ING Direct??? What's the point?

I really like ING. Have savings and checking with them - they will mail out paper checks and electronic payments at no cost. Have ATMs through different entities (check out network). Rates are anemic, but higher than most other financials. Can also buy stocks through them at low cost.

what led you to the point of considering ING in the first place?

You should check out hsbc direct. Similar to ING but they have branches everywhere in NYC.

I have ING Direct... the point to using them, back in the day, was because they were offering 5% interest rates. Now it is 1.10%, which is still better than what TD Bank gives me which is either 0.25% or 0.50%. No minimums, no other hassle, great customer service.

Considering that I was mainly using it for their 5% interest rate back in the day, I guess I don't really need them now, but then again I haven't looked at all their features. I'm sure you can withdraw cash from any ATM without fees and do other stuff, but I'm just happy leaving savings in there for the time being.

If you want access to your money with an interest rate that is better than any brick and mortar Bank in the city, you could do a lot worse than using ING Direct. Plus you can take your money out whenever, which you can't do with a Savings account.

(Matthew Russell - Brown Harris Stevens)

I think ING is trying to transition, with mixed success, from being the interest rate leader to being the easiest to use. Their interface is great.

As others have said, their interest rates used to be phenomenal. Now they seem below average versus the short-list of banks I've relied on over the years for top rates: Discover Bank, Ally Bank (formerly GMAC), GE Interest Plus (money market), PNC Bank/National City.

other banks from time to time beat ing, but then they go lower. ING is pretty consistently up there, if you're picking one place, its a good bet.

Its not your regular checking account (which will get crappy or no interest) and the bank regular savings/money market are garbage... but its a very good place to park funds you don't want to risk.... short term needs, emergency funds, bla bla.

Its also very easy to subdivide the dollars into parts (say you want to name different accounts for things) and the transfers are very easy. Auto deductions for specific things you're saving for is great... and you can do multiple ones for the multiple accounts.

If you're parking down payment at ING, be aware that they will not -- and apparently cannot -- issue cashier's checks or send wire transfers. Thankfully I realized this early enough that I was able to ACH to another bank and then wire to the escrow account from there, but this very nearly delayed settlement.

I think of ING as my "back of the closet" money. Definitely not for stuff for a few days. I like it for the longer term stuff, and its very well set up for that.