012) I agree with cclendinen that keeping your own spreadsheet is the best way to track everything, once you have a clear starting point.

Your 347K points will carry forward to the 2012 use year (until April 1, 2013) as long as you have a transaction during the 2011 use year or pay the $26 fee.

 

[flexible]

Does anyone know IF RCI Points can still be used for RCI Points Partners? The RCI website redesign looks like you need to click on "Car, Air & More" then use OVC (OurVacationCenter's interface) to make a reservation for air, car or hotel. I have yet to find how I can use RCI points to pay for one of these transactions.

When I have telephoned RCI & RCI Travel (OVC) via SKYPE (since we are not in the US) they do not seem to know what I am talking about regarding using RCI Points to pay for the transactions.

Has RCI eliminated the use of RCI Points to pay for transactions since they rolled out the RCI Travel interface in October 2011?

I would like to use 40,000 RCI Points for RCI Points Partners before 31 March 2012. This is the maximum for Platinum members. In the past I used up points for RCI Credit cards which were discontinued about a year ago. Then I used them for Hertz Car Rental Certificates. I believe I used 35,000 RCI Points + about $35 to receive $350 Hertz Car Rental Certificates that came in denominations of $200, $100 and $50. I planned to do this again before 31 March 2012 since my platinum membership expires on our RCI use year (not calendar year). I can not think of a reason to renew the RCI Platinum membership on 31 March 2012.

Since my original post in this thread I was able to use up 180,000 RCI Points (347,875-167,875) but only the most recent annual allotment of 30,000 will be able to be extended again. So I need to use 167,875 by 31 Mar 2013 but nearly all of our travel is planned using resorts we own but do not deposit.

Membership type ...
RCI Platinum Member
Paid Through Date ...
March 31, 2013
Membership Term Expiration Date ...
March 31, 2016
Use Year Dates ...
April 01, 2011
March 31, 2012
Points saved from 2010 Use Year* ...
0
Unused Saved Points Will Expire ...
March 31, 2012
Current Use Year ...
2011
2011 Annual Points Allocation ...
30,000
Current Use Year Balance ...
0
2012 Use Year Balance ...
167,875
You may borrow from your 2012 Use Year Balance.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. We are in Shanghai so I can only SKYPE RCI. I am not sure if they will reply to a email.

 

[flexible]

RE: info above:
Paid Through Date ...March 31, 2013
Membership Term Expiration Date ...March 31, 2016

Does anyone know if there is/was a standard "Membership Term Expiration Date" on RCI Points contracts? Does it mean that EVEN IF someone paid RCI dues the contract would expire on 31 March 2016?

In December 2006, my husband agreed to convert Costa de Oro in Mazatlan's one week studio fixed week 11 or 13 to one bedroom RCI Points (30,000 RCI Points per year) because the then sales manager said he would rent the one bedroom during "Holy Week" (week before Easter when Mexican like to come to the coast/US Spring Break). I had just met my husband a few weeks earlier so I was not present during the initial conversations. In March 2007, the resort was still doing paperwork so I signed on as a co-owner. The original Costa de Oro fixed week contract was purchased in March 1989.

It turned out the resort submitted a RCI use year ending March 31, which was the worst possible choice for "Holy Week" since some years it is in March and some years it is in April. The first year we tried to reserve "Holy Week" they told us we missed the 10 month deadline to reserve our home resort so it would cost more.

In early 2008 while we were on a world cruise, I remember a RCI rep mentioning he needed to apply our "RCI membership refund" to the "RCI Points membership." By the time I realized it months later, RCI issued refunds for many of the RCI memberships that had been paid by the resorts. (My husband purchased possibly as many as 50 different contracts starting in the 1980s.) RCI stated that the RCI Points Membership is the "controlling membership." The rep applied the refunds toward a 5 year RCI Points membership expiring 31 March 2013. If memory serves me, many of the timeshare contracts purchased in the 1980s or so had 40 years, and sometimes 30 year memberships etc and the amount RCI credited back was about $2 per year. They said the resorts purchased the memberships at a hugely discounted corporate price back then. We still ended up with a credit which they allowed to be used for some transactions.

But I am not happy about the thought of paying RCI memberships after 31 March 2013 at the rates they want to charge since we would NEVER have converted to RCI Points and lost all these memberships IF we had known this in advance.

It is possible this didn't happen to everyone because the memberships were separate for decades. But since as many as 50 catalogs and magazines would arrive each year for RCI, II etc, my husband's late wife asked RCI and II to 'consolidate' the accounts. This helped reduce the junk mail especially since he didn't winter at home when the catalogs came in. Online transactions seemed simpler for consolidated accounts too.

 

[flexible]

When I clicked on "Car, Air & More" a few days ago, I saw something indicating the amount of RCI Points that can be used for the transaction will be shown at check out. I am not certain if I overlooked this before. But when I spoke to RCI reps a few weeks ago (in web support, regular RCI guides & RCITravel.com (run by OVC) none of them were able to tell me how to use RCI points for RCI Points Partners online.

If I understand it correctly the 40,000 RCI Points I can use per calendar year as a RCI Platinum member = $360 discount. The transaction fee for a hotel booking is $25.

So 40,000 points = $325 (360-25) except that the hotels are listed at inflated prices (over what they could be booked at online)

I am considering using 40,000 RCI points toward a Marriott in Washington, DC, SFO, Shanghai or Cincinnati. Every option I looked at on RCITravel.com showed higher prices than if I booked at Marriott.com

It will be easier to use up the points regardless.