ING Direct vs Emigrant Direct Bank

[jeffrey]

ING offers a competitive 4.5%, has an extremely user friendly site and offers a bonus. For those who would like a free $25, simply click here where you can use a referral link immediately. You must be a US resident to qualify. There isn't an easier way to earn $25 for 10 minutes work.

Note: The $25 is only available with an invite from a friend and can not be received if you sign up directly from the ING site without using a referral link. There is now a $250 minimum deposit to qualify for the $25 bonus. If you want to open an account with less than $250 (as little as $1) you can also do this, but you will not receive the bonus $25

Emigrant Direct pays 5.05% and does not currently offer an "official" sign up bonus program, but you can earn a $10 or $20 Emigrant Direct bonus by signing up through us.

[2moretrees]

I'm hearing a lot about both these banks lately. I know that ING is now offering 2.6% interest, but I hear that Emigrant Direct is offering 3% interest. If Emigrant Direct is offering a better interest rate, isn't it a better deal or am I missing something?

[FrugalTexan75]

The interest rate is a better deal, but they don't offer any kind of sign-up bonuses for new customers or for people that current customers refer. I have been considering moving some of my money to Emigrant Bank though for the higher interest, while still keeping my ING account. HTH

Keeping It Frugal in Texas,
Laura

[terry1156]

The $25 signup bonus is a huge deal. Emigrant offers a 0.04% higher interest rate which equals and extra $4 for every $1000 you have in savings. To make up for that $25 bonus, you'd have to place over $8000 in Emigrant for a year just to be even.

[Armywife]

I agree with terry1156 because Emigrant Direct is facing ALOT of problems- specifically when it comes to customer service. They've been flooded with calls and their customer svc reps have no idea what they're doing. I've been waiting for my "confirmation link" for over 3 weeks now

Mental note: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably IS

[34saving]

Thanks for the heads-up on Emigrant's customer service. I've been with ING for awhile now and have been very happy. I was tempted by Emigrant's higher rates though.

[PennyPincher]

I have not been tempted by the competition. ING has treated me well over the last 2+ years, and has a great record in the banking community. The extra .04% isn't enough to make me switch. I also love the set up of ING.

Just a thought...If you're interested in earning more interest, would you consider something other than savings? ING offers great investment opportunities, and enrollment is typically FREE if you have a savings account. It's outlined nicely on their site for conservative, moderate, and aggressive investors. You can set up automatic payments to your account, and the yields are historically higher.

[coffeebreak]

I signed up with EmigrantDirect about a month ago after I heard about it on FoxNews. I had to wait a couple of weeks for a letter with my account number on it but that was the only slow part of the process. Now I automatically upload an amount every month from my checking account and the data is automatically downloaded into Quicken. Even some short term CDs with high minimum deposits don't pay 3%.

I might sign up with ING just to get the $25. Let's see... 3% from EmigrantDirect and 2.6% from ING; hey, that's 5.6% return.

[midnight]

Originally Posted by coffeebreak

I might sign up with ING just to get the $25. Let's see... 3% from EmigrantDirect and 2.6% from ING; hey, that's 5.6% return.

Oh, how much I wish the math was that easy!!!

[PRICEPLUS]

Signing up with ING was simple and painless. The site was easy to use and you can have them take out a set amount for deposit every month if you so desire.

[coffeebreak]

Hmmm... ING has some fairly good short term CD rates:
http://home.ingdirect.com/products/cds_content.html

How is 3.7% for a 2 year CD with no minimum deposit and no fees? Are there better deals out there?

[coffeebreak]

Originally Posted by terry1156

The $25 signup bonus is a huge deal. Emigrant offers a 0.04% higher interest rate which equals and extra $4 for every $1000 you have in savings. To make up for that $25 bonus, you'd have to place over $8000 in Emigrant for a year just to be even.

Sign up for ING long enough to get the $25 then move the money to Emigrant and get 3% instead of 2.6%.

I am now signed up with both but I will be switching my ING 2.6% account to a 2 year CD at 3.7% with ING and keeping my Emigrant account at 3%.

[PennyPincher]

I'VE DONE IT. After being super pro-ING, I've gone ahead and opened an account with Emigrant. Thanks to you all, I did some thinking, and believe it makes sense. I wish that ING would just bring a higher rate to the table because they are so user-friendly and consistently good.

Nonetheless, now I have TWO online bank accounts. So much for trying to get my finances condensed! I do believe that ING will eventually adjust if they are losing business to Emigrant. Let's hope that happens for the sake of all of us!

[terry1156]

Originally Posted by PennyPincher

I'VE DONE IT. After being super pro-ING, I've gone ahead and opened an account with Emigrant.

Can you tell us how your experience signing up with them was? I've just read so many bad things and I'm hoping that they have improved their system, but I'm going to wait until I start hearing better things about their sign-up process before diving in myself.

