INGDirect - is it any good?

[zoomzoom]

The interest rates that INGDirect offers is very attractive and I am thinking of opening an account. Does anyone have any experieces to share in terms of the good and the bad? Also, INGDirect says that they link your new INGDirect account to you current bank's chequeing account - does your current bank charge you for this?

[fozzey]

I was the first in my family to open an ING account, now a bunch of others have them. Its good stuff.

[Anessa]

So how do you withdraw money if there's no branches or tellers? I've always wondered that

[FearSonic]

There are branches, but I've never used one.

From what I hear, there is a ABM card they give you and you can deposit and withdraw but I've never done that too since I'd use my money like mad.

The method I use is basically just moving the money from my Scotiabank account and my ING account, saves me money cause I spend 5 days waiting for the money to come and I usually end up not spending the money. So it works.

In short, online banking to move money around.

[dark169]

ING is great.

I do have thier ATM card which allows the widthdraw of $500/day just in case, but i do all the money moving online. 3-5days to transfer to my TD account so it forces you to plan ahead to spend it which deters snap choices.

I'm saving for a downpayment so every month I take most of whats in the account and turn it to a 1year GIC, once the closing date on my conod gets <1 year I'll switch that plan to short term GIC's. Every little bit counts, if all the interest earns me $100 thats enough to buy beer so my friends will help me move :lol:

[McLaren]

Another vote for ING. Great way to earn interest, and I just got my gf on it so it's all good!

[Sylvestre]

So how do you withdraw money if there's no branches or tellers? I've always wondered that

with ING, you will require a secondary account (one of the big banks). What you will do is move your money from the ING acct. to the secondary acct.
For maximum cost savings, I'd recommend PC financial as your secondary acct.

ING is one of the largest banks in the world, and your money is fully insured etc etc. It's been around for a long while (as opposed to some of the others e.g. icci etc) which a large client base.

[john widow]

I too would recommend PC Financial as your second bank.
One of the requirements for signing up with ING or some other banks is to send them a pre-printed cheque. These are cheques that a bank gives you. It contains your name,address on the top right. And the bottom numbers on the cheque, represent the numbers which are used to take money from your account. That is how the link is established. PCF will send you cheques for free in the mail unlike td which charges you about $28~ shipped. Also PCF is cooler.

[GeneralCho]

I signed up for ING Direct and it is quick and easy. Highly recommended for a second bank account to save money for future major purchases.

[TheZodiac]

Two thumbs up for ING. :)

[ALsat]

... that pays one of the highest interest rates in the country.

So does that make 2 thumbs and 2 big toes up? :D

No external referrals allowed, please use the RFD link (http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v5|33b7|3|0|%2a|y%3B26301172%3B1-0%3B0%3B12446161%3B6-120|60%3B15286592|15304488|1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhtt p://www.ingdirect.ca/en/dinosaur/) so you're supporting this great site

[Rogue_77]

... that pays one of the highest interest rates in the country.

So does that make 2 thumbs and 2 big toes up? :D

But there's even more... Inbox me for very important info before you open an account.

No external referrals allowed, please use the RFD link (http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v5|33b7|3|0|%2a|y%3B26301172%3B1-0%3B0%3B12446161%3B6-120|60%3B15286592|15304488|1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhtt p://www.ingdirect.ca/en/dinosaur/) so you're supporting this great site

[ALsat]

No external referrals allowed, please use the RFD link (http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v5|33b7|3|0|%2a|y%3B26301172%3B1-0%3B0%3B12446161%3B6-120|60%3B15286592|15304488|1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhtt p://www.ingdirect.ca/en/dinosaur/) so you're supporting this great site

[sundog]

ING is pretty cool.

Also I have set up Achieva and Outlook accounts as well. The Link between My ING, PCF and TD is done. The link between My PCF, TD, Achieva and Outlook is done as well. Basiclly I spend 2 months for this whole set up procedure.

Right now, Achieva has the Highest Saving rate (3.5%), and most of my spare money is with achieva. Outlook is pretty good as well, and they have some nice options which Achieva does not offer. The transfer out from ING and out from PCF are both about 1 day or so, which is really quick, and it's all done online, very easy.

To transfer money out from Achieva and outlook, you just need to write a cheque out to your destinate bank account, which is not that bad at all.

