When Is My Disney DVC Banking Deadline?
Your DVC banking deadline is one of the most important dates on your ownership calendar. Miss it, and your current year points expire at the end of your use year with no way to recover them. That can mean losing thousands of dollars in vacation value. The deadline is based on your use year, and it falls exactly eight months into your use year cycle. If you aren't sure when yours is, this page will help you find it and understand how to act before the window closes.
How Banking Works in DVC
Banking means moving your current year's points into the next use year. Instead of using 200 points this year, you tell Disney to hold them so you can use them next year. Banked points are added to your next year's allocation, giving you a larger pool to work with for a bigger trip or a longer stay.
Disney allows you to bank 100% of your current year points, but only during the first eight months of your use year. After that eight-month window closes, banking is no longer available for those points. Any points you don't use and don't bank will expire at the end of your use year. There is no grace period, no extension, and no way to get them back once they expire.
Banked points have their own expiration too. Once you bank points into the next use year, they must be used by the end of that year. You can't bank them a second time. So banking gives you one extra year of flexibility, not unlimited time.
It's also worth knowing that banking is a one-way decision. Once you bank your points, you can't un-bank them. You can still use them for reservations during the year they're banked into, but you can't move them back to the original use year. Make sure you actually want to bank before you call Member Services.
Banking Deadlines by Use Year
Your banking deadline is eight months after the start of your use year. DVC use years begin on the first day of the month listed on your contract. Here is every use year and its corresponding banking deadline:
| Use Year Start | Banking Deadline |
|---|---|
| February 1 | September 30 |
| March 1 | October 31 |
| April 1 | November 30 |
| June 1 | January 31 |
| August 1 | March 31 |
| September 1 | April 30 |
| October 1 | May 31 |
| December 1 | July 31 |
Disney assigns specific months as use years: February, March, April, June, August, September, October, and December. You can't choose your use year when purchasing resale. It is set on the contract and stays with the contract. When you're browsing DVC resale listings, the use year is listed on every contract so you know what you're getting before making an offer.
How to Find Your Use Year
If you already own a DVC contract and aren't sure of your use year, the easiest way to check is logging into your Disney Vacation Club account on Disney's website. Your use year is listed in your membership details. You can also check your original closing documents. The deed specifies the use year. And if you purchased through DVC Sales, we have your contract details on file.
If you own multiple contracts, each one may have a different use year. This is common for members who've added points over time through add-on purchases. Each contract's banking deadline is based on its own use year, so you may need to track multiple deadlines depending on how many contracts you have.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
If your banking deadline passes and you haven't banked, those points cannot be banked. They remain available for use during the rest of your current use year, but if you don't use them before the use year ends, they expire permanently. Disney does not send a reminder when your banking window is about to close. It is entirely on you to track the date and call Member Services before the deadline arrives.
Losing points to expiration because of a missed banking deadline is more common than most people expect. It catches newer owners most often, but experienced members have been known to forget as well, especially during busy stretches or after a year when travel plans changed unexpectedly. On a 200-point contract, an expired year's allocation can represent $3,000 to $5,000 in lost vacation value depending on the resort and room type you'd typically book. That's a significant consequence for a five-minute phone call you didn't make.
Some members put a recurring calendar reminder set for two to three weeks before their banking deadline. That gives you enough lead time to decide whether to bank and to make the call to Disney before the window closes.
How to Bank Your Points
Banking is done through Disney's Member Services. You can call them directly or handle it through the DVC member website in many cases. Tell them which contract you want to bank points on and whether you want to bank all or a portion of the current year's allocation. There is no fee for banking, and the process typically takes just a few minutes.
You can bank all of your current year points or just some of them. If you're planning to use 100 points this year and want to bank the other 100, you can do that. The 100 you keep remain available for reservations during the current use year. The 100 you bank become available starting on the first day of your next use year.
One thing to be aware of: if you have active reservations using some of your current year points, you can only bank the points not already committed to a reservation. Depending on your situation, you might need to cancel or modify a reservation before banking. Member Services can walk you through the specifics for your account.
Banking Matters When Buying or Selling a Contract
If you're considering selling your DVC contract, the banking deadline is strategically important. Buyers want contracts with available points. A contract where the current year points have been banked and are therefore available across a longer window is more attractive than one where the points are about to expire. Contracts with expiring or already-expired points sell for less, because buyers adjust their offers based on how many usable points they're actually getting.
Here is a situation that comes up regularly. A seller lists their contract in March with a June use year. The banking deadline for June use year contracts is January 31, which has already passed. If the seller didn't bank the current year points before that deadline, and the transaction takes 60 to 90 days to close, those current year points may expire before the buyer ever gets to use them. That affects the contract's value and often leads to a lower accepted offer price.
If you're planning to sell, banking your current year points before listing is a smart move that can improve the price you receive. If you're buying a resale contract, pay attention to the use year, banking deadline, and available points breakdown in relation to when closing is likely to happen. The listing page shows available points by year for every contract so you can see this clearly before making an offer.
Banking vs. Borrowing: The Difference
Banking and borrowing are two separate features, and people sometimes confuse them. Banking moves current year points forward into next year. Borrowing pulls next year's points back into the current year. They work in opposite directions.
Borrowing doesn't have the same eight-month window restriction as banking. You can borrow points from next year at any time during your current use year, as long as those future points are available. But borrowed points must be used in the reservation for which they were borrowed. If you cancel that reservation, the borrowed points return to the next year. They can't be freely reassigned to a different reservation.
Banking is generally the lower-risk flexibility tool because it simply extends the time you have to use your points. Borrowing is more situational, useful when you know you want to take a bigger trip this year and are confident you can absorb having fewer points next year.
Points Expiration and What It Means for Contract Value
The available points on a contract, including any banked points, directly affect what a contract is worth in the resale market. A contract with two years of banked points available immediately has more near-term vacation value than the annual allocation alone suggests. Buyers account for that when evaluating price.
On the other hand, a contract where the seller has been borrowing heavily from future years may actually have fewer available points than the annual allocation. Points that have been borrowed and used against the next year's allocation won't refresh until that future use year. Buyers who see a points deficit factor that into their offer as well.
Understanding the banking status of any contract you're considering buying, and being thoughtful about your own contract's banking status if you're selling, is part of getting the most value out of DVC ownership. If you have questions about how points availability affects a specific listing you're evaluating, the DVC Sales team can help you read the numbers. Reach us through the contact page any day of the week.
For a broader overview of how DVC points, use years, and the booking system work together, the how DVC works page covers the fundamentals in a clear and accessible way.
