Experiences Saving with ING Direct

While lately there are plenty of online banking and savings options available offering interest rates higher then ING Direct's current rate, ING is still the best available option for saving your money. Interest rates often change and ones that sound too good to be true usually have restrictions or go down quickly. Many accounts have minimum balance requirements to get a high interest rate, the money is not easily accessible, or the interest rate drops after the bank meets in quota of new customers.

ING Direct has decided to stick with a relatively stable and consistent interest rate, choosing not to compete with other online banks via interest rates. Regardless the current 4.50% interest rate (as of 09/2007) requiring no minimums and no fees makes ING one of the best in the business.

I've only been with ING a few months and am currently using the account to not only save some extra money but a holding account for my student loan money or school expense money. By doing this I am earning interest on money which means some extra cash in the bank or even as a way to soften the blow of student loan interest rates.

Setting up an account is easy and free. Their website is extremely secure and has a number of security measures in place to protect your account, identity, and money. Transferring money into and out of the account requires you have an actual checking account with another bank, but once your outside account is verified you can transfer money into your ING account manually or set up auto deposits on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. After your initial deposit is verified, future deposits to ING are available within a few days to withdrawal which makes it a great place to hold money while earning interest on it.

One of the best features of ING Direct that I've heard others also rave about is that fact that not only can you monitor how much interest is being earned, but ING pays out interest at the end of each month. Traditional banks not only have terrible interest rates well below ING's, but they generally only pay out interest on a quarterly or yearly basis and one has no easy way to see how much interest is being earned on a daily basis.