Anyway, this is my experience.

[Rogue_77]

Shh, don't let anyone hear it. Apparently that's a taboo subject on this board. :lol:

Was it? My bad.

Yes it is.

[john widow]

ING is pretty cool.

Also I have set up Achieva and Outlook accounts as well. The Link between My ING, PCF and TD is done. The link between My PCF, TD, Achieva and Outlook is done as well. Basiclly I spend 2 months for this whole set up procedure.

Right now, Achieva has the Highest Saving rate (3.5%), and most of my spare money is with achieva. Outlook is pretty good as well, and they have some nice options which Achieva does not offer. The transfer out from ING and out from PCF are both about 1 day or so, which is really quick, and it's all done online, very easy.

To transfer money out from Achieva and outlook, you just need to write a cheque out to your destinate bank account, which is not that bad at all.

Anyway, this is my experience.

I thought you can transfer money out from Achieva to PCF using PCF online. Or is it only to transfer to achieva? I've been told it enables us to transfer in/out.....

[SuperCM]

ING Direct is great as they offer high interest rates and now their new short-term GICs allow you to make even more. I'm right now in the middle of setting up a ladder with the GICs and once I'm done, every month a GIC will end and then I can just reinvest it at the 1 year rate.

As others have said, it's a fairly large and well known world bank. They are CDIC protected, so your funds up to $60,000 are safe should ING Direct tank. Realistically though, if it gets to that you probably would have cleaned out your accounts if the world or Canada was in that dire a situation.

Although they seem like a bank, don't count on them to do bank things. They're really more of a place to park your money other than your normal bank. They do have some ABMs, usually inside Canadian Tire's. You also get a card to do stuff with, not too sure what though. Interac perhaps?

But yeah, basically you should already have a bank account somewhere else. You sign up and write yourself a cheque from the other bank, this creates a link to ING Direct. And then you just move money back and forth. They're pretty quick too, usually 1 business day to transact.

[sundog]

I thought you can transfer money out from Achieva to PCF using PCF online. Or is it only to transfer to achieva? I've been told it enables us to transfer in/out.....

haven;t tried transfer out from Achieva yet. please Tell me here once you tried it :)

[sundog]

Sorry, JW is right for Achieva.

You can do transfer out from Achieva within PCF account. I just checked. But How could I forget that I already tried :evil:

[john widow]

As others have said, it's a fairly large and well known world bank. They are CDIC protected, so your funds up to $60,000 are safe should ING Direct tank. Realistically though, if it gets to that you probably would have cleaned out your accounts if the world or Canada was in that dire a situation.


I can't believe they actually spent the money to make a television ad just to let us know CDIC changed it's insurance from 60 000 to 100 000 lol.

Sundog, you scared the crap out of me when you said you had to write cheques to withdraw money out of Achieva. I got my cheques, 50 of them for free :) just like PCF.

[marcus]

I was just looking at their site. One thing I am wondering about is using you interac card. On their site it says:

Or use any of the 36,000 Interac® connected automatic bank machines (ABM) in Canada to withdraw funds from your ING DIRECT account and we will pay your Interac® fees up to four transactions every month!

So I am wondering if I use my interac card It isn't no fees after I use it 4 times. I use my card a lot so this wouldn't help if I am always using it to buy stuff or pull out cash?

[Screwball]

I was just looking at their site. One thing I am wondering about is using you interac card. On their site it says:

Or use any of the 36,000 Interac® connected automatic bank machines (ABM) in Canada to withdraw funds from your ING DIRECT account and we will pay your Interac® fees up to four transactions every month!

So I am wondering if I use my interac card It isn't no fees after I use it 4 times. I use my card a lot so this wouldn't help if I am always using it to buy stuff or pull out cash?

Get a PC Financial account, there are absolutely no fees. You can use CIBC ATM's as well as any of the kiosk machines in Loblaws branded stores. (Fortinos, Zehrs, SuperStore, etc.

[calo]

Hi, I am thinking of opening a savings account with ING, but I am still a little bit confused as to how I can transfer money to a primary account to the ING account and if there is any fees to do that.

Let's say I wanted to move money from TD to ING, will TD charge me fees for this? From ING's web site, it says that I can "Move My Money" from the one account to the other ( i.e. FROM TD to ING). I know ING won't charge me anything for this, but will TD charge me?

