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ING Direct Electric Orange Checking Review

BillyOceansEleven — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:27:45 +0000

If there’s one thing everyone hates, it is bank fees. One of the most popular posts on this blog is my rant about Bank of America’s monthly maintenance fee on their checking accounts that don’t meet certain balance, direct deposit, or other requirements. Thankfully you don’t have to pay monthly maintenance fees and other ridiculous charges to have a checking account. There are checking accounts out there without the outrageous fees and direct deposit requirements, and perhaps the best of those is ING Direct’s Electric Orange Checking. There is a lot to like about this account, including a $50 signup bonus (see below for more details), but there are a few drawbacks. Here’s a brief overview of the pros and cons of this account.

Pros

No monthly maintenance fees

One of the biggest selling points of the Electric Orange Checking account is that there are no monthly maintenance fees – period. There is no minimum balance requirement, direct deposit requirement, or debit card usage requirement.

Interest on checking deposits

Electric Orange pays interest on deposits based on the balance on the account. Deposits up to $50,000 collect 0.20% APY, $50,000 to $100,000 collect 0.85% APY, and over $100,000 gets you an APY of 0.90%. Granted 0.20% APY isn’t much, but is better than almost any other checking account out there, and if you have a good pile of cash this could be the perfect place for it.

Free debit cards and bill pay

Electric Orange offers a free debit card and free bill pay service. When it was introduced Electric Orange was designed to be a nearly paperless checking account, thus the encouragement to make payments electronically. Electronic payments can be made to merchants or to individuals using their Person2Person transfer service. You can also have a paper check sent via postal mail for free for those vendors you can’t pay electronically.

No overdraft fees

Unlike most other banks that love to soak you with overdraft fees, there are no overdraft fees on the Electric Orange checking. I think this fact is grossly oversold by ING on their website (the main page for the Electric Orange account just has a link inviting users to compare their overdraft fees to other banks without specifically stating there is no overdraft fee). The only fee related to overdrafts is an interest charge for accessing an overdraft line of credit based on the amount of the overdraft.

Free ATM access at select locations

For an online bank, ING Direct actually has a pretty good ATM network that you can access for free. You can access any ATM in the Allpoint network (most ATMs in this area are in retail locations of CVS, Walgreens, and Target) and, thanks to the buyout by Capital One, any Capital One ATM.

$50 Bonus for New Customers

As noted above, you can get a $50 bonus for opening an Electric Orange account. Just use one of the links below to sign up and make three card or Person2Person payments to earn your $50 bonus. Please see the fine print below for requirements. Disclosure: these are referral links for which I will earn $10 for each successful referral.

ING Electric Orange Bonus 1

ING Electric Orange Bonus 2

ING Electric Orange Bonus 3

ING Electric Orange Bonus 4

ING Electric Orange Bonus 5

Bonuses are only paid for accounts that are opened and a total of 3 Card purchases or Person2Person Payments (or any combo of the two) are made within 45 days of account opening. The $50 bonus is available only for new accounts with a new Customer as primary owner. Only one bonus will be provided per household. Your $50 bonus will automatically be deposited into your account on day 50.

Cons

No branch network

Because it is an online bank, there is no branch network for the Electric Orange account, meaning there is no way to directly deposit cash into your account or talk to someone face-to-face it the rare event there is a problem with your account. This also makes depositing of paper checks a pain, as noted below.

Difficulty depositing paper checks

In the era of electronic transfers and direct deposits, everyone still gets paper checks occasionally. Currently the only way to deposit paper checks directly into your Electric Orange account is to mail them in to ING Direct, which means a significant delay in how quickly the funds are credited to your account. ING Direct has announced that customers will be able to upload check images for deposit via computer or smartphone app beginning sometime this spring, but until then this will continue to be a significant drawback of the Electric Orange account.

Limited check writing capability

For most checking accounts you have the option of ordering checks directly through the bank, ordering from a third party (usually at a significant discount to the bank’s charge), or printing your own check on your home computer. For the Electric Orange account, however, you must order checks from ING Direct at a cost of $5.00 per 50 checks. Granted there is an additional layer of security to this arrangement as checks must be activated before use, but many will be annoyed at having to pay more for their printed checks. It is worth pointing out that this does work almost like a service fee for check writing, and that by minimizing the costs of processing paper checks they can offer other benefits without fees.

