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| Wednesday, September 19, 2007 |
| Dear ING Direct, Is it time I break up with you? |
Dear ING Direct,
I really hoped it would never come to this. Our five and a half year relationship has meant a lot to me. I love how you remember our anniversary and even remind me of it daily when I log in - that's sweet. You have been thoughtful and kind over the years. Always picking up the phone when I call and patiently answering all of my questions. Those amazing bonuses you paid out as I spread the word about how great you are. These are all things I have appreciated about you and please don't think I have taken any of them for granted.
You showed me the value of savings and helped free me from low-interest brick and mortar bank relationships. I had low-interest self esteem about my savings and you helped me find pride in my steady saving accomplishments and encouraged me with rising rates. In return I have faithfully grown my accounts and converted many friends and family into customers. We were good together.
But now I feel that we have grown apart. You are no longer the market leader in online saving account yields, and I was fine with that. You never had to be the most profitable for me. But now you are starting to seem stingy, a trait I had never noticed in you before. For example, after yesterday's rate cut by the Fed you immediately dropped your online saving account rate from 4.5% to 4.3%. Maybe that alone could be forgiven, but you also discontinued your just introduced Added Value CD which had been offered at 5.25% for 9 months (provided customers funded it with new money - can't just take your existing ING Direct online savings account funds and convert them to this CD). This one-two punch of lowering your online saving account rate and removing the Added Value CD from your website is what has me rethinking our relationship.
Contrast your actions with the other online savings banks out there and I really don't understand your motives. Looking at HSBC rates, they are still at 5.05% for online savings AND still offering their 9 month 5.10% new money CD. ETrade Banking is still offering their 5.05% online savings account and one year CD at 5.25%. Why are they still so generous and not you?
Tell me this relationship can be saved - show me some interest-rate love within one of your products soon!
Waiting, but not for much longer,
Boston GalLabels: Banking Relationships |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 11:33 AM *
* Subscribe to Boston Gal's Open Wallet |
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| 20 Comments: |
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I'm still sticking in there with ING. Luckily, 1% doesn't make much of a difference to my small balance. I just love the convience and easy to use website....
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Hi BG - Emigrant is still at 5.05% - nothing on their homepage yet about a lower rate. Lower savings yields could be inevitable though, if rate cuts continue. I hope not, though!
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I'm faithful to ING. No complaint. I try not to chase rates. It's only a matter of time. I try to stay away from large banks also
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I left ING last year when they fell from being the market leader. I've been with EmigrantDirect for the past yr and like CT mom said, their page still shows 5.05%.
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My feelings exactly! I am not pleased with how quickly they lowered the rate. Luckily I was able to put some money into the 5.25 CD this week before it was discontinued. I am seriously considering running to Emigrant with the rest of my ING savings.
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One thing I like about ING and why I have stuck with them is the ability to make sub accounts. I have mine and underneath mine, I have sub accounts for each of my kids which is where I stick their birthday/holiday cash. Do any other banks offer that?
WW
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I stuck with ing even tho other acounts I have paid more. Ing was my first venture into online savings. But their droppping right away just rubbed me the wrong way, which is silly I guesss, this is business, but it was kind of the last straw. I just moved all but $10 from them to my Fidelity money market.
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I'm not into chasing returns, but I did lock up most of my ING savings/emergency funds into CD's earning over 5% which don't start expiring till January 2008. But I think I might start moving money into Paypal which is paying 5.2% right now.
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Maybe ING is testing the waters to see if other online savings vehicles will follow suit. But why not get the most return for your money? It just makes sense.
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I didn't know anything about ING Direct until last night... saw this on ABC Nightline and just on principal alone I would chime in on stay with them. I realize half point here or half point there adds up, but you have to respect this type of person as a leader, who takes care of his employees and thought of a great model, and is interested in actually educating the american consumer
Here is a link to the story
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3619708&page=1
the video is to the top right, and its called the Mortgage Master.
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I said goodbye to ING last week too after just opening an Electric Orange account. I found that not being able to write a check when I needed to was not good. I also liked having my money local. I then found out about the MyExpression accounts from Bank of America and I have since moved my money to them. I currently have a MM account paying 5.71%
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Thanks for the article, tradermark. Now I feel a little bad about about trying to talk BG into moving her ING savings to hsbc in a previous post.
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LOL cute post and right on point. I'll probably always be an ING customer, even if it's only $10. HSBC has my efund though.
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E*Trade bank allows sub accounts. Their savings acct pays 5.05%.
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I'm sure that others will be lowering their rates soon. It's just the way it works when the Fed lowers rates.
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still don't understand people's devotion to ING even after a rate decrease. It took them forever to move to 4.3% and they wouldn't budge even when 5% was common. Now immediately they lower upon the fed's lowering. ING is now a full 1% below my Igobanking account. Ridiculous.
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I started w/ING about 4 years ago, but moved onto GMAC Bank about 2 years ago. GMAC Bank has been at 5.2-5.3% all year and also has limited check-writing and an easy interface just like ING. Their customer service is great too. This is my main bank that I use for direct deposit, but I do tend to rate-chase in terms of CDs. Currently, I have my largest chunk of money in Indymac's 5.7% 6-month CD.
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The immediate rate decrease is a good sign for ING's health. If a bank keeps rates high or even increases them (eg Countrywide), that's a sure sign they are desparate for bank deposits to prevent margin calls on their subprime portfolios which would totally blowup in their faces.
Of course, with FDIC insurance, it's not a factor for depositors as long as they stay under the $100K limit. Which means taxpayers are funding the quest for high interet rates transfering money to banks who put it on high risk borrowers. The FDIC should have been maintaining loan portfolio standards to limit bank failures -- but with so many banks going hogwild the past few years, FDIC regulators had zero chance keeping up with the volume.
I myself am in Vanguard CA Tax Exempt Money Market getting a 5.8% tax equivalent yield. And just as nice is the ability to buy Vanguard funds same day (instead of a 3 day ACH transfer).
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Yeah ing is really starting to be a let down on the yield front. I didn't like that I had to fund that new promotion cd with external money at all too.
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I'm still sticking in there with ING. Luckily, 1% doesn't make much of a difference to my small balance. I just love the convience and easy to use website....