RCI Weeks - Combining Limits?

[vckempson]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I can't find it.

Is there a limit on the number of weeks you can combine or on value of that combined week? I'll likely have 6 leftovers and a 2 full weeks (8 total) to combine later this year that would become a single 120 TPU's week. Can I do that?

Before cautioning me, I'll still have additional full weeks left after that to do multiple ongoing searches at the same time.

 

[wackymother]

I haven't heard about any limits, but let us know what happens.

I was thinking about this earlier...that in a way it makes sense to just glue everything together so you don't have little bits and pieces floating around that will eventually have to be combined.

The advantage of waiting is that they extend the use date when you do the combining.

 

[Ridewithme38]

Yup, please let us know when you find out, i'm going to be combining 1 week and 3 'deposit credits' mid april, mostly to extend the use years...plus, the two of the three deposit credits are less then 10 TPU, so hard to use alone...it would only be a total of about 43 TPU's

But i may wait if there is no limit till the end of the year to try to bring that up to 60 for a Hawaiian Disney ongoing search

 

[MichaelColey]

I don't believe there are any limits. My largest is 79 TPU, and I think I recall seeing someone post about having over 100 TPU in a combined deposit.

There may be some technical limits based on how RCI is storing the value, but I would suspect that limit would be fairly high. Worst case, it might be 127 or 255, but it's probably much higher than that.

I'm sure you already know it, but I'll repeat some of the cautions about making too big of a combined deposit:

1. The deposit (and any "change" back from exchanges) has to be used within 2 years (either through exchanges or a future combine). There's no purpose to combine more than you might possibly be able to use in 2 years, because you'll just have to combine again later. For instance, if you combine to get 500 TPU (an outrageous example) and make a 20 TPU exchange every 2 months, you'll still have 260 TPU left at the end of the 2 years and would need to combine again.

2. If you don't have enough deposits, you might not be able to set up as many ongoing searches as you would like.

My own preference is to combine just enough to get 2-3 good exchanges and to have enough deposits to handle more than the number of ongoing searches I might have going on at one time. For right now, I have 7 combined deposits, one with 37 TPU and the rest with 60+.

 

[vckempson]

I'm sure you already know it, but I'll repeat some of the cautions about making too big of a combined deposit:

1. The deposit (and any "change" back from exchanges) has to be used within 2 years (either through exchanges or a future combine). There's no purpose to combine more than you might possibly be able to use in 2 years, because you'll just have to combine again later. For instance, if you combine to get 500 TPU (an outrageous example) and make a 20 TPU exchange every 2 months, you'll still have 260 TPU left at the end of the 2 years and would need to combine again.

2. If you don't have enough deposits, you might not be able to set up as many ongoing searches as you would like.

My own preference is to combine just enough to get 2-3 good exchanges and to have enough deposits to handle more than the number of ongoing searches I might have going on at one time. For right now, I have 7 combined deposits, one with 37 TPU and the rest with 60+.

Thanks, Micheal, that's all good advice that's worthy of a reminder.

My plan is to wait right up till one of my leftovers is about to expire and then combine everything that has a sooner expiration date than the new combined week would. That's fine for me, cause I will still have several other full weeks to use for multiple ongoing searches. Others might not be so lucky and would do well to hold something back in the combine for the purpose of multiple ongoing searches.

 

[vckempson]

Update: I just went online to RCI and went to the combine tab. I chose the 8 weeks that totalled up to 120 TPU's and clicked thru right up to the credit card page. No red flags came up and the system was ready to process it. I assume that means it's ok.

Who knows if there is really a limit but 8 weeks at 120 TPU's appears to be ok.

 

[gnipgnop]

Can I butt in and ask another question pertaining to this subject??? I now have combined deposits totaling 43 TPU's. Can I place 2 ongoing searches using this deposit or do I have to use all 43 TPU's for 1 search then use what is left over and place a second search later (providing there's enough TPU's left over)?

 

[vckempson]

Can I butt in and ask another question pertaining to this subject??? I now have combined deposits totaling 43 TPU's. Can I place 2 ongoing searches using this deposit or do I have to use all 43 TPU's for 1 search then use what is left over and place a second search later (providing there's enough TPU's left over)?

1 combined deposit = 1 ongoing search

That's why you need to be careful before putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

[randkb]

When I combined some of mine a few months ago, the limit was 10. I tried to combine more and it wouldn't work so I called and was told the limit was 10. Tried 10 and it worked fine.

 

[vckempson]

When I combined some of mine a few months ago, the limit was 10. I tried to combine more and it wouldn't work so I called and was told the limit was 10. Tried 10 and it worked fine.

First we've heard of a limit. Thanks for the info. For most of us, we'll never reach 10 to combine. If you had 5 TS weeks and combined all the leftovers every two years, that would put you right at 10.

 

[MichaelColey]

If you have a UDI, you could easily hit that limit. I think the most I've done is about 7, though.

I like to combine from 50-100 TPU at a time, and 10 units (unless a lot of them are small deposit credits) would be more TPU than I like in a single combine.

 

[Jwerking]

For one fee - can I combine to create 4 weeks?

This is what I have and want to combine at the same time to extend the usage date on several weeks expiring this year or 2013 into 4 weeks. Can this be done for one fee of $110 or would RCI charge me $440 to create the 4 wks?

1. Combine 27 TPUs (expire July 2012) and 3 TPUs.
2. Combine 31 TPUs (expire July 2012) and 4 TPUs.
3. Combine 16 TPUs (expire Sept 2012) and 31 TPUs (expire July 2013).
4. Combine 18 TPUs (expire May 2013) and 21 TPUs (expire May 2013).

My problem is that I do not plan to use these weeks by July 2013 because I am doing an a RTW trip for 5 months which ends in January 2013. So really do not want to take another long timeshare vacation until probably Sept 2013.

I have only 3 other weeks with 2014 expiration dates of 29, 21, and 19 TPUs - which I assume are not particularly high and will not get me into 2 Br in areas like Yellowstone, Jackson Hole for a Sept 2013 trip - is that correct?

Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

I must admit I have not done much searching and trading since TPUs were established because the timeshares for most of my RTW trip were more reasonably priced RCI rentals than the costs of an exchange plus maint costs.

Thanks - Joyce

 

[MichaelColey]

That would take four combines, so four combine fees. You could sign up for RCI Platinum, which would give a $25 rebate for each combine. That would soften the blow a bit.