Two DVC contracts can look identical on paper. Same resort, same number of points, similar asking price. And one of them is a significantly better deal than the other. The difference usually comes down to two things most buyers gloss over: use year and points status. After 25 years of walking families through resale purchases, I can tell you that understanding these two factors is what separates buyers who get great value from buyers who are confused three months after closing. Let me break both down in plain English.
Use Years: When Your Points Actually Show Up
Your use year is the month your annual point allocation deposits into your account. DVC offers eight options: February, March, April, June, August, September, October, and December. There is no January, May, July, or November. That is just how Disney set it up decades ago. You cannot change your use year after you purchase a contract, so this decision sticks with you for the life of your ownership.
Pick a February use year, and your points deposit on February 1st every year. Pick September, and they arrive September 1st. Simple concept. But the downstream effects touch every aspect of your DVC experience, from when you can book to when you will lose points if you do not use them.
The Banking Deadline: The Date That Catches Everyone
Every use year has a banking deadline exactly 8 months after the use year starts (which is 4 months before it ends). For a February use year, that deadline is June 1st. For September, it is January 1st. The deadline is absolute. Miss it by one day and you cannot bank. Disney does not make exceptions.
Use Year Calendar Quick Reference
| Use Year | Points Deposit | Banking Deadline | Points Expire |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | Feb 1 | Jun 1 | Jan 31 |
| March | Mar 1 | Jul 1 | Feb 28 |
| April | Apr 1 | Aug 1 | Mar 31 |
| June | Jun 1 | Oct 1 | May 31 |
| August | Aug 1 | Dec 1 | Jul 31 |
| September | Sep 1 | Jan 1 | Aug 31 |
| October | Oct 1 | Feb 1 | Sep 30 |
| December | Dec 1 | Apr 1 | Nov 30 |
The banking deadline is the number one cause of lost points in my experience. It sneaks up on people. Here is my system for never missing it: the day you close on your contract, set three calendar reminders. One at 30 days before the deadline. One at 14 days. One at 3 days. The 30-day reminder is your planning prompt (decide if you are traveling or banking). The 14-day reminder is your action prompt (log in and bank if needed). The 3-day reminder is your emergency backstop. Banking itself takes two minutes on the member website. The hard part is remembering to do it. That is a $1,000 to $2,000 calendar reminder.
Matching Use Year to Your Travel Pattern
The basic principle: pick a use year that deposits points 3 to 6 months before you typically travel. That gives you fresh points with plenty of lead time to book, and your banking deadline falls at a natural decision point.
Recommended Use Years by Travel Pattern
| If You Travel... | Good Use Years |
|---|---|
| Summer (June through August) | February, March, April |
| Fall (September through November) | June, August |
| Winter / Holidays (December through January) | September, October |
| Spring (March through May) | December, February |
A family I worked with always takes their Disney trip during Thanksgiving week. They purchased a contract with an April use year. On paper, that seems fine. Points deposit in April, trip is in November, seven months of buffer. But their banking deadline was August 1st. In year two, something came up in August and they could not go at Thanksgiving anymore. Now it was mid-August, past the banking deadline, and they had 200 points that had to be used by March 31st or they would expire. They scrambled to book a last-minute February trip they had not planned for, just to avoid losing points.
If they had purchased a June or August use year instead, their banking deadline would have been October or December, right before their typical travel window. By then they would know if the trip was happening or not. Better alignment means fewer emergency trips and fewer expired points.
Loaded vs. Stripped: The Points Already in the Account
Now here is the second factor that makes or breaks a contract's real value. A loaded contract means the current year's points (and sometimes banked points from the prior year) are still sitting there, unused, ready for you to book a vacation the moment the sale closes. A stripped contract means the seller has already used those points, rented them out, or let them expire. You are purchasing the ownership and future allocations, but you will not have usable points until your next use year arrives.
The price difference is significant. On average, a loaded contract sells for $5 to $15 more per point than an equivalent stripped contract at the same resort. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Two contracts at Boulder Ridge, both 160 points with a December use year:
- Contract A (Loaded): $135 per point. All 160 points for 2026 available, plus 120 banked from 2025. Total cost: $21,600. Available points: 280.
- Contract B (Stripped): $120 per point. Zero current year points, zero banked. Total cost: $19,200. Available points: 0.
The price difference is $2,400. But the loaded contract comes with 280 usable points. If you value those points at $19 each (a conservative rental rate), that is $5,320 in vacation value included in that $2,400 premium. You are getting $5,320 in value for $2,400 extra.
The Value Calculation Every Buyer Should Do
Here is the framework I walk buyers through. First, figure out the total price difference between the loaded and stripped options. In our example, $2,400. Second, count the available points in the loaded contract. We had 280. Third, divide: $2,400 divided by 280 equals roughly $8.57 per point for the included points. Fourth, compare that number to rental rates, which run $18 to $21 per point. You are getting those included points for $8.57 each instead of $19 or $20.
