ING Direct Review
Click here to sign up for an ING Direct Online Banking Account if you want to skip the review.
I’m sure everyone reading this has heard of the popular online bank- ING Direct. When this bank first hit the market, we were all iffy about an online savings account. I was personally worried about where in the world my money would be stored. Long story short, a few years ago I caved and I signed up for a ING Direct online banking account and I’ve been a happy customer ever since. My personal feelings are irrelevant to you guys. It’s time to show you the good and the bad about an ING Direct bank account.
Why you should get an ING Direct online account:
1. It takes minutes to open up a new account. I love blogging but I hate filling out paper work. Luckily for me I was able to create a brand new account with as little typing/reading as possible. A few minutes of paper work, send out a blank check, and you got yourself a brand spanking new bank account. Best part- it’s all virtual. You can check what’s happening this Friday on Facebook while you do your boring banking stuff.
2. You can quickly create new sub-accounts. Once your initial account is setup it takes a mere few seconds to open up another account.
3. No fees. That’s right, no monthly customer service/BS fees. This is one of the main reasons that online banks are so popular now. Traditional banks have nickel-and-dimed us over the years and we’re sick of it. Too many times have I paid ridiculous monthly fees, usage fees, or access fees with my local bank. It feels really good to have a checking/savings account that is free of any lame fees.
4. No balance minimum. A few years ago I became very discouraged with most high interest savings accounts because they required a minimum balance. A minimum balance is fine- if you have thousands of dollars sitting around. What about the 20-somethings that are low on cash? We still want to earn high interest on our money as well.
5. You can name your accounts. As weird as this sounds, I love to label my different bank accounts. With ING I have three separate accounts- Blogging Money, Vacation, and Random Savings. When the vacation account hits a $1,000 it’s time for a trip!
6. Automation/easy transferring. You can set up automatic transfers from your checking account, automatic bill payments, automatic savings plans- you can pretty much automate any part of your financial life. This is good. Less time spent on managing money means more time to enjoy life.
Click here to sign up for an ING Direct Electric Orange Online Banking Account
Reasons against an ING Direct account:
1. You have a solid relationship with your brick and mortar bank account provider. My local bank is perfectly acceptable. I don’t plan on closing my account there nor do I plan on expanding my services with them. At the moment I’m happy with dual banking accounts (both click-and-mortar and brick-and-mortar). IF you happen to be perfectly satisfied with your current banking situation then you can probably do without an online banking account.
2. The rates are not the highest. For an online savings account the rates are perfectly acceptable. For stock and mutual fund investors, the rates won’t impress you. The Electric Orange checking account is well suited for most 20-somethings, but the savings account won’t give you the highest returns. It also depends on what you’re looking for. If you want low risk then ING Direct is for you. If you want high risk and potentially high returns then ING Direct is not for you.
Further reading:
Benefits of an online savings account
Click here to sign up for an ING Direct Electric Orange Online Banking Account
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I love my ING accounts. I have savings, checking, and investments (ShareBuilder) through them. One big reason I love them is their great customer service! Always friendly and know what they are doing.
INGDIRECT saving and checking account are OK, but their easy orange mortgage is terrible. First of all, when I applied mortgage, the customer service gave me the wrong information. They said that when I relock my rate, the clock does not restart which means that no matter how many times I relock my rate, the prepayment penalty only applies to the 1st year from the initial refinance. But when I signed the paper work, I saw that I still need to stay with ING for another year to avoid the prepayment penalty. Then I called customer service, basically they said that I could get out of my loan now but I still had to pay $300. I went ahead sign the loan because I thought relocking the rate for $700 is still attractive which they advertise it. Then now I am ready to relock, they told me its two month mortgage or $2500 just to relock the rate. I will never use ING mortgage.
We completed the application process in order to refinance our mortgage and re-roof our home. We were up front with ING the entire time. After our home appraised at 240k and we were asking for 150k, we were told we needed a home inspection as well. Our loan was then denied because, per their underwriting dept, our home was “structurally unsound” we need new shingles on our roof. Really? We had even asked if ING could write a check directly to the roofing company. I called and asked to speak to someone, anyone, in management and underwriting and was told I had to send an e-mail. The response to the e-mail was “we don’t finance homes with a roof that will not last more than 5 years” Wow! They could have said that in the beginning and saved us the $350.00 application fee plus the home inspection fee and the time we wasted trying to get that .5% lower interest. Bad business and a bad online banking experience.