ING Direct vs Emigrant Direct Bank

[bluek9]

I too am a current ING satisifed customer (until I saw the 3% from EmigrantDirect). Hey, that's a 15+% raise over what ING is giving. All things being equal (i.e. decent service, accurate & easy to use website, FDIC, etc. ), where are you going to make 15% for the same amount of risk. E.D. is worth a shot I say. Here's my short experience(s) so far with E.D.:

Though I never received the E.D. followup "letter" (I called twice) the Emigrant customer service folks were fine & set me up whilel I waited on phone. Took all of 5 minutes & I was set up. I had to make another quick call back again for them to activate a FULL view of my account (there was no "transfer" feature at first.) Again, no problem within minutes it was fixed. I logged in & there was great rejoicing.

As of this posting I have not moved my ING funds over (yet!). I am awaiting to see how fast E.D. fetches from my checking account. Requested a Monday Mar 14 fetch so we'll see how that goes b4 I move from ING.

The ING emotional loyalty thing...
Look, I like most of you praise ING. Emotions (i.e. loyalty) should be left out of financial decisions (unless the decision keeps you awake all night). ING has produced a great savings model. But, we live in a competitive business market & that's what will make things better for us, the consumer!. If E.D. is what we are hoping they are then ING better get kickin' (again!). The airlines industry was the same way until SouthWest joined in & kicked all the other airline's sorry butts. Now JetBlue is challenging SWA. SouthWest must answer back if they are to stay on top. The competition is what makes this a great country. Hey ING, E.D. (& Capital One) are knocking at the door. How are you going to answer? Again, all other things (see above) being pretty much EQUAL I'm loyal to the one who pays me, period! And no, my name isn't "Alex Rodriguez" (a.k.a. pAy-Rod).

I'll re-post how this E.D. transaction unfolds.

Great bulletin board info from all.

[Armywife]

Originally Posted by zeke01

Coffeebreak:

I am glad to see that you got Emigrant to work for you. My frustration is quite simple. I live in an internet age and expect a bank that wishes to do business as an internet bank to act like one, including tried and true ways of authenticating customers electronically. Compared to ING, BankOne and CapitalOne, all banks I have accounts with, Emigrant can not even hold a candle to any of them.

I agree with Zeke.. this bank has alot of issues and this is causing alot of consumer disappointment. Hubby is STILL waiting for his account number & after conversing with countless CSRs, has come to the conclusion that 3 percent is not worth all this aggravation.


So.. while EB works for some.. it does not work for everyone (and that's a risk I'm not willing to take again). Also I am inclined to agree with Zeke's opinion on this being an internet bank that should NOT have such clerical mishaps especially in this day and age.


Barb

[bluek9]

Well ladies & gents. E.D. has responded to the call that ING should be doing, ED has just raised their rate to 3.25%. That is a 25% return over ING. The saga continues.

[34saving]

This forum finally convinced me to open an Emigrant account. I answered all their questions and evidently they pulled some sort of credit report because they knew my former addess, maiden name, etc. Then, at the end they reported:

Thank you for your interest in opening a new account.

Unfortunately, we cannot process your application at this time.
*
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Customer Service at 800 836-1997, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-8:00pm EST.

The EXIT button on the bottom didn't work. Now what?? I feel like I've given WAY to info. to who? There is no "real" reason why I shouldn't be able to open a savings account. Any ideas?

[bluek9]

Give them a buzz in the morning. They've/I've had some technical difficulties (nothing earth shattering) as well in opening my account. They fixed them right away when I spoke to the CSR over the phone. I don't doubt they're gonna start getting flooded with calls now that they are spewing that new 3.25% rate (advertised as of 3/13). Now, mind you, I'm not sold on them as yet...I'm awating to see the accuracy/speed of my first transaction scheduled for Monday. If they blow it then they lose me. I doubt they will have problems as this is an ACH kind of thing. We'll see.

Good luck to you "Minnesota"

[Russell]

34saving, I just tried it after reading your post and the same thing happend to me.

Let's see what happens tomorrow...

[Armywife]

Originally Posted by 34saving

This forum finally convinced me to open an Emigrant account. I answered all their questions and evidently they pulled some sort of credit report because they knew my former addess, maiden name, etc. Then, at the end they reported:

Thank you for your interest in opening a new account.

Unfortunately, we cannot process your application at this time.
*
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Customer Service at 800 836-1997, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-8:00pm EST.

The EXIT button on the bottom didn't work. Now what?? I feel like I've given WAY to info. to who? There is no "real" reason why I shouldn't be able to open a savings account. Any ideas?

Yikes! I read somewhere that they do decline people but didn't think it was true! And my husband is in the same boat.. he gave ALOT of information and he has yet to receive anything in the mail- we've had six ED transactions in our account.. but no account number? Ughhhh !

