online banks-I'm feeling overwhelmed

[Dixiebell]

I found this site about a month ago when trying to lower out electric bill,(I found a lot of helpful ideas, so thanks for the insight). I've been considering opening an online acct. because the interest US Bank is paying is disgustingly low. I've read a lot of the threads on the MMAs, (after a while, the banks seem to run together) but I have a few specific questions. The rates are easy to find, but could some of you tell what you like about the banks, or dislike. For example, how fast the transfers take, the ease of opening an account, etc. I am also interested in the credit pull-is it a hard pull or a soft one? And exactly, what does a hard pull actually does to your credit? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[jmjj215]

Most people love the interface of ING, but hate their lower rate. Others are really enjoying ED's new interface along with their very high rate. I've never even considered credit pulls -- hard or soft. Are you planning on using your credit score in the near term?

[greedy4chips]

I opened an ING and Emigrant Direct acct on the same day about 7 weeks ago. Emigrant bank deposited $1.11 (2 deposits total) for me to confirm my acct and then after I confirmed the deposits they withdrew the funds. ING deposited $.22 and left it in there. Both were very easy to set up and ING had the $25 signup bonus in the acct immediately.

Open an ING direct acct for yourself and make $25 signup bonus. Refer members of your family and open accts in your kid(s) name(s) and spouse to earn additional $25 bonuses.

[hrbatyfan]

I have had an Emigrant Direct account for 2 months and I couldn't be happier. I just had to send an initial funding check to them, and have my checking account verified, etc. It's very painless.

It pays 5.15 apy, and the interest is paid monthly. Transfers take about 5 days to be fully completed and liquid.

I don't think you can go wrong with them, and while I have not used ING I am sure they are totally fine as well.

[poundwise]

It simply blows me away that the discussion here always comes down to a comparison of ING and ED. Occassionally someone will chime in with a quip about GMAC or HSBC. What is left unsaid is that there are at least 5 banks that are, and have been, offering higher rates than ED.

Don't get me wrong, ING is fine and still blows away virtually any savings account offer you could get at your local bank. ED is fine as well. A recent update to their site and a higher rate offer make banking there as attractive as ever.

However, while there are certainly differences between organizations and sites, there is virtually no reason to elevate these two to a status greater than similar banks offering, frankly, better offers.

Check out Amboy, 5.25%, banking online or by phone (like ING, only with higher rate.) Or what about AmTrust at 5.26%?

As for the original question -- my suggestion is two-fold:

(1) Don't get stuck in a rut thinking the choice is between A and B... there are a lot of options, most of which are fairly equal, all things considered in most areas besides rate

(2) Pick one... and if you are happy with the service and are earning a respectible rate, then stay put. Chasing rates is virtualy pointless IMO. Only change if you (a) are dis-satisfied with the service, or (b) at some point, the account is allowed to lag far behind in terms of rate offering

[poundwise]

ING and ED both offer solid services and ED's rate is respectable, however, I wouldn't see any reason to choose either over other offerings such as Amboy Direct, AmTrust, Apple Bank, or OneUnited (among others) that are currently, and have consistently been, offering higher rates.

My advice is to simply examine the top offerings. Read FAQ and terms, ask questions, select one and open an account and get started. There is no way to know which account with have the highest rate in a month or next quarter, but those which been consitently at the top for months are probably the best bets to stay that way, no matter what happens with rates.

[scfr]

We've tried several; some are keepers, some were not.

Keepers:
ING: Everything has gone smoothly.
IndyMac Bank: Everything has gone smoothly.

Not Keepers:
HSBC: The transfer took way too long! Between the day we applied and the funds appeared in our bank was 8 days --- WAY too long for our money to be just floating around "in the ether" earning no interest!
Zions Bank: Ugh!

[wai98007]

Two months ago I opened an account with ING Direct, and Emigrant Direct at the same time. I picked a bad time to open an account with Emigrant Direct because they were right smack dab in the middle of changing their website. However, with some persistance on the phone, I was able to open my account with no real problems. I had read on a variety of posts that people had problems with ED customer service. That was not the case for me. The people on the phone were very kind and informative. I have found both e-savings accounts to be quick with transfers, easy to use, and fun because I am earning a much higher interest rate . Emigrant does have the better rate, but ING has the initial bonus and friend referal option already mentioned in this post. To get the $25 bonus, you have to be refered by a friend and open you account with $250. I would suggest either for an e-savings (I have tried to get my fam members to try. They just aren't as excited about saving $ as I am.) Hope that helps.

