Online Targeted Savings Accounts at ING Direct
After reading nothing but positive reviews of ING Direct’s online banking products, I finally took the plunge and registered an Orange Savings Account. It was fairly painless, as online banking applications go. The standard questions were asked including name, address, ssn, etc. ING Direct was recently rated as the most secure online institution and it showed. The series of security questions were unique and enough to make identity theft difficult. I was immediately pleased with the straightforward interface. ING Direct has long been competitive with other online banking institutions, and though others may offer a slightly higher yield, I am planning to maintain the bulk of my savings here because of the other benefits.
ING Direct Advantages: Nicknames, Subaccounts & More
ING Direct offers a couple perks over similar online banking institutions. I enjoy the ability to give our savings account a nickname. Having a name for our accounts helps me identify with the savings goal more. For instance, having $1,500 in my “Emergency Fund” account means more to me than $1,500 in “Account #123456789.”
The ability to create “sub-accounts” is a nice feature for consolidating various targeted savings accounts into one bank, and one master control screen. These subaccounts at ING are really just separate savings accounts, but because they are all tied to your customer ID they appear as a list on your ING customer homepage. Over time I plan to add accounts labeled “Christmas Shopping,” “Vacation,” and “New Sofa.” We can then create some automatic contributions into each of these funds based on the targeted savings goal. For instance, my wife and I would like to save about $600 in our Christmas Shopping account so we plan to automatically transfer $50 a month into this account. With our savings on auto-pilot the money is moved automatically without any hassle-factor. When the targeted savings goal is within reach we will schedule an electronic withdrawal back to our linked checking account.
Targeted savings accounts are a great way to pay for things that occur once or twice a year, or for one-time goals such as our “New Sofa” account. Insurance premiums, car tags, and taxes all have a way of sneaking up on us and wrecking a monthly budget. By using a savings account reserved for each specific purpose these events will no longer be budget-busters, rather a simple electronic transfer to your checking account.
As an added bonus, ING Direct is currently offering new customers $25 when they sign up and agree to deposit at least $250 for their initial transaction. That’s a guaranteed 10% return on your money just for signing up! To receive this $25 bonus, you must sign up using a referral from an existing customer (visit my referral page if you are interested). If you don’t have plans for your tax refund, or your tax rebate check, this is a great way to kick-start a savings program. At 3.0% APY (at the time of this article), it sure beats a savings account at a local bank!
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Congrats on joining the ING gang! I love it
Welcome to the dark side!
How funny, I had just gotten off the phone with the nice lady at ING, (I opened an account a couple of days ago) and then I clicked on your blog and there was ING. Unfortunately, I opened an Electric account (after reading a different blog), only has 1.7 % !!!! So, I called to switch the account to the regulasr 3% one. Just have to wait for the funds to be cleared and the lady said I could do it all online tomorrow. Make sure you get the 3% Orange account. Glad I looked before it was too late!
ING has a decent interface and is reliable. I appreciate the sub-account features.
I know there are folks who move their money around each month from one online back to another, but right now the savings rates are so low across the board that it isn’t worth my time to try and eek out another 0.075%. Like FD said, at least ING is a large margin better than most people’s local bank.
Signing up with a referral for the free $25 - that’s worth the ten or twenty minutes it will take to sign up and verify your account. You’re making 10% on your money in one shot. Now if only the CD rates would start moving upward again…
came over from TSD links….
I love ING, been “banking” there since 2002. We have our emergency fund set up with xx$$ in available cash then CD ladders for the rest. It works great.
Oh and you’ll LOVE the Wii. totally worth every penny. we have 3 small kids and we all play together and now have social gatherings at our house rather than going out. it’ll pay for itself by us staying home rather than going out!
Danielle
Know what’s real neat? On my paper statements it tells me how much I’ve earned since I first opened my account years ago. It’s a good feeling seeing all that interest.
Also, I had my tax refund direct deposited to my ING account. As a result my stimulus check should hit there too. No delay in earning interest for me!
I love the sub-accounts feature. We’ve used a bunch of them in the past. We have one now for our daughter to show her how her savings grow.
Now that you’re with ING, don’t forget that you can also send yourself the referral emails and post the links directly on your blog. People are much more likely to click than to email. The codes expire after 30 days, so you have to do it once a month, but you’ll increase your chances of a referral that way.
One of our new subaccounts at ING will be a “Wii” acccount, because after almost buying one on impulse a few months ago my wife and I agreed “Wii” need to save our money and pay cash!
@Tara,
Is the electric account you originally had the same as Electric Orange savings account? I’m on ING’s website and it says that Electric Orange has a 3.40% APY. Is the catch where it says “Up to…”
Sorry;
Disregard last comment. I just looked at the details (guess I should have done that first) and saw that there’s a pretty high minimum balance to get the >3%
I have been researching this also as my savings interest is pathetic right now. How many withdrawal transactions are you allowed a month, do you know? We rarely take anything out out of our savings but it’s good to be aware of these things. Also I would love your code so I can open an account. Do I need to send you a separate email?
Thanks,
Shannon
How funny. I just signed one up last night as well using someone else’s referral. I started reading your blog couple weeks ago, and really appreciate all your helpful advice. Please keep it up!
Good luck working towards that Wii. We found ours on Craigslist with all the extras and a game for $200. I know it was a steal and we decided to do the “family gift” instead of a lot of separate gifts for family members. It can be a fun date night with your spouse. Beware- can be addictive
Great job on setting up the acct too. We need to do this at some point and I love to read real reviews of services/products. Thanks!
I have NEVER had a problem with ING in my 4 years as a customer. When/if interest rates ever raise, you should check out there CD’s. I am currently enjoying the benefits of a 6 month CD at 4.75% from ING.
I love ING too!! Thanks for the mention and I hope you enjoy them!!
I’ve had an Orange Account, and I was pretty impressed. They must be doing something right.
I’ve been considering switching to ING for months now. I was just talking about this on another post… I use BoA and I really don’t like them much, but I’m all set up in their system and since my credit card is with them, I’ll stay for now. As soon as I’m out of debt, I think I’ll switch
Thanks for more info on ING! A lot of bloggers write about it, but all the info is useful.
[…] like a game console because it takes some discipline to save up and pay cash. We decided to open a subaccount at ING Direct and automatically transfer $20 a paycheck, plus any extra money we scrape up, until we have enough […]
The question that I have is about emergency funds and how “close” they should be. I have an ING Savings account, but I have seen others to say that your Emergency fund should be in your local banks savings account to get to it quickly. It could take several days for your emergency funds to get to your “local” checking account. What should I do???
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Have been using ING for a couple of years. I have about 10 subaccounts, everything from kids savings accounts to property tax savings. The auto deposits work great and I have never had a problem.
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[…] be quite as glamorous now) and prioritized the items 1-10, well, more like 1-30. I would open a new subaccount at ING Direct and label it “Wish List.” In this account I would set aside a specific amount of money […]