ING Rates Lowered to 3.1% on March 11th 2008

Posted on March 11, 2008

ING cuts their rates again.

Electric Orange Savings rate dropped to 3.10% APY down from 3.40%. Official ING Savings Account Page

Electric Orange Rates dropped to 2.00% APY and 1.98% Interest Rate down from 2.25% APY. Official Electric Orange Page

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Misc.

ING Electric Orange Check Experiment

Posted on March 7, 2008

I have been using the ING Electric Orange checking account for almost a year now and I have been very pleased. One downfall to being able to earn 2.25% on your checking account balance is that they don’t offer a regular paper check book, but you can fill out an electronic check form and they will mail out a check for you. That function works great, and you don’t have to waste a stamp. Sometimes though, you still want to have a check that you can take with you or send in with a yourself. This is the exact reason I kept my Wachovia checking account to send real paper checks.

Because of that limitation I experimented with sending myself a check filled out to the person or company that I wanted to deliver the check to. What you do is add a new person to your contact list that has the name of the company or person you want the check made out to and use your address for the company’s address. Fill out the check and hit send, and a check will arrive at your house in a few days.

I tested this method by sending a check to my wife so I could see how it the check was filled out. The check is made out to the desired person/company, but your address will be listed under their name. I don’t really think that this will make a difference, but maybe someone in the banking industry can confirm that. Now you have a check in your hand that you can give or send to whomever you need.

The one caveat is that ING Electric Orange checks are treated like bank checks. The money is withdrawn from your account the moment the check is sent. So if there is a problem with the check or it can’t be cashed for some reason, you must issue a stop check to release the money back to your account that will cost $25. Because of this I have yet to fully trust the system and try it with a big check. If it does work, it is a sneaky way to get around the no paper checks drawback of the Electric Orange account.

Addendum

I got an official response from ING customer service that should help clarify the situation.

Here is my question : Is it possible to send a paper check with the name being the person I need to give the check to and use my address. The check will be in their name, and then be mailed to my house. I would then be able to mail or give the check to the person needed. The only problem would be that my address would be under their name on the check, is this a problem?

Here is the ING response :

They may have trouble cashing the check. I would suggest making sure to put OR in there so there will be less of an issue when the person cashes the check. For example:

Line 1: Put business or Payee name

Line 2: Put OR and then your name

Line 3: Put your address

Many customers have tried this and it seems to work fine. We are trying to come up with possible solutions and until then I will forward your concerns to the Electric Orange improvement team.

Thank you,
Danielle

ING DIRECT USA
Member FDIC
Equal Housing Lender

——————————–
Note : If you don’t have a ING savings and want get a free $25 dollars for opening an Electric Orange Checking account with $250 send me an email. I(The Happy Rock) will send you the offer and if you sign up you will get a free $25 dollars and I will get a free $10 for referring you.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange

What Happens When Your Wife’s Debit and Credit Cards Get Stolen

Posted on February 20, 2008

We found out last night. That’s right, when I opened Quicken last night to reconcile the days transaction I noticed a $1.59 charge from a local Wawa. I consulted with the Rockette and we noticed that her whole purse was missing. Mild panic sets in, and we begin to retrace our days. The purse was most likely stolen from our car while parked outside our condo.

I logged onto the ING Direct website only to notice 4 other posted transaction and about 10 pending transaction that weren’t ours. The charges were the aforementioned Wawa charged for $1.59, $90 from a local Target, 4 iTunes purchases for about $140 dollars, two TWX AOL SERVICE fees for $1.00 each, zubill.com for $29.95, lookuppay.com for $1.95, and 4 gas purchases for $60 dollars. 330 dollars in the span of one day. Luckily I check the account regularly so that I caught the fraud before more was spent.

There were a total of 3 debit cards and one credit card in her wallet. I quickly checked them all. Nothing on our Sunoco Credit Card, nothing on our NJM Bank debit card, and one Bed Bath and Beyond charge for $71 on our Wachovia check card.

The Rockette crawled out of bed, and we began calling all the cards one by one to report them stolen. We were on the phone the longest with ING, but the agent was kind enough to dispute the charges for us. Otherwise you can click on the little icon on the left side of the charge in the Electric Orange register to find out more information. This brings you to a screen with more transaction details where you can find a link to dispute the charge. Wachovia also quickly put in a dispute for the one charge over the phone. The whole process took about 45 minutes to cancel all of the cards.

The one thing that is helpful for people to realize is that you receive the same level of fraud protection with a debit card as you do with a credit card. Visa and Mastercard offer the same protection, except that with a debit card the money is already out of your account while the charges for credit card should be disputed before you have to pay any money. Both Wachovia and ING Electric Orange said they would credit the fraudulent amounts back into the account in a few days while the disputes are going on.

Hopefully, all the disputes clear fine and we don’t have any other issues. Crisis averted with hopefully just mild damage. Protect your wallets!

