In looking back on this old Ping about Chase, Pinger Merle noted his craptacular interest rate on his checking account. And indeed, checking accounts have terrible interest rates unless you’re socking in hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars.
But online banks like ING Direct offer up a decent alternative. As of this writing the return at ING is something like 5% with no minimums – nice. It works kind of like PayPal except that it’s a real bank. Your money isn’t instantly available (that’s the big caveat), and you need to link it to a “real” checking or savings account at a bank. But if you’re looking to just save money it is pretty sweet.
We’ve used ING for a number of years now and have had no problems with service nor the nifty interest rates.
And gosh, this Ping sounds like a commercial – sorry. In order to combat that, enjoy this video of a basket of puppies.
Posted in Consumer Commentary
Terry M. December 26, 2007, 1:47 pm
Online savings accounts all the way! I have heard a lot about ING but am not using it – maybe I will look into. Most of my money is in E*TRADE savings which earns 5.05% APY. This company is having problems now due to subprime and every few days there is a message from the CEO telling everybody their money is safe. If the worse does happen it is all FDIC insured. I also have some money in Citibank but at a lower rate, around 4.00% APY.
Dave Walls December 27, 2007, 1:43 am
I’ve been using ING for a few years now, and I wholeheartedly recommend them. Customer service has been very helpful, and it’s very simple to use.
The high interest rate for savings doesn’t hurt, either.
Ryan December 27, 2007, 8:09 pm
I had an online money market account with Netbank, which was just absorbed into ING. I don’t mind that much, but I do need to update my direct deposit info now.