I'm curious to find out if anyone has ever had any major problems with ING. I see a couple posts regarding ING on here, but the most recent negative post is from over a year ago.

I ask because I have loved ING since I joined up a few years ago. Customer service has always been great and they were paying me great interest on my savings account up until recently.

@satindevil: I have no problem with ING Direct - I park funds there from checking acc't; easy to move funds back & forth. Strong security measures, not really compatible with banking sites. Msg I received recently from ING Direct in response to an inquiry from me:
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"I understand that you recently had an issue trying to connect to our website using Bank of America and American Express. This service is commonly referred to as an account aggregator. While this service may have worked in the past, most users are finding that their aggregator does not work with our New Sign In Process.

The security of your information is very important to us. Once your personal information leaves ING DIRECT, we have no control over your information or how it is used by third parties. Because we have no way of monitoring how account aggregators address security, privacy or the use of cookies we are unable to support the use of these services.

To best protect your personal information and your funds, we recommend that you do not share your personal information (including your Customer Number and PIN) with any third party.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you!"
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A pretty nice response!! Now I know, and won't keep trying to get those sites to link to my ING Direct account(s).

I agree with the previous commenter - good customer service, timely and reliable wire transfers, good access to information, easy to follow site and good reporting tools.

ive been with ING since 2005 and have had zero problems. What problems have others had?

@usa_gatekeeper: Nice! I've never used their email support, but the few times I had to call them for whatever reason, they were always very helpful.

i honestly can't think of a reason to need this contact info. in the 4 years i've been an ingdirect customer, i've had to contact them TWICE. both times, i got a live person on the phone almost immediately (& i believe one of those calls was on christmas eve). they were able to HELP without placing me on hold, transferring me to a different department or having me call a different number & they were extremely PLEASANT.

they really put most other banks to shame...

I <3 ING. Even though my interest has dropped to complete crap. I called when I got an odd email, which turned out to be from them, but they had put the wrong name into their little name filler thingie.

Anyways, the guy on the phone when I called to let them know of possible phishing was really groovy and told me he got all the info and that I should go ahead and email them so they could read the headers. Not a problem. All resolved in ten minutes.

Now, if they would only boost their interest rates back up.

I have had nothing but excellent customer service experiences with ING Direct as well. When Heartland had a security breach a few months ago, ING contacted me and said they were informed that my card # may have been compromised as at least one of my transactions had run through Heartland. So they emailed me to tell me that they automatically enrolled my account in a fraud alert process and are now emailing me every time my card is used.

Like others here, I've had nothing but overwhelmingly positive experiences with ING. I've been a customer of ING Direct for 3 years now.

I have been pretty happy with ING Direct. The only 2 issues I have with them is that you still need a bank account to deposit money (if you have NON direct deposit money, cash, ebay checks etc). The other issue is they are a pain in the ass to work with Mint.com. Every couple of weeks you need to reset your information so Mint can sync with them. It gets pretty annoying.

Love ING! I've been with them since 2001 and they are great. Zero problems, and I won't bank with anyone else.

Been with them since 2000 and never once had a problem. The few times I needed to call, I got a live person immediately.

Never had a problem with them. I do have to say that the interest rate dropping to damn near nothing has freaked me out a little. I'm easily spooked, so that doesn't mean much. I hope they go back up... I was getting a nice little chunk from interest!

When I have called customer service (once in 5-6 years), they were extremely nice. The only reason I'd use the information to contact them is if I wanted to call and ask where the hell my sweet interest rates are... but we all know where they are. In hell... that's where. HA!

@LegoMan322: Sounds like the same link issue ING covered in ING's reply to me regarding BofA and AMEX (see my reply to very 1st post on page 1). I don't think ING is too concerned about supporting those links. Read their e-mail to see why.

Pretty great here too. I had two small issues where I had to call in but it was quickly resolved. Also, LIVE COMPETENT PEOPLE ANSWER THE PHONE. Not one of my local banks can compete with that.

@LegoMan322:

You can mail checks in to them.

@LegoMan322: I'm not sure if its the same for their savings accounts, but you can mail checks to ING Direct to deposit into their checking accounts. However, I think you still need to maintain a non-ING Direct bank account.

a couple of months ago i over drew on my electric orange account and couldn't figure out what they were going to charge me so i gave customer service a call. i got a human pretty fast and they answered my questions in no time. better customer service than some of the brick and mortar banks have in their branches

Never a problem with ING direct here.

Even with the interest rate going from 3.5% last June to it's current 1.5%, it beats my local bank that only pays 0.02%. Yes, that's 0.02%. If you had $3,000 deposited at my local bank it would have gotten a whole 6 cents in interest for the year. What a joke that was.

I've had an Orange Savings with ING for 5+ years now - they have some of the BEST customer service on the planet, which is why I stay with them even though their interest rate is garbage at the moment (but then again, most places aren't offering much).

I've called twice and I get an American live person within 1 minute of calling.

@SynMonger: @internetsguy: Yes that is true and something I knew of. But since Ing does NOT send out checks (you set them up online and they send and print for you) I do not have any physical checks since my other bank is ONLY for a deposit to transfer to ING.

Plus an ATM is much more convenient. Otherwise so far been very happy with ING for the past year or so.

My only problem with them is they stopped giving free beverages with deposits.

I love them.

I just finished a conversation with them about locking my adjustable rate for next 5 years (they offer that for $750). The lady from ING actually pointed out that if I convert to Easy Orange (yes, she disclosed the extra fees to do that), I will pay it off way faster than just by locking the rate. And here, I thought I know what I want.

