Money makes the world go round. And orange.

[badseed1980]

So I've decided I need an actual savings account where I can earn some interest. ING Direct does one with a 4.5% APY. I can do a partial direct deposit there from my paycheck if I want, or set up an automatic monthly transfer from my checking account.

Anyone have any experience with ING Direct savings accounts? Good or bad? And what about their Electric Orange checking accounts? I'm not sure I want to do one of those because it seems like a bit more of a pain when you can't have checks at all. I tend to use them to pay some bills and my roommate at rent time. I'd have to set up a bill pay system for the bills, and I'm not sure how easy that would be with each of the bills I need to pay. I'd have to send my roommate an electronic check or have ING send her a paper check, which takes a few days due to mail. But that would give me a 3.93% interest rate/4% APY. Would it be worth it? Would it be a pain that the only fee-free ATMs I could use in my work and home areas are all a little ways out of the way from any of my usual routes? Hmm...

Any advice would be helpful!

Comments

[pir.livejournal.com]

I've had an ING savings account for years, it's always been easy and simple. I just kept a normal current account to transfer money in an out of.

If you decide on one of their accounts let me know and I'll send you a recommendation, gets free money :)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Oooh, spiff! I'm pretty sure that unless someone brings up a really bad point that isn't just a fluke of their experience, I am at least going to go with a savings account with them. :) Thanks!

[pir.livejournal.com]

Link sent. Apparently if you put at least $250 into the account when you open it then you'll get $25 and I get $10.

Enjoy :)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Got it! Awesome. :) Thanks for the link.

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

I have no experience with ING Direct at all, but have used bill-paying services with my bank accounts elsewhere. That caveat given:

* I'm having to assume that you have a checking account with ING Direct?
* Why would a savings account -- the Electric Orange? -- not let you have or use paper checks?

Most bill-paying services offered are actually fairly easy to use, even if you have somewhat odd ones. You also don't have to enter in all of your bills, if you're still allowed to use paper checks; you could then simply use the system to pay your standard bills (utilities, loans or credit card bills, etc) and continue using paper checks for the rest.

Personally, the availability of fee-free ATMs would figure into what banks and what kinds of accounts I'd get. If/when I move to PA, I'll need to close my Chase checking account; PNC, which I also have an account with, has much better availability in and around Harrisburg. (Chase's availability is apparently next to nil there, oddly enough.)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Ok, sorry, maybe my post wasn't clear.

1. I have no accounts yet with ING Direct. My only account is a checking account with B of A.

2. I am almost certainly going to get a savings account with ING Direct, unless someone tells me something REALLY BAD about their savings accounts. Doubt that will happen.

3. I MAY decide to change my B of A checking account to a checking account at ING Direct--the Electric Orange account--as well. This is a paperless account. One of the reasons why they are able to pay such high rates is because they cut down overhead by being an almost-totally-online bank. They don't have personal checks. To make payments from their checking accounts, you either set up online bill pay (for bills), or (for individuals), you send an electronic check or fill out a check form online and ING sends the person a paper check from your account, through the mail.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I see I referred to the Electric Orange account as a savings account in the post. My bad. It's checking. Fixed that.

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Ahh, gotcha on all points.

Well, that is a tempting interest rate they offer, that's for sure. It does seem to be offset a bit by the slight inconvenience of going almost completely paperless -- you'd have to direct the bank to send your roomie a check a few days earlier than you normally would, thanks to the postal system -- as well as the ATM question.

Have you considered other banks, just in case ING doesn't quite work out? They may not offer quite so nice an interest rate, but their other services may be more convenient for you. Also, you could check out the local credit unions and see if 1) you'd qualify and 2) if they don't offer something you like, as well.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

There aren't many places that offer a high-yield savings account when you have less than, say, $25K in them. The interest rate is primarily what I'm after. Other places, it's less than 1%, and not even worth bothering to start a savings account at that rate, IMO. And my roommate isn't exactly demanding on a check the first day of the month. Usually she doesn't calculate out my portion of the rent and utilities until a few days in. And I could just do the electronic check instead of having them send the paper one--much faster. Basically, if the bill pay is fairly easy, the only real issue would be the lack of free ATMs.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

from what i've heard from others, B of A is the devil. so, yay for checking into leaving them. :)

what about MITFCU (https://www.mitfcu.org/)?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

MITFCU has a savings account APY that's 0.5% as opposed to ING's 4.5%. I'm really looking for something that's higher-yield.

