ING Direct, Great Rates With Lots Of Options To Make More Money! (Updated 04-27-09)
Written: Jun 15 '07 (Updated Apr 26 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Outstanding rates, great customer service, security for your account
Cons: No instant transfers, having to wait for money to clear before withdrawal
The Bottom Line: ING is a superb bank with great customer support and even better rates. You can feel secure putting your money with them.
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| ace3502's Full Review: ING Direct |
UPDATED ALL RATES April 27, 2009 Don't miss out! Read my review and I can help you get the $25 referral bonus today!
I first signed up for ING Direct in June of 2004 and I was very apprehensive at first. It was a relatively new thing to do all of your banking online, never mind have a bank that has no physical locations anywhere. But I have to say that I've never had a problem with them in 5 years.
The Bank
ING Direct is a completely online bank. Everything is done electronically and there are no physical locations for the bank, that's why they can afford to give such incredible rates. They have a customer service telephone line that is fantastic. You can do anything over the phone that you can do online with the bank, which creates convenience in case your internet goes down or you are away from any internet source.
They recently beefed up the security features, adding a picture to your login and a click pad, (you can no longer manually put in your pin number) to ensure safety and security that it is your account and no one else can access it. I must say this feature definitely makes me feel more secure, as I am sometimes hesitant with all the hackers and what not out there. I have always felt nothing but secure dealing with them online and I will stand by it. (HAHA I kind of have to since all my savings are deposited there!)
Savings Account
It's very simple to open an account. You need to have a previously existing debit account and bring one of your checks over to the computer. You input your information along with your bank number and routing number off your personal check that's linked to your debit account, then choose the initial amount you wish to deposit into the new account. You can deposit any amount, however if you are referred by a friend, you can receive a $25 bonus for depositing $250 dollars or more. I'll talk more about the referral program at the end. Once you open the account, ING takes a one or two business days to verify that the information is correct and that they in fact can withdraw and deposit into your linked debit account. Once this is established you're ready to start saving! The transfer of money to or from your ING account is simple, it's straight forward a point and click from which account you want to go to and from, you set the amount, and hit submit. The current rate for a regular Savings Account is 1.50%. One thing I loved about this as well is that there is no minimum you have to keep in the account. I've had very small amounts in it on more than one occasion while I was going through college (small as in, less than $20 or $25) and never was I tagged with a hidden fee or anything of the sort.
Electric Orange Debit Account
This is a new feature ING is offering, a debit account which you can link to your existing ING savings account. Here's the kicker, the debit account earns you a GREAT APR! For various account balances ($0-$50,000 / $50,001-$100,000 / $100,000 ) you earn 0.25% / 1.60% / 1.65% APY.
The account acts exactly as a regular checking/debit account but it is paperless which may bother some people who like to have the hard copy. You can order checks if you wish but they do not come standard. You get a Mastercard debit card which can be used as a credit or debit card at any location Mastercard is accepted and you have access to withdraw money at over 32,000 ATM locations across the US. The account also has optional overdraft protection for anyone who would like to use it, it's a free feature which I use with my regular bank, it comes in very handy. You can never be too careful!
The Electric Orange account also has a unique feature, Electric Checks. These are free electronic checks which you can send via email to someone with an online bank account. When they receive the email they can open it, input their account information and the money is deposited into their account. A unique idea to say the least!
Orange CD's / Mortgage / Loan Rates
When I joined ING, man were they a lot less advanced then they are now. Now you can sign up for CD's, Mortgages, Loans, Investment Accounts and even 401k's. I'm not going to get into every detail, most if not all of these rates can be viewed on their website, but just to try to make things easier for the more common things, I'll give the rates for the CD's and Mortgages.
Once your account is open you have a great, FAST, and easy way to sign up for an Orange CD. It's done with a few short clicks, you pick the length of the CD you want, then the account you wish to withdraw the money for the CD from, confirm it, and you're done! It honestly is that simple. I have two CD's open with them right now and they keep you up to date on how much it's worth right now, the date of full maturity, how much it would be worth if you withdrew it today (there's obviously an early withdrawal penalty), and how much interest it's earned to date. The current rates are great.