[wai98007]

Sorry I am not an expert on hard and soft pulls on credit reports/scores. This is my uninformed understanding. A hard inquiry is when you are actually trying to apply for credit, like applying for a loan, credit card, etc. and someone then pulls your credit report to see what rate to give you. Hard inquiries may have an adverse effect on your credit score if you have too many. Hard inquires show how much credit you are applying for.

Soft inquiries are when companies (without your request) try and see your score to send you pre-approved applications for credit cards and stuff like that. They do not adversely affect your score. When you request to see your own credit report, that results in a soft inquiry.

If you want to learn more about credit scores, I would suggest bankrate.com. I was going to attach a link to their website with an article on credit scores, but the last time I included a link in one of my posts, it was deleted. If you want to find out more, go to bankerate.com, click on the credit card tab, and there is a link to information on credit scores. Also, you can use the search tool on the bankrate.com website to find more. I just did that and typed in “soft credit inquiry” and it came up with a wealth of information on credit scores. It has more in depth information that is too long for a post that is already long. Good luck!!!

[Dixiebell]

Thanks for the quick replies. In searching out online deals, I found a site (bankdeals.blogspot.com) that kinda rated the different accounts out there, and that's where people would report back that some online banks were pulling credit reports(both hard and soft pulls). So I thought that people here would have an idea about this, considering how many have these online accounts. What does this hard pull do to your credit and the rating? We have a brand-new mortgage (ouch!), so we are not planning on applying for anything else.

I know I should just go ahead and pick one-but I am a worrier, always wondering if I made the right choice for us. Once the money is in the account, how quickly can it be transferred back to cover unexpected bills, etc? I like the sound of ED-it sounds like a good choice, with a good rate. However, I was listening to Dave Ramsey(maybe on Fri.) and someone e-mailed a question about the online banks-specifically about ED and ing-and his response was he had never heard of ED but that ing was a good choice. I just found that odd-considering all the "buzz" about ED and other online banks. As long as the account is FDIC insured, I guess I can't lose anything, only get better interest.

[wai98007]

From my experience, it took around two weeks to get my e savings account up an running. During that time you must varify your funding account. Then once that is done, your initial deposit is taken out. I opened one with ING and ED two months ago. Sorry, I don't remember the exact number, but when you transfer money into an ED account, there is a hold period (somewhere around 10 days), where you can't take that money back out. As long as my money has passed that hold period, my transfers both directions take about two days from my initial request. So if I request to put money into my ED account, it takes two days to get there. If I pull money out it takes two days. If you read the FAQs page on their website, it states most of that. They say that it may take up to 5-7 business days or something like that. So, if you need your money in one hour, it wont be there. It averages two business days for me. It is not an account that you will want to keep shifting money in and out of ever day. There is also a limit on how many transfers you can have a month. All of this is covered in the FAQs page for both accounts I am pretty sure. There are also some other financial sites that explain in detal the entire accoutn opening process and all of the terms, etc. I would suggest a google search if you want more info. I have been satisfied with both of my accounts. On this website there is a VERY long thread about ING and ED. If you are board some time you can read it. It has a lot of info and is kind of entertaining.

[poundwise]

Dixiebell, could you tell me specifically why ED sounds good to you compared to Amboy or AmTrust (etc)? I mean, compared to ING, yes, ED is the better choice, but I have yet to see any reasonable explanation for why the discussion, on this forum in particular, is locked-in to ING/ED comparisons.

[Dixiebell]

At this point, I am not limiting my choices to ing and ED-I only mentioned that Dave Ramsey had made a comment about those 2. I have been following the boards, and that extremely long discussion about ing and ED. My request was only to have some people describe their experiences with the bank they are using and have the info. in a new thread so I would not feel overwhelmed in trying to read that old thread again. I was hoping to understand the pros and cons of the different options out there.
Another thing I am trying to figure out is the credit pull. Some people say it does not matter-but a hard pull does affect your credit score to some extent, and I was wondering what people's experiences have been. We are not planning on a new credit card, but we are going to be shopping around for car insurance-and they do a credit check. (By the way, our credit is fine-no problems or late fees, etc. When we got our homeowner's insurance, the agent was shocked at how low the premium was, and she said it was because of our very good credit rating. Yes, we will see if it is worth it to have both policies together. We have had instances where the auto ins. was way overpriced, but the homeowners was good.)
Thanks for any guidance and taking the time to respond.

