ING Direct

[pianoperformer]

Christine and I recently started using ING Direct. I love it for several reasons:

Firstly, all accounts, even their checking, earns interest. With our other account at PNC, no interest was earned, so the money was just sitting there. I like the idea that we are actively earning interest on every dollar in our accounts.

Secondly, you can have as many savings accounts as you like, within reason of course. Plus, transfers between them and the checking are instantaneous. You can give the savings accounts nicknames, so that you can earmark each account for a particular purpose, such as "emergency fund" or something else you are saving for.

Thirdly, they have CDs with terms from 6-60 months.

Fourthly, Share Builder, a site that allows me to easily invest in the stock market, is directly integrated, so I can also do instantaneous transfers from my ING accounts to my Share Builder account. I've had a growing interest in higher yield investment options, which makes me interested in this.

Fifthly, it is all online. With us both being blind, it is hard enough to find transportation to a local bank branch, and sometimes a branch is nowhere near. It is convenient that everything is conducted online.

To expand on the multiple savings accounts idea, I am thinking of using this as a budgeting system. I'm a huge fan of the YNAB methodology. I was using their software for a long time, until they made it inaccessible for all screen readers. However, I still try to stay true to the methodology.

The idea is that you live on last month's income, and then this month's income is used as a buffer until next month. So if you live on $1,000 a month, you should always have more than $1,000 in your account.

So here is how I am transferring this to ING:

I get so much money this month. Obviously, I am not touching this money because I am living on last month's income. So, I break down this money into categories that I will use it for next month. For instance, some percentage goes to charity, another percentage goes to business expenses, another percentage to groceries, etc.

So at ING, I have several accounts based on each of these categories. I put the money for groceries into the groceries account, the money for business into the business account, the money for charity into the charity account. Now that gets to earn a higher interest this month because it is in savings, not checking, and I don't need to get it out of the account until next month.

When next month rolls around, I transfer my savings funds that need to be used that month into checking, and transfer the income received that month back to the savings. So $xxx comes out for business expenses, and $xxx is taking out of that month's income to go into savings for the following month.

In this way, everything has its purpose and is earning significant interest. There's no question of how much I can spend on each category, because it is all right there.

Eventually I have other ideas that will earn even more, but that's beyond the point of my post.

Has anyone here used ING Direct or any other similar service?

[AmericanDebtProject]

I like ING Direct too. I just got the $50 Sharebuilder bonus and $25 savings account bonus. Then I saw a $50 checking account bonus but I think I will pass on it.

Instead of having 5 savings accounts at ING, I thought you could create "envelopes" within your savings account at ING. Have you ever hear heard of this?

[Peterw]

I use them for my cash savings account

[ButterflyWoman]

My husband and I each have our own ING accounts (for everyday banking, though ING isn't our primary transaction provider), plus a shared high-yield savings account. I quite like doing business with and through ING, find them very convenient. If we weren't already longtime members of a very good credit union, we'd probably switch to using ING as our primary provider.

[pianoperformer]

Originally Posted by AmericanDebtProject

I like ING Direct too. I just got the $50 Sharebuilder bonus and $25 savings account bonus. Then I saw a $50 checking account bonus but I think I will pass on it.

Instead of having 5 savings accounts at ING, I thought you could create "envelopes" within your savings account at ING. Have you ever hear heard of this?

I haven't seen an option for envelopes. However, you can have up to 25 savings accounts, and it literally takes maybe 30 seconds to set up a new one, so that works. I have accounts for groceries, business, charity, utilities, and personal so far.

I'm loving Share Builder, too, and their automatic investment plans.

The only thing that's difficult is I don't think there's a way to deposit cash, since you can't walk into a branch, and I don't think their ATMs take deposits. You can deposit checks though by mailing it to them.

[pianoperformer]

Originally Posted by CaterpillarWoman

My husband and I each have our own ING accounts (for everyday banking, though ING isn't our primary transaction provider), plus a shared high-yield savings account. I quite like doing business with and through ING, find them very convenient. If we weren't already longtime members of a very good credit union, we'd probably switch to using ING as our primary provider.

Their savings accounts are nice. It sounds like the interest used to be upwards of 3%, but now it's only 1%, which is somewhat disappointing. Hopefully it works back up eventually. Even the CDs only go up to 1.25% right now.