As of April 27, 2009 the rates are:
6 Month 1.25%
9 Month 1.25%
12 Month 1.50%
18 Month 1.50%
24 Month 1.50%
30 Month 1.50%
36 Month 1.50%
48 Month 1.75%
60 Month 1.75%
Orange Mortgage rates are not too bad either. I haven't signed up for one so I can't tell you how the process goes but I'm assuming it wouldn't be much more troublesome than doing it in a bank. For Homes Less Than $500,000:
5/1 Orange Mortgage
75% or less of home value -4.500% interest rate 4.495% APR $5.067 Monthly Payment Per $1,000 Borrowed
7/1 Orange Mortgage
75% or less of home value - 4.750% interest rate 4.617% APR $5.216 Monthly Payment Per $1,000 Borrowed
Tips And Tools
This is a great feature that really does it for me. To me, this really makes the bank a PEOPLES bank and personalizes it. Within the site there is a Tips and Tools tab which gives you various financial advice. It gives advice on anything from how to save money for yourself, for retirement, for a home (including a mortgage calculator to work out monthly payments), and EVEN an animated tutorial you can show to kids that shows them the importance of saving and how to start doing it. As I said this really personalizes it for me and puts the icing on the cake. To me this really separates them from a traditional bank which doesn't always seem to give this type of personal touch, especially for the kids.
The Minor Down Sides
Now nothing comes without a down side and ING's is minor so don't worry too much. When you transfer money from your ING account to debit or vice versa, there is usually a 2 business day period that it takes to transfer. Yup, no instant transfers. I don't mind it so much as I've gotten used to it and am ok with it now, but some may find it annoying. Once the money is deposited from the debit account to your ING account it can not be withdrawn for one week. Now that isn't a huge issue for me because it is my savings account and I don't want to withdraw any money. But for those of you who may be transferring back and forth this may pose a small problem.
Also, the only other down side in my opinion would have to be the ATM's for the Electric Orange account. Yes there are over 32,000 locations across the US but they are very sporadic and randomly placed, not always as easily accessible as a name brand bank is what I'm getting at.
The Referrals...Here's Where You Can Earn Some Extra Cash!!
The referral bonus is top notch! How it works is, once you have an account established you click on the refer a friend link after you login. You put in the persons first and last name and their email address and it has a pre-generated message describing the referral and what the referred has to do. You can edit this and personalize it if you wish. (Also, from this screen you can include a "Gift of Savings" and give a gift of money, withdrawn from your account, which will be deposited into their account once they open it. Just a nice little touch if you want to do it for a family member or if you're opening the account for a newborn or something.)
The referred opens the email and clicks on the link in it, bringing them to a create an account page. Once the person creates the account they have an amount they choose to initially deposit. Here's the good part. If the person opening the account deposits more than $250 dollars (two hundred fifty dollars) then they get a $25 (twenty five dollar) bonus for opening the new account and the person who referred them gets a $10 (ten dollar) bonus. I thought this was a nice little incentive. It's not a 5 dollar bonus that you're like well whats that going to get me...it's 25! Now some people may be concerned that you can see the amount the other person deposits, you cant. Once the person signs up all the referred page says for the existing account holder is "A friend signed up" it doesn't even give the name of the person, just the date they signed up and the referral bonus you earned. The limit on the number of referrals is 50 people so once you have an account you can earn an extra $500 (five hundred) dollars if you can get 50 friends to sign up!
I know my friends who have the account have already used up all of their referrals but I still have some available for anyone who would like the $25 dollar bonus, as it's stated above, all you have to do is make the initial deposit $250 dollars or more. There is a link to my email address at the top of my profile page below my top 5 most recent reviews if you would like more information on this or just leave me a comment here in this review. **Now by no means am I soliciting or anything here, I just know multiple people have emailed me, just from seeing in my profile that this was an up and coming review, to get a referral because they would like the bonus and I will be happy to provide it for those who want it, while my referral numbers last.**
Conclusion
I really can't sing the praises of the bank enough. Top to bottom, the best bank I've ever dealt with. The customer service is impeccable, the rates are phenomenal, and the ease of use is outstanding. The tips and tools are great to help me better understand the financial benefits of saving now, and working out the numbers for me buying a condo, eventually. I really will stand by this bank completely and give it my personal stamp of approval.
© Copyright 2007 - ace3502
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Location: Boston, Massachusetts
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