Monday, July 9, 2007

ING checking

Having used a brick & mortar bank and their online bill pay for so long, here's what I like (and don't like) about ING's direct online checking (primarily their bill pay service).

:) - 4% interest. I haven't found a local brick & mortar checking account that earns you interest (thanks to Wendy in the comments for this link!).
:) - Verifies its bill pay addresses with large companies. This isn't obvious at first, but if you go back to edit them they will say "we have verified..." and does allow direct electronic payments.
:) - Seamless with individual checks. I don't like physically writing a check, but I'll mail one to you, and ING's bill pay works seamlessly with its ability to send individuals checks.
:( - No memo lines on the checks
:) - Simple transaction layout. Unlike my other banking site, ING puts all my transactions, pending bill pays and deposits right there on one page.
:( - The "spending power" balance. ING lets you have a line of credit as an overdraft protection feature. This is good since there are no fees, but you do pay 12% interest on the balance overdrafted. I selected the minimum amount of overdraft; why have a 4% checking account and then overdraft a thousand bucks at a 12% loss (APY)? Be sure to eye your "available balance" and ignore the "spending power" column.
:) - Check cashing verification! Click on a paper check you sent and it tells you whether it's been cashed (but you aren't waiting around for it to be cashed to come out of your account).
:) - The bill pay is free. I was paying $7 before this.
:) - Simple pin sign-on. Once I registered my computer with the site, all I need to do is enter my pin. Easy access.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I haven't found another checking account that earns you interest.

you haven't been looking very hard :)

Beyond the Consumer said...

Ah, Wendy thanks...I wrote that somewhat misleading and have corrected it. I meant that I haven't found any brick & mortar banks that offer interest checking. But no I didn't look that hard either ;)