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FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions About RCI Points
QUESTION:
What is your website address which contains the RCI Points information?
ANSWER:
wwww.alltimeshare.com/rcipoints.html
We have the most extensive RCI Points information to be found on the net, including explanations, points charts, fees, examples, etc.
QUESTION:
How long do I have to use my points for a given calendar year?
ANSWER:
Two years. If you don't use all you rci points the first year, they automatically carry over to the second year. They do not automatically carry over to the third year unless you pay a fee to
extend them. Ask us for details about the RCI extension of points program.
QUESTION:
Do I have to pay for two RCI Memberships each year, one for the traditonal week I own, and one for RCI Points if I buy RCI Points?
ANSWER:
No. You will have two RCI accounts but only one fee.
QUESTION:
Regarding the RCI Points that you sell, do I have to pay a $2900 fee to convert my timeshare to points?
ANSWER:
No. All RCI points we sell are either new points at a wholesale price (resort wholesale direct to you via our wholesale contract with the resort) or resales from individuals who are reselling at a wholesale price.
QUESTION:
Can I resell my RCI Points?
ANSWER:
Yes. We can help you resell them or you can sell them on your own .
QUESTION:
IF I choose to use my RCI Points for Airfare, Cruises, Car Rentals, or Hotels,
where do I see the charts showing the points required to use these providers, and is it a good deal to use points this way?
ANSWER:
Th RCI Partners charts and the fees are shown here on our website:
As to whether it is a good deal, yes they can be incredibly good deals depending upon many factors such as where and when you are traveling. What most RCI Points owners do is to check the best deal
they can find if paying cash, against the points required if using points, and take the best deal,
realizing that the points are already paid for so why not use them instead of cash if the transaction makes reasonable sense. Another reason you might use a points partner is if you only have a few points left over for a given year, you may want to use them for a car rental or a nite or two in a hotel. It is a nice option that traditional weeks owners do not even have.
QUESTION:
Can I buy RCI Points without buying a timeshare?
ANSWER:
No. Points do not exist by themselves. RCI has evaluated every resort and established the point values which relate to every size unit and every week of the year, so you are buying a timeshare with a right to use a certain number of points annually or biennially, and the timeshare has a
maintenance fee associated with it which pays for all costs of the operation of the resort.
QUESTION:
Are all RCI Points deeded?
ANSWER:
No.
QUESTION:
Do I want to buy only in a deeded RCI Points resort?
ANSWER:
This answer might surprise you. Not necessarily, and probably not. Most people are more concerned with getting the best price, and the majority of the RCI Points resorts worldwide are not deeded. Deeded RCI Points ownership actually has some significant disadvantages compared to two other RCI Points alternatives which are excellent:
1. A membership in perpetuity (forever) or
2. A very long term lease, such as a 99 year lease, (not a 20 year lease).
The main disadvantage of a deed is that the deeded owners are personally responsible for the costs of the operation of the resort. If unforeseen expenses arise, and they do from time to time, each individual owner receives a special assessment bill that must be paid or risk the loss of the ownership. In addition, all deeded ownerships involve real estate taxes which can be an extra $100 to $200 per year. The idea of RCI Points is get your dollars of vacation currency (points) as economically as possible, as long as your use is for a long time such as forever or a 99 year lease.
Both of these alternatives have the main advantage of a deed - being able to will it to your children, but without the disadvantages of a deed as stated here-in.
The resorts are continually pounding buyers with the "wonder" of owning a deed. They don't mention what the buyer might need to wonder about - when is the next special assessment bill or tax increase! A deed makes it easy for the developer to slough off on the owners, expenses that he should have paid and would have had to pay if it were non-deeded.
QUESTION:
Is a deeded RCI Points ownership more secure than a non-deeded ownership.
ANSWER:
Not necessarily. While it is true that if a resort goes bankrupt, a person who holds a deed will have a piece of paper called a deed. That piece of paper, however, might entitle the owner to be responsible for a whole lot of debt that wasn't paid by the resort. The owners might have been better off if they were in a non-deeded position, and simply wait for another company to come along to buy the resort for pennies on the dollar, restore it, and business goes on as usual. This is what generally happens when a resort gets in trouble, and the owners are fine and could in fact be better off if they didn't have a deed. Savvy RCI Points buyers just look to buy for the lowest cost and lowest annual carrying charges and that almost always occurs in non-deeded resorts for two reasons:
1. If the resort is responsible for paying the bills, it is more careful with expenses.
2. There are no real estate taxes for the owners to pay.
QUESTION:
I see your listings for RCI Points in Argentina seem to be a very good buy. I am afraid to buy in Argentina, should I be?
ANSWER:
It you want to go with the odds, Argentina is safer than the U.S. The few resorts that have gone bankrupt have been in the United States, not Argentina. Argentina has a twenty year history of no bankuptcies AND no special assessments. Also, If you would like the best bet between Argentina and U.S. resorts, as to where your maintenance fees might go up more slowly, Argentina is probably your best bet because of the power of the American dollar compared to the Argentinian dollar.
QUESTION:
What RCI Points listings within the USA do you have that would have the lowest maintenance fee?
ANSWER:
You have zeroed in on THE most important consideration in RCI Points, the maintenance fee. Really the maintenance fee is probably even more important than the price, because you only pay the price once, but you pay the maintenance fee every year for the life or your ownership. We recommend our Florida resort direct wholesale listings (please ask for info); for example we have maint. fees as low as $245 annually!
76,000 Biennial RCI Points with only $245 annual maint. fee
76,000 Annual RCI Points with only $490 annual maint. fee
114,000 annual RCI Points with only $735 annual maint. fee
152,000 annual RCI Points with only $890 annual maint. fee
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