» Filed Under Credit Cards, ING Electric Orange

The Benefits Of A Decent Interest Rate In Your Checking And Savings Accounts

Posted on February 2, 2008

Hooray for ING Direct. I made $1000 dollars of income in 2007 with no effort! I just got my tax sheet for my ING accounts and saw that I made $99.77 from interest from my checking account and over $900 from our dozen or so ING savings accounts. I would have made $200 from the Electric Orange account, since my first direct deposit was the first week of June. Not bad at all.

Now, because of the Fed’s willingness to tinker with rates at the drop of a hat, the interest rate on the checking is currently 2.25% and 3.4% for savings. The rate when I signed up was close to 4% for checking and closer to 5% for savings, so I won’t expect to make nearly as much this year. I still can’t argue, since I had been earning nothing on that money for years.

The other side benefit is that transfers between Electric Orange Checking accounts and ING savings accounts are instant, rather than the 2-3 days that it took when I had a linked checking account. So not only am I making money while the deposit sits in my checking account, I am also making money during the 2-3 days while the money used to change hands.

ING Direct is awesome. Best account interface that I have used, perfect stability and a reputable name with a long history. Some people like to chase the best rate; I prefer the simplicity and stability of sticking with a competitive trusted friend.

On a side note, if you have any questions about my ING setup or ING directly, just leave a comment. Also for those that do not yet have an account at ING, you can get $25 free dollars just for opening an account with at least $250. I will also get $10 for the referral. Just Email Me, and I will send you a referral email.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Personal Finance Systems

ING Direct Lowered Their Interest Rates on 9/19

Posted on September 25, 2007

In case you missed the emails and the news like I did, ING Direct lowered there interest rates effective 9/19.

ING Savings accounts went from 4.5% to 4.3%.

Electric Orange Checking rates took and even bigger hit from 4.0% to 3.5%

$0-49,999.99 earns a 3.50% APY

$50,000.00-$99,999.99 earns a 4.90% APY

$100,000.00 or more earns a 5.00% APY

Finally, Business Savings rate went from 5% to 4.75%.

For the $12,000 we have in emergency fund and our average checking account balance, the loss will be about $50 a year. Not a huge loss in the scheme of things. I don’t plan on changing my checking or savings account from ING anytime soon as I love their service, reputation, and interface. I also suspect other companies will follow suit.

*If you would like a free $25 dollar for opening a new brand new checking or savings account at ING direct, contact me for more information.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Personal Finance Systems

Save $271.23 by Moving to ING Electric Orange

Posted on May 30, 2007

I ran some numbers and here are the savings that we will receive in the next year by migrating our checking accounts to ING Electric Orange checking. It is not a ton of money, but it comes from a change that will also simplify our personal finance system. Two for one deal.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Personal Finance Systems

ING Electric Orange here we come

Posted on May 29, 2007

With the previously posted guidelines in mind, we set out to come up with positive changes to our financial system that would increase our freedom and support the things we truly want to focus on. Here is the link to the previous system.

And without further adieu, here is the map of the updated system :

_{Note: On some screens the map appears off center, you can click and drag it to center it. Sorry.}

As you can see the main change the move from our Wachovia free checking to the paperless ING Electric Orange Checking as our primary checking account. The push was to get the money in our checking account working for us.

The 4% interest on the checking account balance should bring us an extra $100+ a year.
The other big benefit is that it streamlines our main finance accounts into one hub of savings, checking, and mortgage.
Transfers between all of the ING accounts are INSTANT, instead of the normal two do waiting period that it used to take.
Debit card use is fee free.
No more stamps for bills.
Electronic transactions downloaded to Microsoft Money are free.
They have the reputational capital of a large established financial institution, despite a few recent hiccups.
The only drawback that I see is that the Electric Orange account does not allow accounts to have an paper checkbook.

The final point will add some inconvenience, but what they do offer is the ability to fill out an online check that will be printed and sent snail mail at their expense. My wife and I talked it through and decided that even though it will be a little added inconvenience at first, it would eventually become habit. Here is why we came to that conclusion:

I sent e-paper check to myself and it took about three days to get to me. The process was easy enough and was an acceptable speed.
If needed you should be able to send a check to yourself that is made out to someone else.
Finally, we will keep our Wachovia checking for access to an occasional check and counter services.
We will not have to use another stamp on bills again.

I will post a review or two on how we are managing with this account as we get a better handle on the experiential benefits and drawbacks.

As for other changes we decided to make, we are adding an Educational Savings Account(ESA) or other college savings vehicle to the to do list. My son is a top priority, but our finance system was explicitly excluding him. Looking at our finance map reminded us to make him a priority. I will also post my research on which account we will open.

We will close the NJM checking account and have the Happy Rockette’s check deposited into the Electric Orange account. This will simplify the system and allow that money to be working harder for us.

Finally, we will search for a new rewards credit card that matches our spending habits to maximize the returns. Currently we probably get $100-$150 a year cash back, but I know we can do much better than that. Already the Chase Freedom or the Blue Cash card look promising. We may wait for a big $250 signup bonus or triple points, but they come around often enough.

Overall, we are excited about the changes. The fact the the system will be more tailored to our habits, work harder for us, and better support our freedom from finances is invigorating.

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Personal Finance Systems