Comments on: Why we love using ING Direct

By: Kacie

Kacie — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:53:47 +0000

Lol–my blog used to be WAY more pink. It almost hurt the eyes, it was so pink. I might be toning it back, or even changing the color scheme in the future.

Thanks for reading my blog, by the way!

It does stink that to get large sums of money from your ING account, you do have to wait a few business days.

I’m not sure if a personal check would hold as much bargaining power, but you could send them an electronic check.

Or…if you’re probably going to buy a car any day now, transfer the funds to your brick & mortar bank so you can withdraw the funds in person.

You’ll only miss out on a few bucks worth of interest if you take it out of your ING account sooner…and you’ll probably save more than that when you pay cash for a car anyway.

Good luck!

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:32:38 +0000

Hey, I just found your blog. Looks great. The only negative is that it looks so girly. The guys will make fun of me if I am reading it at work during lunch hour. But still, it’s a good-looking blog.

I LOVE ING. I opened an account last month for the sole purpose of holding my beginner’s emergency fund (only $1000 at this point). I’m also using it to save Christmas money and eventually car money.

I opened a checking account w/ them, too, with the debit card. The one thing I wonder about is if I see a car for several thousand dollars that I end up wanting to pounce on, I would like to show and pay cash (for the best deal). But ING Direct will only let me take out $1000/day from the ATM, so it would take me a while to have the cash I need.

Any ideas for this potential problem?

Thanks again for the blog.

By: Christian PF

Christian PF — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:17:14 +0000

Thanks for the link!! I love ING for most of the same reasons that you do as well, my wife says I should go work for them!!

By: joanna

joanna — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:21:30 +0000

We use our ING account very actively and have had no problems. I have heard that one way the online banks are able to offer such high interest rates is due not only to not having any brick-and-mortar locations, but also by having minimal customer service. I have read articles about customers who have been dropped because they were too “needy”- and this is the reason I don’t recommend an online bank to my parents. The online bank wouldn’t hold their hand through simple tasks. As it is, the few times we have had to call customer support, they’ve been very helpful.

From BusinessWeek http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_11/b3924101_mz020.htm :

Q: Is it true that you’ll actually drop customers that require too much hand-holding?
A: We’re trying to keep costs down and offer a very simple service that appeals to customers who are self-service-oriented. Sometimes customers are used to branches, have high expectations, or require a lot of advice, so they really don’t fit in. We’ve talked before about firing customers, but really we just explain what we do and make sure it fits into the way customers like to operate.

By: Where do you park your savings? And, how much to save? | Sense to Save

Where do you park your savings? And, how much to save? | Sense to Save — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:07:55 +0000

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By: Flexo

Flexo — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:40:03 +0000

Also: Money market funds are not insured by the FDIC and get higher rates by investing in short term bonds, usually. Still, MMFs are about as liquid as MMAs/SAs.

By: Flexo

Flexo — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:38:53 +0000

Jay: A Money Market Account (MMA) is the same as a Savings Account. All savings accounts/MMAs are limited to six withdrawals per month.

A money market *fund* (MMF) is a different type of account that usually combines the features of savings and checking accounts and garners higher interest (usually even higher than ING Direct, HSBC Direct, etc., which are savings accounts, also known as MMAs).

By: Kacie

Kacie — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:35:02 +0000

That’s a great rate! And, a good suggestion.

We looked into joining credit unions in my city, but we haven’t found any that we are eligible to join.

Our brick & mortar bank offers money market accounts, but the interest rates are low. Right now, it would be about 1 to 1.2 percent interest.

By: Thrifty Karen

Thrifty Karen — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 16:21:49 +0000

Have you considered putting your money into a money market at a credit union? I put our $1000 emergency fund into our regular savings account. We’re still working on the next step (3-6 months living expenses) and we have it in a money market, which is at around 3.9%.

By: jay

jay — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:24:37 +0000

Folks need to read paperwork ING sends, as well as online information. The savings accounts are in reality money market accounts (hence the higher interest than your run of the mill bank). By law you are limited to six total withdrawals per month. I forgot once, but all they did was send a reminder not to do it again.
Generally, I find they are the easiest of several online banks to deal with. Everything is clearly and instantly posted, it downloads easily, adding funding accounts, transfering money, the whole package is really easy to do. They also have the quickest turn around/tranfer time. I have also found their customer service to be excellent, and speedy as well.
I use ING as my main bank, with my land locked account simply being a temporary holding area.
Excellent resource!

Thanks for starting this discussion!