ING Direct Review: The Orange Savings Account

After reading nothing but positive ING Direct reviews, I finally took the plunge and signed up for an ING Direct Orange Savings Account. It was fairly painless, as online banking applications go. The standard questions were asked including name, address, ssn, etc. ING Direct was recently rated as the most secure online institution and it showed. The series of security questions were unique and enough to make identity theft difficult.

I was immediately pleased with the straightforward interface. ING Direct has long been competitive with other online banking institutions, and though others may offer a slightly higher yield, I am planning to maintain the bulk of my savings here because of the other benefits.
ING Direct Review

ING Direct offers a couple perks over similar online banking institutions. I enjoy the ability to give our savings account a nickname. Having a name for our accounts helps me identify with the savings goal more. For instance, having $1,500 in my “Emergency Fund” account means more to me than $1,500 in “Account #123456789.”

The ability to create subaccounts at ING is a nice feature for consolidating various targeted savings accounts into one bank, and one master control screen. These subaccounts at ING are really just separate savings accounts, but because they are all tied to your customer ID they appear as a list on your ING customer homepage. Over time I plan to add accounts labeled “Christmas Shopping,” “Vacation,” and “New Sofa.” We can then create some automatic contributions into each of these funds based on the targeted savings goal. For instance, my wife and I would like to save about $600 in our Christmas Shopping account so we plan to automatically transfer $50 a month into this account. With our savings on auto-pilot the money is moved automatically without any hassle-factor. When the targeted savings goal is within reach we will schedule an electronic withdrawal back to our linked checking account.

Targeted savings accounts are a great way to pay for things that occur once or twice a year, or for one-time goals such as our “New Sofa” account. Insurance premiums, car tags, and taxes all have a way of sneaking up on us and wrecking a monthly budget. By using a savings account reserved for each specific purpose these events will no longer be budget-busters, rather a simple electronic transfer to your checking account.

I encourage you to consider signing up with ING Direct today. Their customer service, interface, security features, and account options are second to none.