I've Tried That - We lose money so you don't have to!

I received a bunch of emails asking me various questions about ING Direct and the post I made about it on Monday. I’d like to take the time to answer them directly on the blog as I’m sure more than a couple people have had these questions.

ING Direct Questions and Answers

Is it really free to sign up?

Yes! It is absolutely entirely one-hundred-percent free to sign up for a savings account with ING Direct. There are never any fees. You can’t overdraw. You can’t get penalized. ING Direct will never take money from you. Instead, they give you a nice return on your deposit in the form of monthly interest. You can deposit and withdrawal as you please without ever having to pay a dime.

I don’t know much about online banking. Is it easy to setup?

The process is very, very easy to setup. Once you create an account, you need to give ING Direct your banks routing and account numbers, both of which are found on one of your personal checks. There are diagrams and a walkthrough to show you exactly which information you need to input. Once you give them your information, ING will make two small deposits into your checking account (free money!) to confirm that you did give them the right information. Once you confirm your account, you will be free to transfer money between your ING Direct and checking account.

How do I receive my monthly interest payment?

Monthly interest payments are added directly to your account. From there you can transfer it back to your checking account and spend it, or leave it in your ING account and continue to build interest on that as well. I personally just leave it in my ING account as it helps build up the interest payment for the next month.

How can they offer such a high interest rate?

ING Direct operates entirely online. They don’t have to manage hundreds of locations. This means they have very low overhead costs. They then pass this savings on to you in the form of a high interest rate.

How much have you made?

In 2008, I made $37.77 on about $1,200. I left $1,500 in my banks savings account and made only $4.50. My savings account had more money than my ING account, yet made only a fraction in terms of interest. Think of the money you could be making with ING. Your money is probably sitting in your savings account, earning next to nothing.

Open an ING account today, for free, and deposit a little bit of money just to try it out. Once you see how much money you could be making, you won’t look back twice. I know I haven’t.

Click here for more information on how to open an account.