While we're talking about banks and banking, does anyone use one of the online banks?
@llamabox's question on banking fees has reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask, and now seems like a good time.
There are a few online only banks out there that seem to have good reputations. Ally and Ing are two of them, but I'm sure there are others. I'm interested in any opinions of them. Please note, if you just made your account today, I'm not going to take your comments seriously.
by
shrdlu
asked 7 months ago
Here's some links to other questions about banking:
http://deals.woot.com/questions/details/c706f2f4-811d-4064-b01a-83e502714559/bank-offers-incentives
I've been using ING for several years, just as a savings account. My only complaint is the delay to get money transferred from ING to my local bank. Even a deposit takes several days to process before you can access the funds. So if you make a deposit and then suddenly decide you need that money back it may be 5-7 business days before you can actually have cash in your hands. Not a good place to store emergency funds.
I have had a couple of on-line only accounts (Discover and WaMu - just after the sale but before the name change). They offered me better rates. I still was able to talk to a representative on the phone, if I needed to. The only delay in getting access to my money, was that I refused to allow them access to my other accounts and insisted that they send the money to me instead of depositing into one of my other accounts.
The people I know who have used ING are happy with the services offered.
@ohcheri: There are two sides to the condition you report.
Often, when you make a deposit, the full amount of the deposit is not actually available to you until that financial instrument has made its way back to the originating institution. If the originating institution is well known, then the full amount may be available to you because the bank has confidence that it will be paid.
Financial institutions make a profit from "float" (which is that time that they have your money, and you do not, and they can earn interest from it). While many transactions should be, and could be, instant, or nearly so, banks institute a false delay by only balancing accounts once a day, traditionally at midnight.
I speak (in this case) only of large banks, not of the local institutions, or of credit unions, or of pure savings and loan institutions (some still exist).
Very interesting data about ING, though, and thanks.
@theoneill555: You are speaking of online accounts with banks that have a brick and mortar presence. I am speaking of banks that exist only as online institutions. I first became aware of ING when a young person who worked for me needed access to a trustworthy fax machine and scanner to deposit checks. I brought him to my house, and allowed him to use mine, and then realized that anyone who had written him a check was in for a surprise when they realized he was keeping the physical check.
Unlike a business, he had no plan or procedure on what to do with the checks once they were "deposited" in his account. I shredded them myself, for him, with a shredder that turned them into dust. It made me more cautious about writing checks, and I always ask when it's someone I don't know as to whether the check will be deposited electronically. If the answer is yes, I use a credit card instead.
I've had ING for years and an HSBC Online Savings Account for almost as long. As @ohcheri has pointed out, they don't transfer funds all that quickly. In my experience, it usually takes three business days, not counting the day you request the transfer (which need not be a business day).
One advantage to the HSBC account is that you get an ATM card that you can use to withdraw funds (up to $300 or $500 per business day).
Up until savings interest rates tanked, I was doing large credit card balance transfers at 0% with little or no transfer fee, and parking the money in HSBC or ING. I'd set up automatic minimum monthly payments back to the credit card and make one final payment just before the rate mushroomed. It was an easy way to make a few hundred to $1000 bucks a year risk free. Now it is almost impossible to get no fee transfers and the interest rates are so low it isn't worth it.
@baqui63: Fascinating. You do know, of course, that HSBC is actually a multinational, also known as Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation. They are one of my favorites, and I own corporate debt from them (rated either AA or AAA, I don't recall), and it pays a very nice interest rate.
As I suspect you know, HSBC is headquartered in London, and had some physical branches in the US (but I think they've sold them, or are in the process of selling them). While Deutsche Bank maintains a physical presence in larger cities, HSBC is moving away from this picture (in the US).
Still, I lump both of these in the same bucket as Wells Fargo, BofA, Citibank/Citigroup, Chase/JPMorgan, and USBank. This is not a compliment.
I'm still hoping for someone who uses Ally; they have the best ratings that I've seen so far.
@shrdlu: Oh yes... My daughter recently started college at Binghamton University (part of the State University of NY) and there was an HSBC branch just off campus. Fortunately, we heard about the closing of ALL their upstate branches before she opened an account with them.