The ability to write paper checks is an improvement to the Electric Orange account since its introduction, even if the checks must be ordered from ING Direct. Previously customers could not write paper checks at all.

Overall assessment

My overall assessment is that this is a great alternative to the fee happy checking accounts offered by most larger banks these days. Provided you don’t need to make cash deposits to your account, don’t write a lot of paper checks, and do most of your banking electronically you should definitely consider Electric Orange for your checking account needs.

If this doesn’t quite fit your needs you may also consider going to a local credit union or community bank with a truly free checking account. Compared to paying monthly maintenance fees at the big banks, you will still come out ahead.

$150 PlainsCapital Bank Free Checking Offer – Austin Texas only

BillyOceansEleven — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:30:27 +0000

Here’s some more free money for all of you out there in Austin who do the bank account deals. PlainsCapital Bank is offering a $150 bonus for opening a free checking account. Just open the account with a minimum of $50 using the offer code FCAU1109 by February 19 and you’ll get $50, and when you have your direct deposit made to the account you’ll get another $100 for a total of $150. You could previously apply online, but they have since restricted the offer to Austin residents and it must be opened in person in one of their Austin branches. The terms of the offer say that you have to keep the account open for 90 days to avoid a fee, although the disclosure documents in the application process say 180 days, so plan on having the account open at least 6 months.

$150 PlainsCapital Bank Free Checking Offer

Here’s the details:

To qualify for the $50 bonus, you must open a new PlainsCapital Bank Free Checking Account by Feb. 19, 2010, with a minimum deposit of $50 in new funds (e.g., money not currently held at PlainsCapital Bank). The $50 bonus will be automatically deposited into your new account within 10 business days. To qualify for the $100 bonus, you must set up direct deposit into the new account within 60 days of account opening. Once direct deposit is set up and a deposit is made, the $100 bonus will be automatically deposited into your new account within 10 business days. Bonuses cannot be considered the minimum opening deposit. Limit one offer per customer. Checking account to remain open for 90 days or the account could be subject to an early closing fee. Account is subject to approval. Bonus is considered interest and must be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.

UPDATE 1/14/2010 3:05pm: It looks like they have completely taken down the offer from their website. You may want to call to see if they will still honor this offer in-branch before making the drive over to one of their locations.

Identity theft victim? What your bank won't tell you

BillyOceansEleven — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:30:24 +0000

One of my colleagues at the office is fighting with an identity theft scam involving her primary checking account, and listening to the line of bull they are feeding her has inspired me to post about the things you bank doesn’t want you to know if you are an identity theft victim.

Here’s her story: she had her wallet with her drivers license and debit card stolen in early November. Before she even realized it had happened, the fraudsters used the license and debit card to cash forged checks against her account. Note they didn’t forge checks drawn on her account, but they forged someone else’s checks and used her account to cash them against. She found out when she got an overdraft alert from her bank (Wells Fargo) and promptly contacted the bank to alert them to the scam and filed a police report. Wells Fargo ultimately opened them a new checking account and closed the old account that had been compromised.

So that’s the end of the tale, right? Nope! Because the fraudsters are still running around with her ID and know she banks with Wells Fargo, they simply ran the scam again last week and cashed forged checks against the new account. Now she’s fighting with Wells Fargo again to get the mess straightened out and the funds returned. They are now talking about opening a third account with a teller alert attached to supposedly prevent this from happening yet again.

So what does this story illustrate? Two things:

When something like this happens, it is best just to move your primary account to another bank. In this instance changing the account number does no good because the fraudsters still have her picture ID and know she is a customer of the bank. Because it is typical for customers to not know their account number, it is common practice for bank tellers to use the picture ID to look up the account. That’s how this fraud was perpetrated a second time even though the old account was closed.
Any safeguard depending on the teller is of minimal effectiveness. I say this as a former bank teller. A teller alert or note on an account does little good if the teller never reads it. When the bank is busy and customers are lined up as far as the eye can see, most tellers will just press whatever button they need to clear the alert and complete the transaction. This is especially true of tellers working the drive-thru lanes. The limited visibility of the customer created by the way most drive-thru lanes are configured (especially when you are dealing with the farthest lanes and/or the passenger as the accountholder) and the desire to get customers in and out fast also limits the effectiveness of an ID check. If a bank manager tells you a teller alert will prevent fraudulent activity on your account, they are either lying or stupid because they should know better.

