What are Your Experiences with Internet Banking?
Published on - November 20th, 2006 (Modified on - February 18th, 2008) (by J.D. Roth) Based on reader feedback, this post has been substantially revised from its original form.
What makes a bank good? Some people want great deals. Some want great service. Some want convenience. Many finance bloggers recommend online banks like ING Direct and Emigrant Direct because they offer excellent interest rates.
A GRS reader (who asked to remain anonymous) warns that the deals at these places may not be worth the trouble. When he needed to withdraw his money, he felt that ING Direct made him leap through unnecessary hoops — they required a lot of information that he did not have immediately accessible, including the amounts of two small test deposits. He’s concerned that ING Direct’s policies go beyond security, that they may be actual barriers to withdrawing money.
I use a good credit union where I live. I can always go there in person, proving that I’m me, and having lost my home, my phone, my whatever, can still access my money and obtain full services. My experience with ING has taught me what I get in return for the lower rate of savings on my credit union account: customer service, immediate access to all my accounts, and personal assistance when needed.
Do you do business with ING Direct or another online bank? What sort of experiences have you had? What headaches have you encountered? Or is your impression entirely positive? Convince me that I should (or shouldn’t) put my money at ING Direct.
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I have used ING for over a year now and have never had a complaint. This account is one that where I put money to forget about it – until a rainy day. I can get money out (into my checking account) in about 3 to 4 days. Not exactly liquid, but definitely not concrete – more like runny jello.
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OK, because of this post, I’m realizing that I really need to open an account with one of these high-yield-savings internet banks. The question is: Which one? So many of you are with ING, but according to bankrate, there are quite a few with APY’s well above ING’s current 4.40.
So why should I go with ING instead of AmboyDirect? Or AmTrust Direct? Or HSBC Direct? They all have comparable requirements (with the exception that AmTrust requires $1000 to open the account, but after that it’s a $1 minimum).
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To schubash:
Honestly, when dealing with any bank account, I think it would have behooved you to familiarize yourself with the banking system after setting up your account. If you never bothered to set up your log in information for an account that is mainly accessed online, I can’t see how that’s ING’s fault.
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We had our savings, retirement savings (some), and our mortgage at ING. They were really sloppy in approving the mortgage and waited till the VERY last minute to finish the paperwork, almost causing us to lose our first home.
When we bought a home again recently, ING was a pain again. At the close of business the day before we were to close, ING backed out of the deal — despite having pre-approved us, given us a commitment letter, signed off on our financials and the like. The reason? They didn’t like a clause in the contract. Our mortgage broker pointed out this clause on the first day he contacted them. He highlighted it and put a yellow sticky on it. And ING said nothing about it…until rejecting our mortgage at the last minute.
Although we were pre-approved elsewhere, it takes a few days to get a mortgage through. We suffered a penalty in breaking our existing ING mortgage. We lost our locked in interest rate portability. We lost the pre-approved rate (which was lower, since rates had gone up in the 3 months). We had to reschedule our movers, painters, flooring, etc. We lost renovation time. We didn’t know if the sellers (an investment company overseas) would sue us. The sellers didn’t even respond to us when we said we couldn’t pay on the closing day.
This was incredibly stressful, unexpected and not in good faith.
We have transferred all our money out of ING and we will never do business with them again.
I should note that their rejection of our mortgage had to do with a clause in the contract that none of the other banks minded. It had nothing to do with our stellar credit ratings, high incomes or other “good customer” details.
ING sucks.
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Indeed, ING licks balls.
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For a home mortgage, I would only use a local bank or mortgage broker. I couldn’t see using ING or any pop-up advertiser for my mortgage. It’s just too complicated and time sensitive. Adding interest to a money-market savings account is not complicated. Money Magazine always has a list of the highest yielding money market accounts, so I would look there to start, then go to the sites and read the information about their services. Good luck Rich.
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Oh, I wanted to add something and that was the wait time for your large money transfers is not unique to on-line banking. If you take a large check to your local bank, they will probably give you a sheet with the wait times for each amount to be available to you. It may surprise you, but they do this to protect themselves and satisfy security requirements. If you’re buying a home, car, or other big time-sensitive item, expect delays and remember that “business days” are not the same as actual days.
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Like many others, I love ING.
I’ve been a happy customer for more than 6 years, and never had a problem. I’ve had two Savings accounts, several funds, and I even refinanced my mortgage through ING. Zero problem and everyting was so easy, quick, and economical.
Now that its interest rate is not very competitive, I moved my acocunts to other online banks, but I still think highly of the service ING offers.
Another online banking service I recommend is First Internet Bank of Indiana. I’ve been a customer since the year it opens its business and have got nothing but praise on its products, service, and costs.
I still have a local bank accounts for quick deposit, but most of my funds are with internet banking services, and I accrue much more interests while getting excellent service.
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I work for a bank receiving calls from customers needing help with their accounts, and it is absolutley mind boggling how inept the majority of our customers are in regards to their banking. The so called security questions we ask are for the protection of customers account and people just don’t appreciate this fact. If you want anyone to call in and get all your banking information, then so be it. I would call you an idiot. Because when that happens and you lose all the money in your account, you’re going to come crying and yelling at the bank for not protecting your money properly.
There is lots of sense to this so called overkill of security. If you don’t appreciate it, take your money out of the bank and put it under your mattress in your bedroom. Then you can protect it yourself.
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[...] reader sent in a story about online banks last November, but that discussion was specifically about customer service. I’d like to hear from people [...]
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We’ve been using Nexity (http://nexity.com/rates.asp) for several years now and are very happy with them.
I originally found them through a listing on BankRate.com, which is also a great resource.