She went with M&T Bank (branch on campus in the student union). M&T branches are a bit scare in Flushing NY where we live (only two in all of Queens), but she also has a Chase account and transferring back and forth is so far working for her. For some reason Chase has absolutely NO branches within 50 miles of Binghamton.
We escaped Wells Fargo when they took over wachovia. We now use USAA for checking & savings. I'm not sure of the interest rate on savings but it's nothing special. But I'm very happy with checking. Their iPhone app allows you to deposit checks with a few snaps of your camera and the funds are available right away. They reimburse you up to $15 per month for other banks' ATM fees since they don't have any physical branches. You can easily transfer from checking to savings online. And as good as their site and app are, they have excellent customer service when you need a live body too. You have to be in the military (active or retired) or an immediate family member to join.
ING has been bought out by -whom? Anyone know? I'm very sad.
Seems implied here that you can't get a debit card with ING- I was assured last week that one can, with actual checks to write if opening that kind of account: 100% reliant on direct deposit. ING does NOT like when people write these pesky physical checks however, so there IS some sort of penalty- or maybe it's an orange INK fee? Much nicer ring to that.
My old account with ING- I assume it is savings & once earned nominal interest- so quaint that sounds. Wee kids when grown will never believe that once upon a time you were able to open an account and make 'decent' money if you were thoughtful, patient. Now Banks, like women, can VOTE! Well not exactly- perhaps better! $uffrage i$ over, if you let it?
We seek en masse to abandon ship yet we are not the rats. 'They' don't consider the boat to be sinking... so. Curious to see how all this plays out.
@knifemouth: Well, that certainly narrows the field for me.
http://moneyland.time.com/2011/06/17/capital-one-buys-ing-direct-and-customers-start-to-freak-out/
You are correct, although this is not even a recent event (appears to have taken place in May or June of this year). Normally the smaller entries in the banking world don't really grab my attention, and I confess this was under my radar. I'm NOT a fan of Capital One.
http://moneyland.time.com/tag/capital-one/
{For the HSBC fans, one of those articles is Capital One buying the credit card business side of HSBC.}
Thanks for the tip off. I should pay more attention.
i had a chunk of money in ING Direct years ago back when their rate was about 5% fixed. i pulled most of the money out for something, can't remember what. i think i have a few cents in now.
other than that, i use USAA which does has a few physical locations but mostly cater to customers via phone and online.
hadn't heard of Ally until it was mentioned here on woot recently.
Ally is the bank that has one of the Baldwins teasing small children, right?
I have accounts at Capital One and ING Direct (now Capital One too) but HANDS DOWN the best on-line bank (for a checking account) is...
Charles Schwab!
Virtually everything is free, you can deposit $ in Schwab offices or via mail and the debit card can be used for withdrawls at almost every ATM for free. You do have to set up an investment account with them, but you don't have to fund it. Good (not great) on-line tools as well. It even earns (microscopic) interest.
My $0.02
@baqui63: You must be speaking of a commercial. I avoid them. That's what the mute button's for. It does seem that there are stupid commercials, but then, nearly all commercials are precisely that. Stupid.
I'm thinking that Ally Bank may appeal to less technical folks.
Perhaps the marketplace for such an item is so low that there is no long term viability. It's beginning to resemble the subscription radio (Sirius/XM), which had an appealing idea that turned out to have a flawed business model.
Of course, I'm reminded of the antecedent for Ally, which was GMAC {General Motors financial}. Here's some interesting commentary.
http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/ally-bank-savings-account-review/
I am abandoning my quest for an online bank. The acquisition of ING and the background of Ally is enough bad news for one evening.
@shrdlu: Yes, a commercial. Except for sports, I rarely see them at all as my DVR strips them out; same for the shows I download (though it's someone else doing the stripping).
I dumped all my ties with GMAC when I got separated (half of our credit cards, including the GMAC one, had her as primary and half had me, so we each dropped the other person). I believe they tried to start a yearly fee for people who didn't carry a balance; I know she eventually dropped them completely.
I have a Capital One Rewards card (my main credit card due to the best rewards, though I occasionally use the others when there is a promotional cash back deal) so I don't know that I care too much about them buying ING (which was news to me as well).
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