And, BTW, the best security process that I have seen across all financial web apps I use. Easy and it works, I love it.

I can recommend ING to anyone. (I'm not working for them BTW).

BTW, I had a novel idea, to do a reverse EECB (REECB?), where you send them an email to praise, rather to complain. They deserve it. So out went mine:

Guys,

In these tough times, it is sometimes difficult to get any decent service from many companies. Well, I must say yours really rocks!

Today, I spoke to a nice CSR from one of your offices, asking about locking my rates for my ARM mortgage (which, BTW, is a great product). Not only she explained the process but also pointed out that if I switch to Easy Orange, I will actually pay it off faster than I originally planned. She run all the calculations, and crunched all numbers that were to be crunched, so I had everything ready before we finished the call. Wow!

I'm sorry I missed her name, but, short of better words, I hope you can track her down and give her praise for what she has done. I loved it! My customer number XXXXXXXX, the call took place Apr 23 around 9AM.

Thanks.

I'm like the other commenters, I have never had a problem with ING. I've had a savings account with them for over 5 years and two mortgages and a HELOC. Every thime I've had to contact them, I've received excellent customer service from well trained professionals.

ING is a model that I wish other companies would follow.

@satindevil: I've never had a problem in all the years I've saved with them.

Can we nominate ING Direct for Best Company In America? I can see it now: Newegg vs. ING Direct for the win!

@iDevin:

Haha, good idea, we have votes for the worst, we should have vote for the best too. Maybe the winner of the worst could learn from the best?

Doubtful.

I'm the lone person that had ING and really hated it. Not having checks or access to our money was a HUGE hassle. When trying to buy a house, the seller wouldn't accept "the ING check is in the mail to the title company, I promise" nor would our last apartment when they needed a deposit within 24 hours. In both of these cases we couldn't withdraw cash from the ATM because it was over the allotted ING daily limit.

I was so irritated that they were basically holding my money hostage. If you need over $1,000 within 24 hours, good luck.

@Maglet:
I may be off on this, but as I understand it, most high-yield accounts are based on the current Fed prime lending rate, so they're usually like a +2 point/+2.XX point rate.

Therefore... when the Fed prime lending rate goes down to next-to-nothing, the high yield interest rates also decrease.

Hope that's kind of clear, and that's my understanding of how it works, which might be incorrect.

@internetsguy: I got that same email. As long as none of my information was actually compromised, I kind of like getting an email every time I use my ING debit card. I don't use it everyday so the volume of emails I receive isn't too bad.

@LegoMan322: Oh yes, I love how they have a bunch of ATMs scattered around that don't charge fees - and they make it so easy to find them!

@tiatrack: I don't think I would ever try to use ING Direct as the primary checking acc't - I'm supposing most people have a brick 'n mortar checking acc't somewhere, and use ING Direct more as a linked savings or accrual account for budgeting purposes where they can earn some $$ rather than letting it sit in the bank's checking or savings acc't.

But I *am* afraid that someday the brick 'n mortar banks are going to try and charge fees for transfers to and from places like ING.

@tiatrack: Also, ING didn't send me a magical unicorn when I signed up. Of course, they never said they would, and I had no reason to expect that they would, but even after many hour-long chats with their customer service, I still don't have that magical unicorn.

I was so irritated that they were basically holding my unicorn hostage. If you need a unicorn from ING, well, good luck.

Their rates suck. They lower them twice a month now to disguise the massive cuts. You can blame the government, but now ING is no longer competitive with B&M branches

@LegoMan322: Might want to check your settings on Mint.com I haven't had any problems with my account at all.

My only problem is that you have to have a bank account to set it up with. If I could use ING only and dump BofA it would be sweet.

I've been happy with them. I've only had to call them twice in a few years of service and both times they were friendly and professional.

I do keep a regular bank account at a local credit union to handle my cash deposits and my loans (cc and auto) but I don't think I would ever go back to them as a full time bank again.

Main three reasons I love ING:

1. The overdraft LOC on the checking account is really nice and zero fee aside from the tiny interest, which I usually pay a few cents into each month when I go under. I love not worrying about being broke a day or two before payday!

2. The bill payment system online is nice (mailing paper checks for you -or- standard online bill pay) and you can't get hit wit an unexpected check months later (anyone ever pay PTA or yearbook fees and had a check for them clear 9 months later? I have!) since they pull the check funds immediately (they put them back if its not cashed in a certain time frame.

3. I see all my charges in real time. While many banks do this, some (including my credit union bank I use for deposits) does not.

@tiatrack: Shit, I didn't even think about this! I'm currently looking in to buying a house, too!

I need to transfer my money to my Wachovia accoun stat!

I love their savings account, but their marketing is miserable. After tiring of the barrage of unwanted e-mails and postcards for mortgages I don't need, and CDs and checking accounts I don't want, I tried to follow the "stop sending me marketing e-mails" link in the message, and it gave me an error. So I e-mailed customer support, and "Nicole" in sales e-mailed back apologizing, and promising I'd been taken off the list, effective immediately.

Not two days later, I was getting the same e-mails, and another request--this time noting the previous acknowledged and ignored request--was again replied to with the same form response from "Nicole".

Shock of shocks, I've since gotten 1-2 messages a week from them pitching the same crap. Thanks to this article, I've just e-mailed Mr. Kuhlmann and Mr. Roberts. Maybe they can find the "delete and stop e-mailing this guy before we lose his business altogether" button that their sales staff can't seem to.

@Life Is Eat And Die: Yeah. I was saying the same thing in an upper post.