A Reader's Review of ING Direct

Most of us have full-time jobs, and it's not necessarily easy to make a quick "run to the bank." The few times during the week that you're free to go, are usually the same times that everyone else in the world is free, thus making for some very long lines. ING's online banking is some of the easiest, most user-friendly banking interfaces I've seen. To being with, you can setup any of your accounts to get direct deposit, provided your employer makes it available. You can schedule as many automatic or one-time payments from any non-ING bank account to any ING account just as easily as you can transfer funds between your various ING accounts. Electric Orange has more than enough ways to access your money and pay your bills. They offer free online bill pay, and can even send out paper or electronic checks on your behalf- for free. It's actually cheaper for me to pay my internet bill with ING than it is to write a check from my credit union, since I don't have to even pay for a stamp. Electric Orange also gives you a free Mastercard debit card that doubles as an ATM card- which by the way gives you "free access to over 32,000 ATMs nationwide" that have the "Allpoint" logo.

There are even more online tools that make banking with ING worthwhile. First, you can get access to all your statements online, anytime. All your tax documents are readily available. And you can connect all your ING accounts to up to 3 external accounts. They even have an ATM locater that helps you pinpoint the no-fee ATMs.

What else? You can get a print out of your transaction history for whatever span of time you desire. You can download all your information into either a Microsoft Money or Quicken format. You can setup automatic time deposits into your account if it reaches below a specified amount, just as you can opt to get notifications every time a transaction is made above a specified amount. The more you dig into the online account services, the more you find. There's even a section devoted to helping you get your financial life in order, with all kinds of tips and tools.

All in all, ING Direct is a great bank and I can't recommend them enough. Yes, it's nice to be able to visit a bank and speak with a teller, but it's not often in today's environment that a visit is actually necessary. By not having actual bank branches, ING has forced themselves to offer top-notch, hassle-free, online services. And in my opinion these rival, if not outperform, any and all services of my local credit union.

If you're interested in ING send Alex an email asking for a referral and ING will throw an automatic $25 bonus into your account (and his, which he and I will split) when you sign-up for a new account through the referral email. Not bad

-John Douglas, thisismyroom.com