ING Direct To Become ‘Capital One 360,’ But Promises To Remain The Same

Image courtesy of Meet the new bank. Same as the old bank.

Meet the new bank. Same as the old bank.

It’s been more than a year since ING Direct customers got news that their online bank was being bought by perennial Worst Company In America contender Capital One. But the last vestiges of ING will soon disappear after its name changes to Capital One 360.

ING Direct customers are receiving an e-mail from CapOne explaining the name change and trying to soothe concerns about sweeping changes by promising that everything will remain the same.

“Typically with bank mergers, the things Customers care most about end up being the first things to change,” reads the e-mail. “But to us, you’re what matters most, and we’re going to keep it that way. Because we’re not a typical bank, and this isn’t a typical merger. So we’re going to back up our commitment with a pledge to you, our Customers, about how this business is going to run moving forward.”

CapOne says that it will continue to offer no-fee, no-minimum checking and savings accounts.

When the merger was first announced, CapOne made similar promises, but would not directly answer questions about new fees or other changes to ING service.

In today’s letter, Jim Kelly, ING’s head of direct banking, and CapOne’s President of retail and direct banking Jon Witter, shared their supposed e-mail addresses (jim@ingdirect.com and jon@capitalone.com) in an attempt to at least appear as if they are going to respond to customer concerns.

We highly recommend that ING — oh wait, Capital One 360 — customers take advantage of these e-mails to see if they are happy with the responses they receive.

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