Although one of my resolutions is to eliminate unnecessary accounts, there is a lot of wisdom in having a secondary checking account that you can use in this type of situation and/or keeping most of your funds in an account other than your primary checking account. In any case if this happens to you, it is probably best to retreat to a different bank and hope the scammers don’t follow you there.

Another $125 Chase Checking Bonus (exp. 1/15/2010)

BillyOceansEleven — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:30:10 +0000

Everyone is looking for a little extra cash around the holidays, and here is a great opportunity for some easy money. Chase is offering a $125 bonus for opening a free checking account with direct deposit. To get in on the offer you will need to logon to your existing Chase online account and click on this link. There you will get a coupon for a $125 bonus when you open a Chase checking account between now and January 15, 2010. It is best to print the coupon early since Chase often takes down these coupons before the expiration date.

Here are the main points to remember on this offer:
1. Minimum deposit of $100 in new funds not currently held by Chase.
2. The $125 bonus will be deposited into your account within 10 days of your initial direct deposit.
3. Within 60 calendar days of account opening, you must initiate a monthly direct deposit which includes payroll, pension, Social Security, or other government benefits.
4. There is a limit of 1 personal checking account-related reward per customer, per calendar year.
5. Your checking account must remain open for a minimum of 6 months, or the reward will be debited from the account at closing.
6. Chase Checking has no monthly service fee when you have a direct deposit or 5 or more debit card purchases post to your account each statement period.

I have done these bonuses multiple times without issue. You can read about previous Chase bonus offers here.

No direct deposit? No worries! Read about how to fake the direct deposit and get the bonus money on this post.

Want to make another easy $50? Open an ING Direct account! Details here.

$200 bonus for a free Capital One checking account (YMMV)

BillyOceansEleven — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:08:52 +0000

My MIL sent me an email this morning asking about bank account bonuses, and in doing a little research I found this gem. You can get a $200 bonus for opening a no-fee Capital One Rewards Checking account with a minimum $50 opening deposit and a direct deposit. This offer has been sent to select credit card customers via US mail, however someone on SlickDeals also found the offer online. Just print off the offer with the promo code and bring it into a branch:

http://www.capitalone.com/bank/checking/200.php

This is a YMMV since the terms on the offer page online refer to the mailer, however some have reported receiving the offer via email only direct from Capital One, so they should take it. Here are the full terms of the offer:

^? $50 minimum opening deposit required. Bank rules and regulations apply. Ask us for details.

† The Capital One, N.A., payroll/direct deposit reward promotion is effective for sixty (60) days following the day of a consumer’s receipt via U.S. Mail of the required invitation addressed to his/her attention. To qualify for the $200 cash reward, you must present this mailer you received when you open a Capital One Bank branch personal checking account during the promotional period and enroll in payroll/direct deposit within 90 days of account opening. Qualifying individuals will receive a $200 credit to their checking account approximately 6-8 weeks after the first payroll/direct deposit transaction is posted to the account. Limit one reward per customer.

If you don’t have a direct deposit, check out my prior post on faking a direct deposit to qualify for bonuses and avoid service fees.

I did this deal last year after receiving the mailer and got my bonus without issue. One interesting observation is that Capital One doesn’t send 1099-INT forms for bonuses paid on non-interest bearing accounts, so this amount likely will not be reported to the IRS.

$125 bonus for a Chase Checking account TIMES TWO

BillyOceansEleven — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:05:06 +0000

I posted this as a comment on another blog, and then got to thinking I need to post this on my own blog. I written before about Chase banking bonuses (March 2008, November 2007, September 2007), and I have always been able to get these without issue. If you have never done these before, right now before year end is a great time to start.

If you head down to your local post office, you’ll find the New Movers Pack with the Change of Address form. The pack also includes several coupons, including one for a Chase Checking account bonus of $125. If you read the terms and conditions, you get the bonus for opening a new account and having direct deposit, and you are limited to one bonus per calendar year. As we are about to end one calendar year and start another, you can open one today or tomorrow (while we are in 2008) and one after New Year’s Day (in 2009). Fund both and start the direct deposits (many employers will allow split direct deposits, or you can fake the direct deposit using ING or another online account), and you should get a $125 bonus on each. If you plan to open multiple accounts, get multiple packets because the codes are one-time use.

