ING Direct
 

I am interested in finding out whether anyone has any experience with ING Direct for savings accounts? In the past I have not dealt with a financial institution that is entirely online.

Re: ING Direct
 

I have an ING Direct account for savings, and also had their everyday account. Found them great and no different to a bank with physical branches. (I never go to a branch for my ANZ accounts anyway). ING have excellent Internet banking and service is there on the phone if you need.

Re: ING Direct
 

Thanks :)

I take it there is no difference with transferring funds, bpay etc to normal major institutions?

Re: ING Direct
 

I deal with a savings account entirely online and have had absolutely no problems:) (and no problems with Bpay etc)

Re: ING Direct
 

I had an account with them a few years ago they were fine. Only problem is now they are not offering a competitive interest rate.

Best at the mo are ME Bank (12 month intro rate of 5.1%) or Ubank ongoing rate of 4.99%.

They all have some restrictions you just have to live with it as the funds are guaranteed by gov anyway.

Re: ING Direct
 

ME Bank is 5.1% only if you do it by 31/3/13.

Re: ING Direct
 

We have both an ING Direct savings account and an Orange Everyday account, plus we took out a home loan with them to do some renovations. Great to deal with.

Re: ING Direct
 

I have an ING account as with some of my friends and haven't had any issues. I'd be wary about what the base rate will become after the intro period of 4 months. Currently the rate reverts back to 3.25% or 4% if you meet their loyalty bonus requirements

Re: ING Direct
 

we have had an account with them for a while. Savings account you have to have a linked account (can be with any bank, but you must nominate) and money being moved OUT of ING can only go to this account. Guess it prevents fraud.

But if you have an Orange account that is a normal account.
All seems to work well and we found them easy to deal with from overseas.

Re: ING Direct
 

I've got a rather a few accounts & term deposits with them.

It took me a while to trust them with their online-only presence. Imagine how that got tested when one account disappeared briefly due to a technical hitch.:frown: It re-appeared but that was still a bit nerve-wracking.

However I now have more of my money with them than the Commonwealth Bank.

Why? By chance I know some of their senior people. Failures, they are. Bounced out of senior positions in the major banks for incompetency. Their ability to earn a good return on the bank's funds was considered poor. In the past, they completely bypassed the chance to invest in the [toxic] retail mortgage marketplace in the USA. Sort of NINJA-LESS people. Hmm, actually, my kind of money manager.

I'm pretty happy with my accounts & term deposits in ING. Interest rates are reasonable. Safety is damn good. I guess that I'll add more of my money to them as time goes by.

Re: ING Direct
 

I have a few accounts with them and term deposits and I renew with them because they always give me a good deal when they roll over. No reason to move.

Been with ING for about 10 years now.

Re: ING Direct
 

They are easy to deal with.

Re: ING Direct
 

I like the ING website: it isn't populated with fancy infantile animations and juvenile ads - just straightforward, user-friendly links.

Our self managed super fund has usually got several term deposits with ING but they are slowly losing their edge on rates.

Same comments apply to RABO.

Re: ING Direct
 

FWIW, ING were forced to sell out to Barclays in the UK. We had accounts with ING with £1 in for a few years but didn't use them. However we got letters last week from Barclays to say they are running ING but retaining their name. This only affects the UK of course but ING are always trying to raise money to pay back the Dutch government for past indiscretions so who knows? FWIW I read that Investec offer the best rates to savers in Oz currently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19880659

http://www.investec.com.au/

RBS bit off more than it could chew in taking over another Dutch bank, ABN-AMRO, which had concealed squillions of toxic loans in the US.

Banks and bankers, who trusts them? :D

Re: ING Direct
 

As far as I know ING in Australia is owned by ANZ.

Re: ING Direct
 

No that was another joint venture that was taken over by ANZ. It was called one path.

Re: ING Direct
 

INGDirect is a pretty decent bank. The deal I have offers:

- 100% rebate of any ATM fee (so my statements list an ATM withdrawal of say $202 and on the next line "ATM fee rebate -$2)
- 5% rebate of any paywave transaction! Which is great with increasing numbers of vendors accepting paywave. I get 5% off all my groceries and petrol


(N.B. In the past I've posted about favouring using Credit Cards for all expenditure to accrue QFF points - I've now decided that QFF points are too hard and 'expensive' and switching to a 'savings account' model might actually be beneficial)

Re: ING Direct
 

My CC strategy is to use them for as much as possible and use the repayment period to offset the mortgage. No lazy cash. As long as you repay in full the savings on the mortgage are large and tax free. You can use an Ing mortgage for bpay as well as standard transfers.

Re: ING Direct
 

Yes, this is exactly what I do - Salary goes straight into the Offset Account, and I live on the bank's money (CC) through the month, paying the full amount back at the end of the period. I've already made tangible savings on my mortgage, as my quarterly statements testify. Pretty much anything over $5 goes straight onto the credit card. Plus I keep building cashback points with Citibank, which is additional tax free income. I've had $1750 in cashback so far - more useful that Frequent Flyer points I think.


S

Re: ING Direct
 

How exactly does this mortgage thing work and how do these savings pan out? Is this about paying your mortgage early to lower interest rates (by crediting your salary as a mortgage payment)? And then using a CC for all purchases to give yourself a month or so of free credit before that needs to be paid off interest-free?

About air miles what is the best card for that in Oz? I'm currently in Singapore and the miles we get are pretty impressive in terms of value. You're looking at

A recent ticket I was looking at would have cost 4212 AUD, which is 5472 SGD. I can get the same for 93,5k miles (+ some charges). Let's say they come out to almost 750 SGD so I burn the miles to save 4750 SGD on the ticket cost.

To earn 93,5k miles I would need to spend roughly 70k SGD via my Cc. So in essence I am getting a 6,8% "cashback" on my purchases, which makes most CC offers of giving you 1-2% cashback (in the literal sense) pale in comparison...

Re: ING Direct
 

i earn 3 points for every $1 on my grocery purchases using Amex Plat Edge.

Re: ING Direct
 

Does that translate to 3 miles per $1?