Does anyone know? Thanks!

Calo

[john widow]

Well if you have one of those regular value counts and your no longer a minor.
Say the fee is $3.95...currently a month. Say that the rule is, if you don't have a minimum of $1000 in your account. We will charge you the $3.95/month fee a long with every transaction you use, which is like 50 cents each time you use the card or a service. But once keep over $1000 minumum in your account, we will allow you, this many transactions free per month. .... go find out on td.

[ALsat]

Regrettably refunding the Interac fee isn't enough any more. (It used to be.)

Last time I used my ING card to withdraw money from an Interac machine, yes the Interac fee was refunded by ING but there was another $1.50 BS charge worked into the transaction... service fee, network access fee, convenience fee or some other similar crap. :mad:

So there're multiple charges involved in using an Interac card at a machine that doesn't belong to your bank.

[Tsukagi]

ING is great...but, my ATM card that i got from them doesn't work...i just use it for the account number.

[JadeButterfly]

I am interested in opening an INGDirect account soon as well. I'm just a student so I'm using it to just save up and prevent me from spending lol.

A few questions though,

If I do not need the money that I am saving up, should I be storing my money in their GICs instead? Initially, I was planning to just store the money I am earning this summer in their savings account, and then at the end, take the lump sum and invest it into their GICs (maybe 3years?) so that when I graduate, I can use the money on whatever.

Or should I be investing my monthly savings into GICs, so in the end, have many GICs that will end around when I graduate?

my friend also talked about taxes that are involved with GICs and the ISA, how does that work?

I am currently banking with CIBC, and I am getting charged ridiculously every month just because I pay my bills online! I want to just close my CIBC account and go with PCF. What is the easiest way of doing this and will it cost a lot?

Question for PCF users, do you have to keep a minimum balance in the account to have no fees? I know if you keep a minimum of $1000, you can receive PC points, but I have no use for those. I just want to keep it at minimum for monthly spendings.

Thanks guys, I'm such newb to finance, but really gotta get my money organized for the future lol

[john widow]

GIC's last 1+ years, like 5...
GICS have minumum amounts that need to be put in to the GIC before the GIC can be made.

Since you are a student, and you are probrably not having money like $100 000 000...The interest rates won't make... too much of a profit or a difference. But, it is something. Yes close your CIBC bank account. First go to superstore, or a pc pavilion. Walk up to them and ask them to sign up for a daily bank account.
Get the chequing and the savings account. Pretty easy to sign up and if you are young, you might need to get your parent to sign a form. N your done, also bring money to deposit in your account as well.
PCF allows you to use PCF and CIBC machines for free. PCF's online banking is great, you can set up accounts to transfer funds in between banks online for free. You can also pay your bills online for free. PCF has no minumum balance. Keep what you want to keep in the chequeing, or the savings, it's only a 1 day hold so it's like nothing. Or if you do it when it's 12 am or so, it's instant.

PCF's interest rate is 2.9% currently. ING is 3%. So if you are aiming for the high interest savings account. You might as well go with Achieva instead of ING which is at 3.5%. Also Achieva looks good ol fashion and pretty cool. Though Achieva has more fees, that just means you need to be more cautious about what you do to avoid these fees. You only get 1 withdrawal a month for free.

[Aske001]

If I do not need the money that I am saving up, should I be storing my money in their GICs instead?


The advantage of GICs is the guaranteed rate part, if you feel that interest rates are currently high and may go down (which BTW they probably won't). Otherwise you will find that high-interest-rate savings account normally beat GICs. The reason is simple: there's more administrative paperwork associated with GICs, and there's a small risk to the issuer in guaranteeing the rate, both of which they charge for by offering a slightly lower rate.


my friend also talked about taxes that are involved with GICs and the ISA, how does that work?


The taxes on GICs and ISAs are the same. They are both fully taxed at your normal income tax rate as interest income.


I am currently banking with CIBC, and I am getting charged ridiculously every month just because I pay my bills online! I want to just close my CIBC account and go with PCF. What is the easiest way of doing this and will it cost a lot?


This has already been answered, so I'll just add my endorsement of PCF. Use them while you can, because owner CIBC will wake up sooner or later and realize that anyone with half a brain is using PCF instead of CIBC in order to avoid unnecessary fees.