[PennyPincher]

Here's where I'm at:

On Wednesday, I signed up online, relatively quickly. (Personal info, chose login, etc.) Then I waited for 2 small deposits to my checking account. These came 2 days after my application had been submitted. I confirmed the deposits today, and am now waiting on my account number to be sent in the mail.

My only disappointment so far is that my login will change. In my latest email it was stated that the initial login was just for registration, and I will need to reset it. (Of course, I chose a login that was easy to remember as all my others ~ oh well.)

I'll keep you posted.

[coffeebreak]

I used the same login I got when I signed up but Emigrant may have changed their policy. There's nothing in my email about having to change login or password.

When you get your account number and go to the site to sign in, there's a screen that makes it look like you entered the wrong password and they are trying to help you get a new one. It threw me at first. It's just their way of setting up a way to recover your password in the future if you lose your current one. DON'T PANIC!! like I did.

They want you to answer 5 of 10 questions, like: Who was your first teacher? and What's your dad's birth month; stuff like that.

[coffeebreak]

Here's something else. When I got my first statement from Emigrant, none of the amounts were correct. The interest rate was too low, my deposit was wrong and the number of days that interest had been earned was wrong.

Read the sheet of paper that's included with the statement. From that sheet: "Federal Truth in Savings Laws require the Bank to follow a strict calculation in determining the average account balance and the APY." There's a problem because what the law requires regarding the number of days in the statement cycle and the actual number of days since your deposit, don't agree. The statement cycle begins when you open the account but interest calculations don't start until two days later when the deposit is actually received by Emigrant. The weirdness only occurs on the first statement.

When I first looked at the statement I said, "ah, so this is how they get around offering a higher rate than anyone else, they cheat me by twisting the numbers!" I was ready to . Then I read the enclosed sheet.

[zeke01]

Emigrant Direct is absolutely the worst bank I have ever dealt with. I went through the process of opening an account on Feb 24, the initial deposit was taking out on Feb 28 and I still have not received any letter from them on the account number, how to access the account, etc and it is March 12!!!. In a not so polite way I have written both the president of Emigrant Savings and the Office of Thrift Management (they are a savings bank so have a different set of regulators than a commercial bank) on their horrible customer service and record keeping. When I called the 800# to inquire to confirm transaction dates they were completely useless. STAY AWAY FROM EMIGRANT!!!

I plan to close the account as soon as I can. 3% means nothing if you have no confidence in the institution. Emigrant wants to be an internet bank, but relative to ING and CapitalOne, they don't even rate a zero.

I must not be the only one with issues with Emigrant. There are a couple of blogs that been set up specifically for people to share their stories!

[coffeebreak]

Originally Posted by zeke01

Emigrant Direct is absolutely the worst bank I have ever dealt with. I went through the process of opening an account on Feb 24, the initial deposit was taking out on Feb 28 and I still have not received any letter from them on the account number, how to access the account, etc and it is March 12!!!. In a not so polite way I have written both the president of Emigrant Savings and the Office of Thrift Management (they are a savings bank so have a different set of regulators than a commercial bank) on their horrible customer service and record keeping. When I called the 800# to inquire to confirm transaction dates they were completely useless. STAY AWAY FROM EMIGRANT!!!

I plan to close the account as soon as I can. 3% means nothing if you have no confidence in the institution. Emigrant wants to be an internet bank, but relative to ING and CapitalOne, they don't even rate a zero.

I must not be the only one with issues with Emigrant. There are a couple of blogs that been set up specifically for people to share their stories!

Let's take this in pieces:

Emigrant Bank is the best online bank I have dealt with.

It does take a few weeks to get your account number in the mail but so what? You can't withdraw the money for a few weeks anyway. ING doesn't send an account number but they make you wait before you can withdraw the money, so there's really no difference between the two. Emigrant wants to confirm that you are at the physical address you gave them.

I rate Emigrant highly because they pay a higher rate than other online banks and I didn't have any problems signing up. I have never called them and I don't see any reason to in the future.

I agree that there are many people complaining, but their reasons don't make much sense. Your account number will arrive and you will be able to see the amount of interest that had accrued while you were waiting.

RELAX !!

[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. Worst part, and the clincher for me to close the accounts once I do get account information via snail mail, is that their customer service organization could not even answer the most simple question about my account or accurately confirm the information about me, the test/verification transactions or even when a letter was sent out.

I have done a google search and there are at least 3 other blogs out there completely dedicated towards Emigrant Direct complaints, so as I said, you appear to be one of a small group that got it to work.

I did get a response late yestersday from my email letter sent to the Northeast Region office of the Office of Thrift Supervision. They are aware of the large number of customer complaints and plan to take action against Emigrant (they would not specify what).

Good luck.