As I posted on July 27th, I opened a new "Electric Orange" account at ING. I received my debit card yesterday so I thought I would give a timeline for anyone thinking about opening an account.
- June 26, 2007 - Applied online for the account. I already had a savings account with them since 2002 so the opening process was pretty simple and took about a minute.
- June 27, 2007 - Changed my payroll direct deposit from my primary account to my ING account.
- June 27, 2007 - Requested to link my primary account to ING.
- July 31, 2007 - Received the ING test deposits in my primary account. Logged back into ING to verify. Link established. Requested transfer of 1/2 of the funds in my primary account to be transferred into ING.
- August 2, 2007 - Received direct deposit from my employer into my ING account. Funds available the day of deposit.
- August 2, 2007 - Received my Mastercard debit card. Still need pin number to activate. Pin was mailed separately for security purposes.
- August 3, 2007 - Paid 3 credit card bills. Paid online at credit card website.
- August 4, 2007 - Received emails from ING direct indicating that each of the credit cards had initiated an electronic withdrawal from my account. I like this feature.
- August 6, 2007 - Received pin and activated card online at the ING website.
- August 7, 2007 - Used debit card at Allpoint Atm in the BP Gas station down the street from my house. No fee charged although the machine was slow. (I could hear the modem dialing as I stood there). I also did a balance inquiry with no fee.
As of today, I am officially making this my primary checking account. I am able to pay bills online, get cash quickly, without a fee and without having to wait for a reimbursement. If anyone is on the fence about opening an account, I hope this helps you make a decision.
FYI - Even though I was already a customer, they still did a hard pull on my credit report. I assume this is for the overdraft protection.
Bronx Chica...i was recommended to open up an account with ING from Suze Orman. Who recommended you to ING? Also I'm by the ING cafe in NYC.
Bronx Chica - I've had a savings account with them since 2002. I think I did hear about it from Suze Orman. That's cool that you are near an ING cafe. All the reason to open an account :-)
If you need a referral, let me know.
Thanks for posting about this. Like you, I have an ING direct savings account. I've had it for several months and am very happy with it. I'm thinking of getting Electric Orange alongside my Chase checking and savings accounts. It' just makes sense to have a savings and checking account that makes decent interest. It's just that I've had a Chase account since I was a kid (through all the take-overs!). That's kind of hard to let go. Also, there's a Chase atm EVERYWHERE near me. I dunno. I still have to do my due diligence. :)
Velvet Jones - Thanks for visiting. If I were you, I would keep my Chase account as a local account and then transfer everything to the ING account. I kept my local account and make deposit to it and then transfer the money to ING.
Good to hear someone else having good experiences with ING! They actually denied me the Electric Orange account due to my lack of credit (not bad, just lack of it which is bad). Luckily my wife's credit pulled through, and I'm incredibly happy with the account.