[john widow]

How old is PCF? I've only recently heard of it, myself, but ppl have been using it for years I hear.

So if ISA's and GIC's are taxed. Do you make a profit in the end? Is it fully taxed? or partially taxed? Say I make $100 from interest in a whole year, does the whole thing get taxed? or only like $5?

[JadeButterfly]

so is there any fees to closing a bank?
Do I just go to CIBC and tell them that I want to close it? How will I be able to transfer my bank amount to PCF?

[Aske001]

so is there any fees to closing a bank?
Do I just go to CIBC and tell them that I want to close it? How will I be able to transfer my bank amount to PCF?

Yes, the big banks do charge you fees for closing your account and moving it to another institution, just to say F U. So don't close your account, withdraw everything but $0.01, then abandon it. If there are monthly account fees, they will charge them for about 6 months, sending you notices reminding you to pay off your negative balance, then they will close the account and write it off.

[Aske001]

So if ISA's and GIC's are taxed. Do you make a profit in the end? Is it fully taxed? or partially taxed? Say I make $100 from interest in a whole year, does the whole thing get taxed? or only like $5?

All interest income is taxed. Between inflation and taxes, you will probably lose money on a bank account in the long run. Example: High-interest bank account currently pays you 3.5% interest. Inflation is running at 2.5%, and you will pay about 1.75% tax on your interest income if you are in an upper tax bracket, totaling 4.25%. Result: a net loss of 0.75% of your money per year, before bank fees. That's why ads telling you to save your money in the bank for future security are a lie. That's why people invest the stock market, in spite of the risks.

[ALsat]

If I do not need the money that I am saving up, should I be storing my money in their GICs instead?

Yes. If you're sure that you won't be using the money for at least 90 days, then you can lock it into a GIC and despite some of the BS advice given earlier in this thread, you WILL be earning a higher interest on your deposit.

Just check the rates and you'll see for yourself. The difference itself won't be phenomenal, however even 0.5% DOES make a difference in the long run.


> Initially, I was planning to just store the money I am earning this summer in their savings account, and then at the end, take the lump sum and invest it into their GICs (maybe 3years?) so that when I graduate, I can use the money on whatever.

Why wait till the end? There're no minimum amount requirement for GICs at ING Direct. Why not invest as you earn?

> Or should I be investing my monthly savings into GICs, so in the end, have many GICs that will end around when I graduate?

You can ladder them so they'd mature progressively that way you'd be taking advantage of rising interest rates.

Or you can arrange it so that either that one big GIC, or multiple laddered GICs mature at the same time.

Then you can withdraw and blow them all on lap dances, pot and booze. :D

[JadeButterfly]

Yes, the big banks do charge you fees for closing your account and moving it to another institution, just to say F U. So don't close your account, withdraw everything but $0.01, then abandon it. If there are monthly account fees, they will charge them for about 6 months, sending you notices reminding you to pay off your negative balance, then they will close the account and write it off.

lol. that sucks.
but will abadoning my account affect my creditbility? (ie. go into negative balance and not pay)

[john widow]

They might charge you if you close your bank in a certain time period once you sign up. Like you sign up and close the bank the same week. I've been with TD over a year, then decided to close. I went up to the bank tellers and told them I wanted to close my account. I tried to get them to give me a free bank draft, they said it had to be charged, so I was like, screw that I'll take the money. Which was great, because it took them a long time to get the money as the teller made a mistake and eveyrbody in line was waiting for 15 minutes.

They didn't charge me a fee at all. Got every penny in my account.

[Agent_J]

So don't close your account, withdraw everything but $0.01, then abandon it. If there are monthly account fees, they will charge them for about 6 months, sending you notices reminding you to pay off your negative balance, then they will close the account and write it off.
won't that affect your credit rating?

I've been with TD over a year, then decided to close. I went up to the bank tellers and told them I wanted to close my account. I tried to get them to give me a free bank draft, they said it had to be charged, so I was like, screw that I'll take the money. Which was great, because it took them a long time to get the money as the teller made a mistake and eveyrbody in line was waiting for 15 minutes.
you thought it was great everyone in line had to wait 15 minutes longer?

[john widow]

That's why you close the accout with them. Do you want them to go through that again? They should follow the way to PCF.
It's not my fault, I just wanted to close my account, they took so long.
Ever since I've been using PCF/CIBC machines, I've been waiting only a minute or two.