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I’ve used ingdirect for years. There are lots of times when my account goes down to a piddly $1.00, and there’s never a service charge. I use it to transfer money among various accounts. I am on webtv at home. If I ever have trouble with accessing anything on webtv, I go to the library and use a computer.
Once you get all your acounts linked, you can make phone transfers on the toll-free line.
Sometimes I think about going to emigrant bank, but I’m REALLY satisfied with ingdirect.
I’ve found the customer service superior at ingdirect. One night I called ingdirect after I’d thrown a fit at a Wal-Mart pharmacy over lousy customer service.
The phone banker was so nice I commended him and told both him and his supervisor that I’d just had a fit at Wal-Mart.
I use ingdirect to transfer money among accounts quite a bit. I like to open new acounts and get $50. Many banks waive monthly service charges if you have an automatic deposit coming in. You can link up to three checking accounts to ingdirect and make recurring monthly deposits to all of them.
I like having several accounts, because once I got almost $1000 stolen in debit card fraud from a checking acount. That bank, Bank of America, gave me my money back in just a few days. But I like to spread my money out, because if I don’t keep too much money in an account, and I get hit again with theft, it can’t hurt me so badly at once. Also, I can leave some checking account debit cards at home while I go out and use a different one.
Caution: some banks no longer allow ingdirect deposits as ACH deposits that qualify for waiving the monthly fee.
The key to using something like ingdirect is to make sure you understand all the policies and procedures in advance.
Most of the internet stuff will help you make life easier if you are self-reliant and internet savvy. It beats standing in a bank line. It makes life easier when it works, but you should always have backup plans like phone banking and the library.
If you need more personal assistance with your banking needs, you should bank in town.
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ING is terrible. They have no regard for their customers, and they flaunt it.
“We fire our customers is a colorful way of putting it,” said ING Direct’s Kuhlmann. “While the banking business says the customer is always right, we’re online guys and you can only do business with us in a certain way.”
If you knowingly do business with a company like this, you deserve to get burned by them (and you will).
The “system” is set up that it’s easy and to give them money, and that transfer is immediate, but it’s nearly impossible to gain access to your money, especially in a quick manner (even by banking standards).
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I had Netbank and they closed recently and ING is getting Netbank’s accounts. I saw those multi-million dollar buidings ING put in and they waste too much in advertising. That stuff scares me away. I don’t like the thought of my thousands of dollars in deposits going into stuff like that. I found a bank that doesn’t blow millions on advertising and waste millions more on glitz and glamor. I thought it was kind of strange anyway since ING doesn’t have checking accounts to replace my Netbank one. ING can kiss my money goodbye.
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I no longer use INGDirect because they are no longer as competitive in terms of rates, however I was always pleased with them. Back in 2002 when my first ING account was opened, I was your typical starving college student, and not managing my money well. After a few failed transfers due to NSF, ING never charged me a fee, but instead sent me a check with my money, and an apology letter suggesting I not save until I could better afford to. An odd experience, sure, but a huge contrast to the common overdraft fee to oblivion approach of many B&M banks.
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People who want to access their cash quickly but still use an online high interest saving should look into accounts like Capital One and HSBC which offer ATM cards.
I am like some of the earlier posters and I have an ING account and love it but I also have accounts with other online banks. I use different accounts to save for different things. I personally LOVE ING and online banks in general because they keep me from going and taking out my saving for stupid things.
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Zions Bank just increased the yield on the top tier of its Deseret Money Market Account from 5. 36% to 5. 56% APY. This top tier requires a minimum balance of 50,000. Balances between 1k and 50k continue to earn 5. 30% APY. It’ s listed on their website at two alternative URLS: deseret. zionsbank. com and deseretfinancial. zionsbank. com. The Deseret money market account also includes the no monthly fees and limited check writing.
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Eh? zionsbank.com is listing APYs of 3.98% and 4.03% for the tiers you mention.
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I’m perplexed. I’ve been looking into ING online, and have found 2 other sites filled with negative experiences concerning ING. And then I find this site with more positive experiences than bad.
Its crazy that a company can have customers with great experiences and nightmare experiences.
Indicates that the company is not good. A roll of the dice if you will have a good experience or bad.
I’ve also read that you need to keep a sharp eye on your account to make sure that they are really giving you the interest you should be getting!
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I found ING to be an excellent place to keep my money and have been impressed with their rates and site but their customer service has disappointed me. With recent rate reductions (they were very quick to implement these) and the fact that their Electric Orange checking account has limited bill pay/presentment capabilities (despite the cool Electric Check feature), I am shopping around for a better bank.
I was also a former NetBank customer and left them before the complete failure because of declining customer service. ING held my mortgage and offered attractive rates so I made the move. It was extremely easy but I should have been concerned off the bat since they required a “linked” account and could only accept direct deposits or transfers.
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I’ve used ING for several years. I am pretty satisfied, although have a couple of quibbles – one is that I think the wait time for deposits to be accessible can be excessive. If I generate a transfer from another account TO ING, there can be little doubt that the money is available (or the transfer wouldn’t have been generated from the originating bank!). Why do I have to wait 5 days after ING gets the transfer for the money to be available to me? That seems like they are milking my transfer/deposit for their own gain.
My second quibble is that I can’t do a “pull” activity download from Quicken – I have to actually go to the ING site and then “push” the download to Quicken. This is also the case with my Chase credit card. This may be a security feature, but I find this a very inconvenient aspect of these two accounts. (Sorry I don’t know the technical terms for what I am describing.)
I think the complaint in the article about the test deposits is a little ridiculous. (Is this the first time this person has done any online/electronic banking?) These test deposits are done ANY TIME you do an electronic financial action with a new account/institution in order to verify the exchange. And it’s why direct deposit for your paycheck takes 2 cycles (the first cycle they do a test run to make sure it is correct before actually risking your paycheck.)
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