To reduce the hassle factor even more, you can probably sign up for the account online and enter the coupon code in the application to avoid going into the branch. You just have to print off the signature card, sign and return via mail or fax.

A few notes about the deal:

The deal requires a $100 minimum opening deposit. If you open online, you can use a Visa or Mastercard to fund the account up to $2,000. Use a good reward credit card to earn some easy points!
If you don’t do an initial direct deposit on the account, you won’t get your bonus. If you don’t maintain the direct deposit, you’ll be charged a service fee unless you use your Chase Check Card five times during the statement period.
You have to keep the account open six months or they will deduct the bonus at closing. After six months, you can close it without penalty by going into a branch.
Be sure to keep a copy of the confirmation of the coupon being redeemed. If you open in a branch this should be a printed page they give you. If you open online, it should be a new window you can print. I’ve never had an issue with the bonus not being credited, but it is always best to cover your bases.
These bonuses are reported on a Form 1099-INT at tax time to the IRS, so you better report the income if you don’t want an audit. If you open one before year end and one after, you’ll get one form in January 2009 reporting the interest income from the first account and another in January 2010 reporting the interest income from the second account.

Have fun!!!

New ING Bonus Links!!!

BillyOceansEleven — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:30:17 +0000

Seeing how hard it is to make money in the stock market these days, it is always fun to pick some of the low hanging fruit in the financial world. While you can easily lose 10% in the market, you can just as easily make 10% on your money by opening a new Orange Savings or Electric Orange checking account with ING. If you are a new customer, simply use one of the referral links below and open your account with a deposit of at least $250. You will get a bonus of $25 credited to your account (there’s your 10% return) and your friendly neighborhood blogger’s daughter will get $10 for referring you.

Please note that these links expire on 11/6/2008. If you see a message at the top of the ING signup page saying the link is invalid or expired, it means it has probably already been used. Just use one of the other links to complete the signup. Thanks!

Simplifying Finances: Step 1 – Identify Needs

BillyOceansEleven — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:48:43 +0000

A few months ago I wrote about my need to simplify my finances by closing old bank accounts. I got off to a decent start, closing four obviously unnecessary accounts, but never went past that. Why? My theory is that those were the only ones that were obviously unnecessary, while the others I could make some case for. In many cases though multiple accounts would serve the same purpose, eliminating the need to keep all of them open.

This lends itself to the question, “What are my needs?” What do I really need out of my bank accounts? I have identified the following as needs from my bank accounts:

High interest rate on excess cash held for emergencies.
Above average interest rate on cash held in checking account for paying regular expenses.
Ability to write paper checks occasionally.
Ability to make occasional deposits of checks and cash.
Fee-free ATM access.
Ability to make small fee-free transfers to external accounts to simulate direct deposits.
Opportunities to refer new customers for referral bonuses.

Our household currently has 12 open bank accounts, and it looks like our needs can be met by just six or seven of those. The winners (if you want to call them that) are:

FNBO Direct Online Savings - Meets need #1. Not a fancy website by any means, but at 3.85% APY it still has a great interest rate for an FDIC-insured account.
Presidential Interest Plus Checking - Meets needs #2 and #3. The account has an above average 2.75% APY and unlimited check writing. The rate won’t set the world on fire, but I don’t plan to leave that much in the account anyway.
Bank of America My Access Checking - Meets needs #4 and #5. There are several branches and ATMs in my area (one in the lobby of my office).
Peoples Trust FCU Savings - Meets need #6. This account doesn’t limit the number of external accounts you can link and only limits the dollar amounts you can transfer out. This is great for transferring $25 or $50 to simulate a direct deposit when needed to avoid monthly service charges or fulfill the terms of a promotional bonus offer.
ING Direct Orange Savings (2 – one for both my wife and I) - Meets need #7. Each account can earn up to $500 in referral bonuses ($250 each for the Orange Savings and Electric Orange Checking products). This is the source of the ING Bonus Referral Links I have posted on this blog and are the way I cover hosting costs.