[34saving]

Well, I called customer service this morning and all they could offer was "something small didn't match up". (BTW, they only pull a "soft" report so they get basic info for sercurity/confirmation but they don't get credit scores, etc.) Based on my recent pull of our credit reports the only thing that could be (I think, but of course they wouldn't/couldn't tell me) is that my husband's new driver's license came with a different number than his old one. Minnesota just changed everything about their driver's licenses, so the new number didn't surprise me, but I suppose it hasn't been reported to Equifax yet? Anyway, she offered to e-mail or mail me a different application that has a different "confirmation process", but I think I'll be waiting awhile before dealing with ED again. Good luck to everyone else out there, but I'm sticking with ING and hoping they raise their rates -- at least for now

[Russell]

Yes, bluek9 posted the news about 6 posts above yours

That's what motivated me to try and sign up for it.

[34saving]

Russell- Any news on your attempt to sign up with Emmigrant?

[Russell]

Well, after your post I didn't think the outcome would be any different for me either so I didn't bother calling them. I guess I lost interest already...hope ING can catch up to them soon...

[joseblanco]

I am an ING direct account holder for about a year and took the 25 USD bonus. They now offer a 50 USD signup bonus if you get certain tax software, I found one in taxcut. I opened an Emigrant Direct account w/ a small deposit to just see what they were about. I have no complaints about the opening process nor the subsequent customer service from my inquiries. The messaging system Emigrant has is just fine by me. I visited NYC recently and went to a branch, everything is on the up and up with them. I called ING once to see if they were going to respond to Emigrant's entry at 3% and the customer service rep had no idea. Then a few days later it went up to 2.6% Emigrant has responded with 3.25% I've held off long enough to see that Emigrant is legit and that ING is not responding to the challenge on what is the key term, interest rate. ING's experience and sophistication in the online banking realm, and their one time bonus can only go so far. When it was 0.4% I said I'll stay. At 0.65% its time to move a significant portion of the funds over. If bonus is an issue, Metlife bank has a 50 USD bonus for their MMA and 2.5% if you open w/ 5k USD & leave it there for 90 days. Capital one has 2.7% but their credit card branch wronge me once so I would never give them my business. They are all FDIC insured and have ratings of 3 stars and 3 CAEL or above. This is the fullest disclosure I can give on the topic, the ultimate financial decision is up to each individual as to what they are comfortable with.

[bozpan]

Its' all about the rate folks. 65 basis points is just too much to ignore when both accounts are FDIC insured. Just opened Emigrant with no problems. And they are new to the game. Any problems they have had will be ironed out. I just sent an email to ING that they had better start catching up. Perhaps if we all did that........?

[bluek9]

My first xfer to E.D. went off just fine no hitches. See ya ING! (for now that is).

Any of us who have studied or work(ed) in the financial field know about the theory of efficient markets. That is, one can really never beat the market on a consistent long term basis. Reason is, the law of large numbers. Once everyone finds out about a good investment (or savings acct) it's just a matter of time that the return of that investment will be diminished. In other words, E.D. will only keep this rate as long as they need the dinero. Once everyone floods into this rate they, like ING, will trail the next "E.D." But for now, that's why I decided to get in early. Long live competion in the markets!

Way to go the E.D.'s of the world!

[Russell]

Update: I called ED on Tue, they said I would be getting a 'special' registration link via email within 24 hours. As of Fri 9AM I'm still waiting...

Why was I not automatically redirected to this 'special' link when the 'regular' registration form didn't go through is beyond me.

[kashi]

funny that this thread has convinced some people to sign up with Emigrant...it has convinced me not to.

[Philstar2000]

I had problems with Emigrant Direct signing up and had a long talk with them about the web site and reminding them that it must work and be user friendly. After one call and a very helful person all was ok and I was set for transfers via my checking account with another bank. So far so good. I have an ING as well and you may want to check out Capitolo one's saving they are 3.25 or do as of this date. good luck all!

[PennyPincher]

I am still waiting for my letter in the mail with account number. Unfortunately, the $1000 deposit was withdrawn from my account days ago. I hope that means I'm already earning interest! Stupid me for not transferring a small amount ~ I just wanted to be done with it!

This thread made me switch, but my fiancee is staying with ING. (I guess he's letting me be the guinea pig!)

[Philstar2000]

Well I think they launched the site too soon with out working out the quirks....My credit union switched over and they too had some tech issues but all is good. It did take a little time to make it all right. I am watching Emigrant Direct very close but I think all will be OK in the long run.

You might want to check out Capitolone.com I was able to link a second funding account using the banks routing number..Take care! P

[jmjj215]

I'm sticking w/ ING for the moment. The switching and waiting isn't worth the extra basis points at the moment. Hopefully ING answers back