stub
HomePersonal FinanceI use ING For my Savings and You May Want to Also!

I use ING For my Savings and You May Want to Also!

scrooge-mcduck

I often get asked where I keep my liquid savings.  When I first started caring about personal finance issues, and started reading personal finance blogs I was guilty of rate chasing and bonus chasing.   I am proud to say that, I do not rate chase anymore, and if you check out personal finance blog archives circa 2006ish you’d be surprised how post after post was about chasing rates…that has also changed.

Where do I keep my Savings?

I keep almost all liquid dollars at…ING Direct.  I LOVE ING DIRECT.  There are a couple reasons why:

  1. Competitive Interest Rate
  2. Sub Accounts that are Named
  3. Customer Service
  4. It is not a Brick and Mortar Bank

ING Usually has a Competitive Rate

ING used to be at the front of the interest world, but now they seem to be in the middle of the pack.  I have not researched this topic in a long time, but the other  reasons are I am going to talk about trumps this particular topic.

ING has Sub Accounts that are Named

ing Savings Accounts 2

I don’t know what other banks have this type of set up, but once your main account is created you can create sub-accounts and give them normal names without having to a ton of paperwork.  This is an actual screen shot from my account, as you can see I have a bunch of different accounts for different purposes.  Each account has its own rules regarding pulling money from my checking account (i.e. the Long Term Savings pulls $25/week while the vacation received $20/week).

My Wife’s ING looks even crazier because she has a TON more of these small accounts but they aren’t joint so they don’t show up on my screen.

ING’S Customer Service

I can only remember calling ING once, but since I don’t remember the content of the phone call it couldn’t have been anything serious.  However, I do remember getting a person on the phone, that spoke English, within a very short timeframe.

ING is NOT a Brick and Mortar Bank

I believe that the basics of personal finance has a lot to do with knowing yourself.  Well, once that money hits ING from my main checking it almost doesn’t feel like it is mine, and that is a good thing.  Once it hits those accounts I don’t want to spend it, and that is HUGE.

I think this has to do with not seeing ING Signs everywhere vs. The amount of Chase Banks I see on a daily basis (on my 4 mile commute to work I pass 4 which is ridiculous).

Does anyone have any experience with other banks that sound better than mine? I’d love to hear about other options?

RELATED ARTICLES

14 COMMENTS

  1. I use ING for the same reason for about 6 years, I have 5 sub-accounts. It may not be a brick and mortar bank but they DO have banking available (meaning free wi-fi!) at their “ING Direct Cafe” storefront. I know there is one in Philly and I think there is a couple more in some cities. I never had reason to go though.

  2. I have an account with ING and so does my husband. We have one joint savings together and I just need to find the time to move the money from a different account. I need at least 5 sub-accounts in order to keep the money all separated. I really need to get this done!

    • Come on buddy! Find the time? It takes 35 seconds That’s it I am holding you accountable. Yup, I went there

  3. 35 seconds, huh? I’ll have to take you up on that and set my timer. I know for certain it’s going to take more than 35 seconds to get the information together and figure out how much money will be moved into which account. I actually called the credit union last week to get the account and routing numbers, but now I’ve misplaced them. So that means I have to call them again because I don’t have online access to this particular account, and it is only a savings account. I’ll get back to you and let you know how long it takes from start to finish.

    • Oh I am sorry I thought you needed to create another subaccount not start from scratch! Then it’ll take a few more mins than that.

      Please get back to us with a number though

      • Evan, just to let you know… it took me 3 minutes and 12 seconds to set up a new sub-account. That’s because I didn’t realize that “Open a New Account” was how to set up a sub-account. After a quick Google search I figured it out pretty quickly. I’m using this first sub-account to deposit any online monies to make it easier to keep track of my online income for taxes next year! And then I opened a second sub-account and timed it just for you. It took 28 seconds. Now the original thing I was planning to do was to link ING to another bank account. But I realized I can have funds transferred easily from that savings account to the checking at the same credit union, and that checking account is already linked to ING Direct. So I’m good to go!

  4. I’ve been saying this for a few weeks now — I’m ready to open an ING Direct savings account once I get my tax refund (any day now…). I love the sub-accounts function, because it looks so much easier than opening multiple accounts.

    • Well then use one of the promotions and get $25 free. The sub-accounts is so bad ass – do you know what you are going to name them already?

  5. Are you/anyone using Sharebuilder at all? I got a postcard for a $50 bonus from them over the weekend (I’m a current ING user) and wondered if it might be a good way to open a small stock account for my son.

      • What’s your methodology there – are you investing a little each month or in lump sums? I was just thinking of doing $250 or so for my son, with the $50 bonus it would be a nice start.

        • Just a few bucks every month into those set dividend paying stocks. So I am not looking for active trading from this account.

  6. lol. I thought I was the only who loved ING this much. I even wrote a post about why I’m in-love with them. They really are awesome. Their customer services is the best I’ve ever gotten—the fact that they ‘speak english’ and I can actually understand them is freakin’ awesome. I can’t understand barely anything my MasterCard people say.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related Articles

Recent Comments