[leenah.livejournal.com]

if you can affford it, do get a credit union account. it's QUITE useful for loans, if you use them.

is there no catch anywhere? 4.5% sounds extreme. LOVELY, but extreme.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Nope, it's no catch. Basically, they can make it so high because they have a lot less overhead than most banks due to the fact that they don't have branch offices and don't use as much paperwork. It's a primarily net-based bank, but a very real one.

[fyrebloom.livejournal.com]

we looked into getting a savings with them, but started getting paranoid when they were requiring alot of personal information that had nothing to do with our account. I don't remember for the life of me now what it was, but it seemed kinda fishy at the time. Haven't worked with them further then that though.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Hmm. They are indeed a legit bank, but I will certainly take a look at how they use the info they gather.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Swiss banks have additional requirements for information far above and beyond what most American or European banks require. If I hadn't been warned, I'd have been alarmed.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

ING asked me for nothing out of the ordinary.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Very cool :)

[nepenthedreams]

For me the best real savings account has been an etrade account where I actually invest it in a no-free index fund. I don't have an ATM card, so I can't withdraw the money. But it has a handy online site to transfer money from my bank account to it. It's done a nice job of accumulating - I've actually gotten a return of 25% on my investment!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I don't know if this would be the best idea for me right now. Thing is, I'm not starting off by putting in a LOT of money. I was thinking maybe $500, and slowly but steadily adding money in over time. It's always seemed to me that to invest, you need a bigger chunk of money going in to start off with. Maybe once I've built up some more substantial savings, I can pull out a bigger chunk of that and invest it.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

I might be wrong, but I was under the impression that one doesn't earn that high 4.5% interest rate unti lone has "invested" a certain minimum amount in the thousands. So check.

Apparently there are lots of fees and small print to think about, or so it says here. (http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog/emigrant-direct-opening-an-account/470) I googled emigrantdirect because Suze Orman is always touting them, but apparently they're not as good as ING. Still, check into ING's small print.

I've been thinking of saving with them as well. If I do, I'll mention you and then YOU get the referral fee. :-)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

For the plain old savings account, there's no minimum. It says: "There is no minimum balance required to open your Orange Savings Account, and you don't have to keep a specific balance in your account to qualify for a high interest rate. No matter how much you have on deposit, the rate is still 4.50% APY."

Actually, what happens is that a person with an account can send a link to a person who wants to start that one. Using that link, the person starts their account. If they start it with $250 or more, that person gets an extra $25, while the person who sent them the link gets $10. So both of us would benefit! :)

[roaming.livejournal.com]

Great. I'm on it. When you're ready send me a link to bryonyk@gmail.com.

And I think Tom should start one too: lensman@mit.edu.

We've both been thinking we should start having savings build up without our having to do anything. I suppose we can arrange for our banks to auto deposit a certain amount to ING via bank transfer each month?

[unferth.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to improve my bank setup for a while, and I think you've convinced me. Can you do the account referral thing if I want to open an 'Electric Orange' checking account rather than a savings account? If not I could always open both and transfer funds around, but it seems simpler not to do that initially.

Either way, if you want to send a link, I'll put it to use. My email address hasn't changed since the last time we traded messages, but it's in my profile too just in case.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Ok! When I get the ability to send those links, I will send one to you. :)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Tax time - you just go right into your account and there's a link already there to print your tax information.

Oooh, nice bonus!

[miss-lisa-ma.livejournal.com]

I second this! (Sorry it took me so long to get in on this - BUSY week!) - I do my regular online banking at a local credit union that belongs to SUM, so I can get cash w/o fees pretty easily. Have checking and savings with credit union for immediate access and local customer service, but just started using ING savings account for better interest rates on money I didn't need this second. It's helped me keep enough cash stashed for my upcoming demo recording and assorted expenses in very short time, generated much better interest than local savings, and the transfer process between institutions is all on-line and painless.

And there's the no-impulse-spending thing. Yay!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I went ahead and opened a savings account. :)

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

My family has been banking with ING (I've a Direct Orange, myself) for almost ten years and have been wonderfully satisfied with them.

I wish my local bank were so easy to deal with.