[emoci]

I was just looking at their site. One thing I am wondering about is using you interac card. On their site it says:

Or use any of the 36,000 Interac® connected automatic bank machines (ABM) in Canada to withdraw funds from your ING DIRECT account and we will pay your Interac® fees up to four transactions every month!

So I am wondering if I use my interac card It isn't no fees after I use it 4 times. I use my card a lot so this wouldn't help if I am always using it to buy stuff or pull out cash?

The way it works:
-You have another bank account, PCF, TD, CIBC etc.
-You go online and fill an ING application
-You take a check from one of your current banks and make it out to yourself, put the ING acct # you got from ING and mail it to them
*If your initial deposit is $100+, and you got a referral they give you bonus $13
-They receive, and cash cheque and link the bank account it came from online.
-Once this first transaction is complete, you call them to confirm your bank account number (the one that was linked).
-Now to bring in other money you go on ING and ask for money to be withdrawn from your bank account.
-Your orange bank card comes in the mail
-You cannot use this to buy stuff at the store, but you can withdraw money from a machine with it.
-It is free to withdraw money at an ING machine, but there aren't many of these
-You also get 4 free uses every month for another ABM each up to 75cent fee will be covered by ING, but if the machine itself charges more, than you pay the extra
-If more than 4 uses, you simply pay what the abm machine charges, but there are no fees from ING, u know like the 1.50 td charges when you use another bank machine.
-This is a good account for saving money, not good for spending it, but if you need it quickly you can take it out.
-Provided you plan things in advance you don't need to use ABM to get your cash, simply go on ING and transfer to your other bank account, but this takes 3-5 days so needs some advance planning.

YOU WILL NEED ANOTHER BANK ACCOUNT TO GO ALONG WITH ING, PCF IS A GOOD SOLUTION.

[Aske001]

will abadoning my account affect my creditbility? (ie. go into negative balance and not pay)

I would say no, they don't care as long as the negative balance was due only to their paper account fees for doing nothing, and it's a relatively small amount (as it would be if you cancelled all premium plans at the same time). In my experience, what they have done is simply send a final statement showing the balance zeroed and the account closed. No demand for payment was made, and it was never mentioned again. My other accounts in the same bank were unaffected. As always, YMMV.

[Aske001]

As for GICs versus premium savings accounts, you have to keep in mind that in a period of rising interest rates, a one-year GIC may appear to offer a higher interest rate than a premium savings account, but it probably doesn't. For example, you can get a 1-year GIC at 3.85% right now, while the most you can get on a savings account is 3.5%. But interest rates have risen more than that difference in the last year, and will probably continue to do so. That's one of the factors taken into account in the GIC rate, since you must lock in at that rate for a year. Money in the savings account will benefit from a rising rate, and can be moved when you want to take advantage of a better offer. And you won't lose out on the interest if you need to use the money suddenly.

[emoci]

lol. that sucks.
but will abadoning my account affect my creditbility? (ie. go into negative balance and not pay)

Do not close or abandon a bank account with cibc or td, but rather make it a savings instead of chequing. There are usually no fees for a savings account, leave a bit of money in so you are covered.
This way:
-If you decide to switch back, you have an account already
-You keep whatever history you had with the bank
Much easier than going into negative balance.

[hhh]

Why does ING require to have a bank account with another established bank wheras PCF doesn't require that?

[belfour]

Maybe it saves them time so they don't have to do a credit check..since u have a bank acct already?

[Agent_J]

Why does ING require to have a bank account with another established bank wheras PCF doesn't require that?
because ING only has a savings account (store savings), wheras PCF has chequing accounts which can be used for daily transactions (such as depositing money) How would you deposit money into ING without a chequing account when they have no branches or ATMs that accept deposits?

[hhh]

because ING only has a savings account (store savings), wheras PCF has chequing accounts which can be used for daily transactions (such as depositing money) How would you deposit money into ING without a chequing account when they have no branches or ATMs that accept deposits?

aren't there 4 free monthly transactions with ING at any ATM? or is it for withdrawal only and not deposits?

[Agent_J]

aren't there 4 free monthly transactions with ING at any ATM? or is it for withdrawal only and not deposits?
yes, but withdrawal only