Any time the per-point premium works out to less than $15 or so, the loaded contract is the better deal. You are getting immediate vacation value at a discount. When the premium creeps above $15 per point, it starts making more sense to purchase stripped and either wait for your allocation or rent points separately for your first trip.
When Stripped Makes Sense
Stripped contracts are not bad deals. They are different deals. Purchase stripped if you are not in a rush and your first trip is 8 to 10 months away. Purchase stripped if you are adding points to an existing membership and already have enough points for your next trip. Purchase stripped if your use year timing works out, like purchasing a stripped February use year contract in January when your first allocation is one month away. And purchase stripped if budget is tight, because sometimes a stripped 200-point contract costs the same as a loaded 160-point contract, and those extra 40 points per year for the next 30 years are worth more than one year of immediate points.
When Loaded Is Worth the Premium
Purchase loaded if you want to vacation within the next few months. A stripped contract will not help you book a trip for spring break. Purchase loaded when the math works out, specifically when the per-point premium for included points comes in under $12 to $13. At that price, you are getting points for less than half their rental value. And purchase loaded if you are purchasing at a resort with limited availability like Beach Club or Polynesian, where being able to make reservations immediately lets you grab hard-to-get dates before they disappear.
Red Flags to Watch For
A few things to be careful about when evaluating listings:
Banked points with short expiration windows. If banked points expire in two months, they are not nearly as valuable as points good for another 10 months. Make sure you know when banked points expire and whether you can realistically use them before they vanish.
Vague language about points availability. Always ask for the exact number. "Points available" could mean 200 out of 200, or it could mean 12 out of 200. Good brokers list the exact breakdown. If a listing is vague, that is a yellow flag.
Sellers who stripped the contract while it was listed. This happens more than you would think. A seller lists their contract, and while it sits on the market, they rent out the current year's points. The listing might have been loaded when it first appeared but is stripped by the time you make an offer. Always verify point status before submitting your offer.
ROFR risk on loaded contracts. Disney exercises their Right of First Refusal more aggressively on loaded contracts because they get the ownership AND all those available points. If you are purchasing a loaded contract at a below-market price, your ROFR risk increases. Price it fairly and you will usually pass. Try to get the deal of the century and Disney might take it for themselves.
Use Year Availability on the Resale Market
February and September are the most common use years across all resorts. Disney originally sold lots of contracts in these months, so the resale pool is larger. More supply means more options and sometimes slightly better pricing. If you are flexible on use year, February and September give you the most choices. You can check current resale listings filtered by use year to see what is available right now.
December is the rarest use year. Fewer contracts exist, and when one does hit the market, it sometimes carries a $2 to $5 per point premium because of scarcity. That said, December is a good use year for holiday travelers because points deposit right before the holiday season.
I would not pay a big premium for a specific use year. If your ideal is March and a February shows up at a great price, take the February. The one-month difference in point deposit is rarely worth paying $5 to $10 more per point. Your banking deadline shifts by one month. You will adjust.
Multiple Contracts and Use Years
If you purchase more than one DVC contract, each has its own use year. They do not have to match. Some owners intentionally purchase contracts with different use years to spread point deposits across the calendar. A February and September contract gives you fresh points twice a year.
The upside is flexibility. You always have relatively fresh points in your account, which makes it easier to book trips throughout the year without constantly borrowing or banking. The downside is complexity. You are tracking two banking deadlines, two expiration dates, and two separate point buckets. Manageable, but it takes more attention than a single contract.
My recommendation for first-time buyers: do not worry about a multi-use-year strategy on day one. Get one contract, learn the system, and if you add a second contract later, then think about whether a different use year adds value. You can explore all 18 DVC resorts to start thinking about which properties you might want dual home resort access to.
Borrowing Points Across Use Years
You can borrow points from your next use year's allocation and use them in the current year. This is helpful when you want a bigger trip than your annual points cover. But borrowed points reduce what you will have available next year, so do not overdo it.
For a February use year owner, you can borrow your 2027 points and use them for a reservation that falls within your 2026 use year (February 1, 2026 through January 31, 2027). The borrowed points work like regular points. Disney does not tag them differently. They just come off next year's balance.
The borrowing window closes at your banking deadline. For February use year, you can only borrow until June 1st. After that, next year's points are locked until they deposit the following February. If you decide in September that you need more points for a December trip, you cannot borrow. You are stuck with whatever you have in your current allocation. One more reason the banking deadline is the most important date on your DVC calendar.
Putting It All Together
When you are comparing contracts on the resale market, look beyond the price per point. Ask: what use year is this, and does it align with when I travel? How many points are available right now, and what is the per-point cost of those included points compared to rental rates? When is the banking deadline, and does it fall at a time when I will know my travel plans?
Use year and points status are not glamorous topics. Nobody gets excited about banking deadlines. But they are the details that determine whether your first year of DVC ownership starts with a fantastic vacation or starts with a confusing scramble to figure out why you do not have any points to use. The buyers who take the time to understand these mechanics end up happier, save more money, and rarely lose points to expired deadlines. That is worth an extra 15 minutes of homework before you make an offer. For more contract options, you can also browse DVC resale listings on DVCSales.com.
