ING Direct: 1 Year Review

Its been just about a year now since I moved all of my banking needs to ING Direct. It was a easy process to complete and ING Direct was there along the way to help when there was a problem. You can read that review here: Operation Bank Switch: Complete You will notice above that I said all of my banking needs, well that all does not mean all I will explain a few of these below.

What has changed in the year:

• ING Direct now offers Interac E-Mail money transfers at $1 each. This allows for faster money transfers to people who do not have an ING account. ING still does their free email money transfers though it will take a couple of days if the receiver is not an ING client.
• ING Direct gives more than the 20 free cheques now. First when they launched the account you would receive 20 free cheques and would have to pay ~$10 for an additional 50. Now you will receive 50 from the get go but you will still have to pay after the initial 50.

What they still need to work on:

• A Visa or MasterCard; I have said this in the previous posts and I continue to say it. Right now I use a RBC West Jet MasterCard and I have just come to learn that the interest rates will be going up in June for all account holders of this card. So here I am again having to look for a good credit card to get. I know if ING did get into this it would be a huge blessing for allot of their clients.
• A RESP; ING does offer RRSP's and do have children's saving accounts (CSA) but have no RESP so parents cant take advantage of the Government of Canada's grants available when investing into RESP's. This is just recently become an issue for me since Paige was born we have been putting money aside for her in a CSA but now we would like to invest it further.
• A Line of Credit; If not a Visa or MasterCard, a line of credit would be nice when need access to funds for repairs and such. Though this is not high on my wish list.
• Save the Rest; This more of a wish than anything. It is something that ScotiaBank offers. When you purchase something with your debit card, you can have the amount rounded up and the rounded up amount be placed into a savings account. So if you but something for $8.62 you can have it rounded up to the nearest dollar or five dollars. That way $0.38 or $1.38 gets deposed into a savings account. 

Overall I would still give IND Direct a 8.5/10 since it is free banking after all and they pay you to be a client. So here's hoping they can improve on some of the things above.

What other bank in the industry pays you to become a customer? Well the answer to that is easy, NONE. When you sign up for an account at ING Direct and use another customers ORANGE KEY you will both get $25, no strings attached. But the FREE money does not stop there, when you are ready to move your payroll into your ING Direct Thrive Chequing account, they will give you an additional $100 just to say thanks. Now I'm not saying you have to sign up with my ORANGE KEY but I would certainly love to get the bonus $25 just like you. My ORANGE KEY is: 14477247S1. http://www.ingdirect.ca/referafriend