ING Direct

ING Direct is a marketing name for a branchless direct bank with operations in Australia, Canada, France, Germany (branded "ING-DiBa"), Austria (branded "ING-DiBa"), Italy, Japan, Netherlands (branded "Postbank"), Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. It offers services over the Internet, phone, ATM or by mail. Their principal product is high-interest savings accounts, with no service charges or minimum account balance requirements.

ING Direct is subsidiary of the Netherlands based company ING Group.

ING Direct Canada

ING Direct Canada is the marketing name of "ING Bank of Canada", a branchless or virtual bank in Canada founded in 1997.

ervices

* Non-RSP Eligible Personal and Business Investment Savings Accounts
* RSP Eligible Investment Savings Account
* US Dollar Personal and Business Investment Savings Accounts
* Mutual funds
* Guaranteed Investment Certificate
* RSP Eligible Guaranteed Investment Certificate
* Mortgages
* Lines of Credit
* Internet Banking

ING Direct Canada is a member of the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) and registered member with the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC), a federal agency insuring deposits at all of Canada's chartered banks.

ING Direct United States

ING Direct is the marketing name of "ING Bank, fsb", a branchless or virtual bank in the United States that was founded in 2000, with its headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. ING Direct is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

In September 2007, ING Direct acquired 104,000 customers and FDIC insured assets from a failed virtual bank NetBank. [http://home.ingdirect.com/about/about.asp?s=News#09292007] [ [http://ingdirectpromotioncode.com/?p=5 ING Direct Acquires NetBank] ] . Migration from NetBank to ING Direct was not smooth, prompting hundreds of fearful customers from former NetBank to complain, saturating ING Direct customer support phone lines. The bank lost many customers as a consequence. [http://www.shawnparr.com/posts/ing_downgrade_netbank_accounts] [http://www.complaints.com/2007/december/14/ING_Direct_Account_screwed_up_156527.htm] [http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaints/ing-direct-oops-you-dont-have-any-money-328167.php] [http://www.complaints.com/2007/december/22/From_Netbank_to_ING_Direct_Nightmare_conversion._157094.htm] [http://georgedonnelly.com/32]

Orange Savings Account

The Orange Savings Account is an online savings product offered by ING Direct. ING Direct allows users two possible methods to deposit money into an Orange Savings account: electronic transfer from a checking account at another institution, and direct deposit. Customers can link up to three external checking accounts for electronic deposits and withdrawals.

Individual Retirement (IRA) Savings Account

Traditional and Roth IRA accounts are offered. Both are near paperless products. Accounts can be opened online, in addition to supporting contributions and distributions without forms. Only bank to bank custodial transfers and conversions require paperwork. Rates follow the rates of the OSA. Customers may also open IRA CDs that are tied to their IRA savings account.

Electric Orange Checking

Electric Orange is ING Direct's interest-bearing paperless checking account. The account has no minimum balance or direct deposit requirements, no monthly maintenance fees, and pays tiered interest rate according to account balance.

Access to the account is available through a MasterCard debit card (withdrawals at Allpoint ATMs are free), "Electric Checks" which are electronic transfers to other people who don't need to be ING Direct account holders, free Bill Pay, and direct debit. Unlike a traditional checking account, Electric Orange account does not allow access via paper checks written by the account holder, although customers can request ING Direct to print and mail a check on the account holder's behalf. Checks mailed by ING Direct are debited from the account at the moment of the request and regardless whether the check is ever cashed. Deposit options include Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers from a linked account at another bank, direct deposit, transfer from Orange Savings accounts as well as mailing in paper checks. Foreign transactions are subject to a 3% fee.

Unlike the Orange Savings Account, enrollment in ING Direct's "e1st" program is mandatory for Electronic Orange customers, and the account holder of an Electronic Orange account must agree to receive information about all their ING Direct accounts electronically through the Internet. Customers that do not have an Electric Orange account may still opt to have paper statements mailed to them. Also, unlike the Orange Savings Account, the Electric Orange account offers overdraft protection, this is however, mandatory, if you do not have the necessary credit, you will be not be allowed to open an Electric Orange account.

Orange Certificate of Deposit

Another popular savings method that ING Direct offers is a certificate of deposit, or CD. ING Direct offers a number of options for their CDs, with the time starting out at a minimum of six months, and the longest being 60 months. These products are also offered within IRA savings accounts.