[BTC]

I have accounts with Emigrant Direct, HSBC and ING. Of those three, I prefer Emigrant. Their rates have generally been higher than the other two and their transfer times are shorter. HSBC takes much too long to process a transfer, imo.

I have considered opening an Amboy account, but I'm now much more interested in new 5.50 E-Loan account.

[Bluezy]

I use RateEdge.com for online savings. Everything else has been scaled down to brick & Mortar banks offering good deals (5% APR and higher). I am too leery to online banks. PayPal as well.

[LuxLiving]

Poundwise you seem curious as to why folks aren't going with some of these other online banks. I'll just cast my vote in with Bluezy on this one...I'm just a bit leery of all these newer players in the online banking industry.

I'm happier with my ED as it is a brick and mortar American player and is currently offering a decent return AND now I can have my subaccounts w/their newer interface. YEAH for the update!

The INGdirect is okay, rate rather sucks right now and I believe the parent company is in a foreign nation. Love the interface - get the rate up and they could hold all my savings.

So, for now, I'm eyeing HSBC or whatever their initials are, but have yet to make the jump or should I say I haven't reached out to touch them with even a portion of my savings. I want to give others a shot, just haven't got COMFORTABLE enough with them in my mindseye YET. There will always be first adopters out there that bear the risk for everyone. I'm probably a second or third waver. I let others test the waters 'afore me!

[jmjj215]

Frankly, I just try and limit it so I can keep things simple.

[Dixiebell]

I just looked at the site for Rate Edge and it says you need to live in certain counties in NY or have relatives, etc., there, which I don't. Or am I missing something? Was that the right bank?

[poundwise]

ED is not the only solid b-n-m American institition. In fact, they have some stability issues (as seen at bankrate.com), while old, established, American banks like Amboy (and others) are hardly mentioned though they offer higher rates than ED.

Look, I've got absolutely nothing against ING or ED, I just don't buy the 'sense of security' argument. I think marketing has as much to do with it as anything. ING, ED, and HSBC are the heavy marketers with magazine, TV, etc. advertising and, thus, they are the ones talked about most. I was just surprised that on a site of this nature there wouldn't be more serious discussion about other players.

To be blunt, I can see zero reason why anyone would open an ING account now. IF one had an ING account for a while now, I could see why someone might not want to mess with what works for them or in general deal with switching, etc. But why on earth would anybody choose ING over the dozen or so offerings from other institutions that are, and have been offering, consistently higher rates?

Same question for ED. IF you have had an ED account, then sure, why switch from 5.15% to 5.25%? Probably not much cause for most people to mess with. I wouldn't. But, IF you have no account, why would you choose ED over the several other offerings from as high as 5.50% to the more common 5.25%? There is really no reason.

There is a long-standing thread on this site called something to the effect of "ING vs. ED"... I realize that when that thread was begun, this may well have been an issue. Now, frankly, not only is ED clearly outdistancing ING, but the determination of which of these two is best is wholly irrelevant IMO.

Again, so as to limit anyone who wants to argue or flame me for this... I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST ED OR ING... NOTHING AGAINST PEOPLE WITH ACCOUNTS THERE... ETC... At issue for my postings here is the single issue that many people, particularly on this forum, have tunnel vision in regards to the MMA savings account options out there and limit the discussion to one or two banks, virtually inexplicably, in my view.

Understand too, that I am not befuddled as to why people don't agree with me. A person may have a very good reason for going with a certain company on a personal level, however, when it comes to facts and figures, ED, and ING especially, don't seem to merit the attention they are given.

[krayziebone33]

Originally Posted by LuxLiving

I can have my subaccounts w/their newer interface. YEAH for the update!

Can you explain to me how this feature works? How would one set up subaccounts? How did you set up your subaccounts?