ING Direct - savings account?

[flynsail]

Good deal or bad deal?

Read some brief plug for ING Direct quite awhile ago on some investment thread. Interested in what the current reviews are from any of you using them?

It seems like a good place to put the emergency fund in since the variable APY is higher than regular banks. Even the APY on a CD looks competitive.

I'm not looking on investment info. Just looking for a place to let my emergency fund grow, without risk, somewhat faster than the savings account I have it in now. Any info from current ING Direct users would be appreciated. Also, if anybody researched ING Direct and chose not to use them...please share why. Thanks.

 

[RHPF]

I use them for their savings. It is 4.5% which is a good deal (but not the best). It has been problem free, fee free, and easy to use. I store 'extra' money there that I don't want to tie up in a CD, and don't want to risk in an investment. I would still recommend obviously a normal savings/checking account (probably a brick and mortar one at that), and some form of investment account for higher risk/pay off.

 

[Flash]

Good deal or bad deal?

Read some brief plug for ING Direct quite awhile ago on some investment thread. Interested in what the current reviews are from any of you using them?

It seems like a good place to put the emergency fund in since the variable APY is higher than regular banks. Even the APY on a CD looks competitive.

I'm not looking on investment info. Just looking for a place to let my emergency fund grow, without risk, somewhat faster than the savings account I have it in now. Any info from current ING Direct users would be appreciated. Also, if anybody researched ING Direct and chose not to use them...please share why. Thanks.

I signed up for ING 4 months ago after the the whole thread on interest accounts, I had been considering it for a while. I looked around and some fo the other ones were a higher APY but had been told by several that ING's was pretty painless. I was warned off by several people specifically about HSBC and ING was the only one that I heard consistently good things about.

Since then it has still been pretty painless and I have been pretty happy. It is nice it getting interest in an FDIC account. A good low-risk option. I did it all on-line too.

 

[openbah]

I've had an ING savings account for about 3 years, never once had an issue. I also have two CDs whose monthly interest gets automatically deposited into the savings account.

 

[Raptor2216]

You might also want to check out E-trade...5.05%. I use them for trading...fairly pain free but I think ING is a little quicker when it comes to the transferring process.

 

[SDNalgene]

I use the USAA Performance index account. It's rates vary biweekly and are calculated off of some index that I can't remember. The rate you get varies by how much you have in, but I have never gotten less than 4.5% APY for any 2 week period. Right now I am getting 4.81%. It varies a little bit, but for the amount I have in there it has stayed around 4.7% since opening the account 2 years ago. There are some deals that are a little bit better out there, but all my other banking and insurance are with USAA so it's nice to have one place to go to. It makes interfund transfers painless and allows you to keep the bare minimum in your other savings and checking accounts. If you need more in those accounts you can just do a transfer that clears immediately, but otherwise the majority of your cash on hand grows at 4.7ish vice 2%. I have been very happy with USAA on all fronts so far.

 

[jus2mch]

I use the USAA Performance index account. It's rates vary biweekly and are calculated off of some index that I can't remember. The rate you get varies by how much you have in, but I have never gotten less than 4.5% APY for any 2 week period. Right now I am getting 4.81%. It varies a little bit, but for the amount I have in there it has stayed around 4.7% since opening the account 2 years ago. There are some deals that are a little bit better out there, but all my other banking and insurance are with USAA so it's nice to have one place to go to. It makes interfund transfers painless and allows you to keep the bare minimum in your other savings and checking accounts. If you need more in those accounts you can just do a transfer that clears immediately, but otherwise the majority of your cash on hand grows at 4.7ish vice 2%. I have been very happy with USAA on all fronts so far.

I have the Performance Index also it is great. The only bad thing is the high minimum contribution. But like you said if interfund transfers are painless, so if you need the money for any reason and have to go below minimum you can get the cash immediately.

 

[jus2mch]

The Performance First Index is a savings account. That is where I have my emergency fund, because it gets a high returns.

 

[flynsail]

Thanks for the replies!

I looked at bankrate.com to browse the banks with higher yields. Most of those banks I have not heard of. HSBC was high on the list but I have also heard bad things about them. It looks like I'll probably go with ING.

There seems to be plenty of threads on this website dealing with investing. Does that meet the criteria for its own forum?

 

[jus2mch]

Thanks for the replies!

I looked at bankrate.com to browse the banks with higher yields. Most of those banks I have not heard of. HSBC was high on the list but I have also heard bad things about them. It looks like I'll probably go with ING.

There seems to be plenty of threads on this website dealing with investing. Does that meet the criteria for its own forum?

Good Luck.

 

[boobcheese]

I have the Performance Index also it is great. The only bad thing is the high minimum contribution. But like you said if interfund transfers are painless, so if you need the money for any reason and have to go below minimum you can get the cash immediately.

I registered my ING savings account with USAA and you can transfer to/from USAA up to $5000/day. As long as I initiate the transfer through USAA, the funds are available in my USAA account immediately.

 

[jus2mch]

I registered my ING savings account with USAA and you can transfer to/from USAA up to $5000/day. As long as I initiate the transfer through USAA, the funds are available in my USAA account immediately.

Cool! You got a good link for the ING. I haven't heard of them before.

 

[Machine]

I use Presidential Bank (www.presidential.com). 5.25% APY on their savings account and great customer service.