Anyone Use ING Direct?

[Spooner]

What's the catch?

ING

Earn 3.00% Annual Percentage Yield on an FDIC-insured savings account with no fees, required minimums or service charges? no matter how much you have on deposit

 

[Codewiz]

I have an account with them. My balance has gone from $500 to $0.01 and I never had any fees. I haven't found a catch. I left my account with $0.01 for 4 months without a problem. I am really happy with ING Direct.

 

[RossMAN]

I do. They're backed by one of Europe's largest financial groups and yes they are FDIC insured. Traditional brick and mortar banks which have branches (this is an internet only bank in the U.S.) have A LOT of overhead for retail space, employees, supplies, vaults, security, etc.

3% for a savings account kicks ass, beats my local Credit Union's 2% and definitely beats my bank which is under 1%.

Hot Deals thread with a lot of information regarding ING Direct.com

 

[iamwiz82]

i like them. I've got a few bucks left in an account.

 

[Tangerine]

They are getting more popular now, with TV and billboard ads. So now when I refer my friends and family they aren't looking at me like I have a hole in my head when I tell them to send in a check for a dollar and make $25.

I'm very happy with them, no fees, and plenty of referral money joy.

 

[Spooner]

Can you pay bills of this account? Or would you have to transfer money to checking first?

How quick / seamless is transferring money to different accounts?

How can they get away with no fees?

 

[Codewiz]

You can't do ANYTHING special with the savings account. All you can do is link it to your checking account and transfer money between the two. All my transfers have gone seemlessly.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Codewiz
You can't do ANYTHING special with the savings account. All you can do is link it to your checking account and transfer money between the two. All my transfers have gone seemlessly.

I agree, all my transfers have been really easy, fast and painfree.

Your ING account should basically be used as a SAVINGS account (not checking, not credit card) but a SAVINGS account.

 

[Tangerine]

Right, the transfers back and forth between ING and my checking account have been very easy, the money shows up in a couple of days.

And it makes spur of the moment saving easy. I just transfer some over to ING and don't miss it

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Tangerine
Right, the transfers back and forth between ING and my checking account have been very easy, the money shows up in a couple of days.

And it makes spur of the moment saving easy. I just transfer some over to ING and don't miss it

Same here. I plan on transferring around $100 per month to my ING Direct savings account for a travel fund.

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Tangerine
Right, the transfers back and forth between ING and my checking account have been very easy, the money shows up in a couple of days.

And it makes spur of the moment saving easy. I just transfer some over to ING and don't miss it

Same here. I plan on transferring around $100 per month to my ING Direct savings account for a travel fund.

I'm doing the exact same thing, except just $60 a month. Wife and I are going to Hawaii next year again and this will be the rental car "upgrade" fund. Can you say Convertible baby!!!

 

[neomits]

I got an account way back when and got my free 50 bucks. I immedietly took the money out because I thought it was a scam somewhere but I kept the account open and later on decided... hey this seems like a good bank, and put 800 bucks back in for a savings account. I've had it in there for a while now and its growing nicely

 

[isasir]

Yup. I signed up when they first started offering the $25 bonus. 'course it helped that a friend of mine worked for ING, so I trusted the company. To date, I've accrued about $450 in interest on my account, averaging about $25/mo. Not too shabby. Tho' the rate was 6% at one time. Those were the days.

 

[prontospyder]

I have used them for about a year already. I'm really satisfied with their service and rates!

 

[Spooner]

Originally posted by: prontospyder
I have used them for about a year already. I'm really satisfied with their service and rates!

what do you mean by "rates"

interest rates? or are there fees i'm not seeing?

It seems like this is an entirely free service. I don't get where they make money.

 

[AU Tiger]

They make money by investing the funds you have deposited. They can then turn around and loan this money to a business, person, or another bank. A friend of mine once worked in a division at BofA where all he did was borrow and loan money to other banks for the evening. Each day the bank estimated how much available cash they needed and tried to send the extra to other banks for a small interest fee.

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Spooner

Originally posted by: prontospyder
I have used them for about a year already. I'm really satisfied with their service and rates!

what do you mean by "rates"

interest rates? or are there fees i'm not seeing?

It seems like this is an entirely free service. I don't get where they make money.

Rates also means interest, it does NOT mean fees.

There are two free resources at your disposal to answer your questions:
1) Go here look in the top right, what does it say?
2) Before I opened my ING Direct savings account I had questions so I called them toll free at 1-800-ING-DIRECT and they were more than helpful. They won't bite, go ahead and give them a call.

 

[prontospyder]

<<what do you mean by "rates">>

I meant the high 3% interest rate (compared to my bank) I get. ING Direct has not charged me 1 penny for using their services.

 

[justint]

I have used ING Direct for two years now keeping between 15-20k in there in that time.
- You can't beat the 3% APR, it goes higher if interest rates change
- You get six free withdrawals a month
- Transfers to and from my checking account are fast and easy
- Hasn't cost me a dime

 

[djheater]

I save like a mofo using ING.

I have direct deposit on the 15th and last day of the month from work.

I have ING configured to automatically withdraw $250 on those days.

I have a nice nest-egg growing at 3% which is better than some CD's (well 2.95 right now...)

 

[Pepsei]

no catch... it's like a bank because it IS a bank....

 

[Garet Jax]

No fees. Easy to get money in and out and open 24 hours

 

[Stifko]

I have an acc't w/them, but have not really used it. Maybe now I will start.

 

[Spooner]

yeah, looks like I got to get on this

3% is much better than my .0000000000000000000000000000001% i'm getting from my bank

 

[wyvrn]

I was thinking of starting a money market/cd fund, and this fits the bill. Their cd rates are great, and I might use their bank accounts as well Cool.