ING Direct Bank Accounts

This article compares all the different ING Direct bank accounts. ING Direct likes to brand its services with the word “orange,” so you have a choice of:

• Orange Savings Accounts
• Electric Orange Checking
• Orange CDs

Your should start by thinking about your need to withdraw cash. If you have some cash that you won’t need for 6 months or longer, you should consider Orange CDs. These accounts offer the highest interest rates (1.25%-2%), but early withdrawal results in penalties. Please be careful about choosing the term for a CD account; for help, refer to the article How to Choose CD Term with ING Direct.

If you need ready access to your cash, use Electric Orange Checking. The checking account is used to make payments (online, with checkbooks, via debit card) or to make withdrawals at an ATM. Interest earned on a checking account depends on your balance: below $50,000, it is a tiny 0.25%, but above $50,000 it is a quite impressive 1.5%.

Finally, if you have less than $50,000 to deposit, and don’t mind some minor hassle getting access to the funds, you should consider Orange Savings Account. It’s the same as a checking account, with two exceptions:

• it pays 1.3% interest regardless of your balance
• when you need cash, you first have to transfer it from the savings to the checking account; only then can you withdraw cash from an ATM or pay for your purchases using a debit card

One trick with savings accounts is that the federal law requires the banks to limit withdrawals to 6 per month. However, this is never enforced. You can withdraw as often as you like. Even if you’re unlucky, the worst thing that can happen is that your account is closed, and the money is given back to you.