Who are the losers in this exercise? Here is the list of accounts to be closed:

Chase Free Checking – Very similar to my Bank of America Checking account, but BofA just has more convenient locations.
Chase Business Checking – Opened for the promotional bonus but I have no real need for the account.
Chase Business Savings – Same as Chase Business Checking: no need for the account.
HSBC Online Savings – Oh HSBC, how far you’ve fallen! You were once the leader, but unfortunately not anymore. That combined with the crappy customer service I got when trying to close by HSBC checking account makes me think it is time to end this relationship. It’s not you, it’s me. No wait – actually it is you. Sorry!
Peoples Trust FCU Premier Checking – I opened the account when I worked for Shell and this was still Shell Employees FCU. Then the account was great because the branch was directly below my building. Now I work somewhere else so the few locations PTFCU has aren’t convenient. And since my basic checking needs are met by my BofA account, there is no reason to keep this account open.

On the bubble…

Presidential Premier Savings - This account was once the perfect companion to my Presidential Interest Plus Checking, but now the interest rate is below that of FNBO Direct and the limit of $35,000 on deposits earning the stated rate kind of cramps my style. I may keep it open since I can do instant transfers between it and the Presidential Checking account and it does earn a higher rate than the checking account, but most of my reserve cash will be at FNBO. I’m still undecided.

$200 bonus for opening a Chase Business Checking account

BillyOceansEleven — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 04:38:43 +0000

Update 11/27/2007: New working link at http://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/smallbusiness/shared/page/200_coupon_offer&ID=0000007224. Offer still expires on 11/30/2007. Thanks RJ!

Update 11/24/2007: Unfortunately, it looks like the link to generate a coupon code for this offer is now dead. You may want to try contacting one of the nice Chase bankers that have posted their information in the comments to this post to see if they can still get this offer for you. If you already have a coupon code for this offer, you have until 11/30/2007 to open your account.

Just when I am trying to simplify my financial life, here comes a financial offer I can’t refuse!

From now until 11/30/2007, you can get a $200 bonus for opening a Chase Business Checking account by bringing in the coupon from Chase here. Watch out because the fees can get you on even their most basic account, however you may qualify for a fee waiver for the first 12-24 months (see my experience below). Also note that this is a business checking account, so you may be required to produce some type of documentation to show you actually have a business of some sort. Minimum balance to open is $100, and you have to keep the account open for at least 6 months or the bonus will be debited from the account at closing.

Here is my experience: I did this offer yesterday by going into a branch here in Texas. The rep asked for some background on my business, what I did, expected revenues, etc. I told her I was a CPA* doing freelance work part-time and that my business would be a sole propreitorship. I did not have a tax ID for the “business” as I am selling professional services and not goods, however I did give her a copy of my CPA license as documentation of what I did. She explained the products Chase offered and said that they were offered as a “suite” of products, so they would be opening a business savings, business credit card, and business check card along with the checking account. I didn’t originally intend on opening the accounts, but I didn’t feel like arguing it since there were no fees associated with any of them.

It took forever for them to set up the accounts, but once I was done they had opened the checking, savings, and a Business Chase Freedom card with a $20k line that had a promo BT rate of 0% for 6 months ($75 max fee). The checking account was opened with a rewards check card linked to it that had a $25 fee, but when I asked about it they just credited my account an extra $25 to cover the fee for the first year.

It is also worth noting that in my case the service fees were waived for the first year due to my membership in a certain particular professional organization that Chase had an arrangement with. If you belong to a professional organization of some sort, it may be worth checking to see if they have a “Chase at Work” arrangement with the bank that provides special concessions for new customers.

While we were waiting for one of the other bankers to set up the accounts, the rep I was working with pulled out a book of coupons they are given to provide enticements to get customers to open new accounts. She had a $200 coupon for the checking account, although the minimum balance to qualify for the bonus on that coupon was $10,000. She also had a few others for the reward check card ($65 if I’m not mistaken) and some others as well although she didn’t show me all of them. She said that her and the branch manager would go through the offers they had to see if there were any other bonuses that I qualified for and credit those to my account. I don’t know that it will happen, but if it does I will be really impressed. However, if I had known amount those other offers available I would have asked about the availability of bonuses on the other products before allowing those to be opened to make sure they get credited to my account.

Overall I was really impressed with the experience (except for the time it took) and how accommodating they were in an attempt to gain my business. I will likely still close the accounts after the first six months (unless I have a substantial amount of revenue from my side projects), but should I have need for the services I would definitely consider doing business with Chase in the future.

Update: I opened the account on 9/27, and the bonus was credited on 10/2. Today, I also received an order of pre-printed checks and deposit slips for the account. I didn’t order them, but so far I haven’t been charged.