Orange Investments

ING offers twenty mutual funds, each of which has a particular investment strategy. ING also offers three funds called Strategic Allocation Funds: Strategic Allocation Conservative Fund, Strategic Allocation Moderate Fund, and Strategic Allocation Growth Fund. The goal of the Conservative Fund is maximum protection from market fluctuations (particularly the stock market) while investing primarily in more price stable instruments such as bonds. ING suggests an investment goal of 5+ years for this fund. The Moderate Fund allocates most of its fund to stock; with the majority in U.S. domestic stock and a small amount in international stock. It maintains a good portion of the fund - though much less than the Conservative Fund - in bonds. ING suggests an investment goal of 10+ years for this fund. The Growth Fund primarily invests in U.S. domestic stock and a slightly larger amount than the Moderate Fund in international stock. It invests in very few bonds or other more stable investment instruments as compared to the two other funds. The goals of the Growth Fund are in higher returns over the long term by assuming more risk and thus hoping to capitalize on market fluctuations over a long period of time. ING suggests an investment goal of 15+ years for this fund.

The three funds invest anywhere between 0% to 55% of the fund in the Russell 3000, the Morgan Stanley Capital International Europe, Australasia and Far East Index, the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index, and the 91-day U.S. Treasury Bill rate. Each Strategic Allocation Fund is distributing amongst at least three of those four. [ [http://home.ingdirect.com/open/prospectus.pdf ING Prospectus] )] As of June 2008, ING Direct mutual funds are available only through their ShareBuilder.com subsidiary.

ING Direct Cafes

In March 2001, ING Direct opened cafes in 6 cities: St. Cloud, MN, New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Los Angeles, CA, Chicago, IL and Wilmington, DE, each serving Peet's Coffee. In Summer 2007, a new cafe was opened in Chicago, IL. And in 2008 in St. Cloud, MN. A new one will be opened fall 2008 in Honolulu, Hawai'i. Inside the cafes, ING Direct has several internet terminals which allow their account-holders to check on the status on their ING Direct accounts and surf the internet free of charge. The cafes often feature seminars on financial topics such as money management, handling one's retirement, mortgages, and credit management.

ervices

*Savings (Orange Savings Account)
*Checking (Electric Orange)
*Certificates of Deposit (Orange Certificate of Deposit)
*Mortgages (Orange Mortgage)
*Home Equity Line of Credit (Orange Home Equity Line of Credit)
*Mutual Funds (Orange Investment Account)
*Business Accounts (Business Savings Account/Business Savings CD/Builder Finance Loans)

ING Direct UK

ING Direct began operations in the UK in May 2003 and, at one point, had in excess of 1 million customers. Its failure to increase its interest rates following a series of base rate rises in 2007, however, led to a loss of customers. [cite web |url=http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/saving-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=423187&in_page_id=7&expand=true |title=Savers pull £5.4bn from ING Direct] After raising its rates in 2008 the direct bank has rebuilt its customer base and once again sits above one million savers. Operations are based in Reading, where the company head office is situated as well as an office based in the city of Cardiff. The bank also picked up awards for its customer services and mortgage product in 2008.

On 8 October 2008 the UK Treasury used the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008 to transfer the Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Kaupthing Edge deposit business to ING Direct. [http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_102_08.htm]

ervices

*Savings Account
*Fixed-Rate Savings Account (at certain times)
*Mini Cash ISA
*Guaranteed Investment Account
*Mortgages
*Home insurance

ING Direct Australia

Launching in Australia in 1999, ING DIRECT pioneered branchless banking in this country. By doing business online and over the phone, ING DIRECT keep their overheads low and pass the savings onto the consumer in the form of competitive rates. From a zero base, ING DIRECT is now Australia’s sixth largest retail bank, with approximately $20 billion in deposits, approximately $30 billion in loans and more than one million customers. While ING DIRECT likes to do things differently, the company holds an Australian banking licence and their operations are regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Federal Government regulators. ING DIRECT is a division of ING Bank (Australia) Limited ABN 24 000 893 292 AFSL 229823.

ervices

*Savings Account (Savings Maximiser)
*Business Savings Account (Business Optimiser)
*Term Deposits
*Home Loans

References

External links

*ING Direct by country:
** [http://www.ingdirect.com.au Australia]
** [http://www.ing-diba.at/ Austria]
** [http://www.ingdirect.ca Canada]
** [http://www.ingdirect.fr/ France]
** [http://www.ing-diba.de/ Germany]
** [http://www.ingdirect.it/ Italy]
** [http://www.postbank.nl/ Netherlands]
** [http://www.ingdirect.es/ Spain]
** [http://www.ingdirect.co.uk/ United Kingdom]
** [http://www.ingdirect.com/ United States]