ING Direct?
 

So I have been thinking of switching to ING Direct savings account(that 3% interest and no fees seems mighty tempting).
I have been using my current bank for about ten years and for the most part they are ok but charge too many fees and their interest sucks ass.

Anyone use ING Direct for their bank?

What are your thoughts on ING?

ING Direct. Do they really help you "SAVE YOUR MONEY"? :eyebrow:

Well, considering the fact that their security systems are complex as fuck, and the account is a pain in the ass to get to, I would have to say yes, they save my money. I have had an account for about 6 months, and I haven't touched it in 5 months. :tpg:

On a more serious note, I think they have a pretty good deal going, at least for people with simple accounts. I made interest on $0.

I have a checking account with 5/3rd. They're slow as fuck to deposit money (I like how I can cash a check and deposit it as cash to get it in my account within the day; but if I deposit a check itself I have to wait for it to clear which takes a few), but there are no fees that I have encountered.

But what's the difference between a checking account and a savings account, and why would I want to use one over the other?

Savings accounts usually have higher interest rates, and you can't write checks or use debit cards for them. That is the primary difference. The rest might depend on your bank.

Oh... well that's no good. I'm guessing they have online banking to, well they better. Guess I will really have tro research this more. I kinda thought of it again because they sent me a letter with info about saving accounts and stuff. Not too sure how they got my name from though.

My girl Sarah has one of these and she talks so much good about these people. But then, she's not really adept to financial institutions, so.

She claims that the reason these folks can pay out good interest on saved money is due to the fact that they're exclusively online banking. Is this true?

Is this like a 402k thing where you can't touch it, or else you pay taxes or some shit? Or like bonds? I've got a shitload in my 401k, and I figure it wouldn't hurt to have something ELSE to stash money for the longterm future in.

I WAS thinking about Roth IRAs (I think thats they're called), since they seem to offer high yield after so much time.

Can some explain to me (in real people language) how ING works? Prefereably someone who knows what the hell they're talking about and has an account with them?

For some reason, I expect Mikey to know a lot about these people. UNSURE as to why I expect that.

Hmm, if I were you I would prefer to save my money in Prudential. The interest is absolutely higher.

Well. When I first started going to school I had a bit of extra money to save, but neither the time nor the capital to manage a stock portfolio.

I could've
a) taken a 5-year GIC with my normal bank, or
b) put my money into ING for better interest, and been able to load or unload money whenever I wanted with a turn-around of about two days. With no fees.

Hmmm, a toughie.

Basically, I use ING to dump in money I will need soon or don't have time to bother investing. And since I can throw money into it at any time, I can put my money to work more easily and regularly than I can with purchases of bonds or T-bills (and load the account at the end of each month :D). It won't replace all your financial needs, like stocks, cash machines, etc. etc. I wish I could just write cheques out of my ING savings account, but unfortunately, I don't believe you can.

I got to ask, why would you want to lose money? A 3% interest rate is still short 1% of the yearly inflation that occures. I feel that my money be better invested in other places than a savings account.

Other places. Such as? I'm no expert on this so let me know your opinion. No looked in things either. My money has gotta be accessable to me at all times.