CNN 'Online banking' article-> ING closes accts when customers require too much service; Emigrant highest cash back

EmigrantDirect, for its part, will launch a new credit card in mid-November that the company said will have the "highest cash-back rebate in the country" for those with online accounts, the company said in an e-mail to clients.
And if you're looking to have your hand held, online accounts are not for you. ING Direct, for instance, closes an average of 3 percent to 4 percent of accounts a month, when customers require too much personal service.

"We fire our customers is a colorful way of putting it," said ING Direct's Kuhlmann. "While the banking business says the customer is always right, we're online guys and you can only do business with us in a certain way."

He added that it just isn't cost effective to maintain high maintenance customers that need more personalized attention.
LINK

Geez, ING, maybe I should FIRE it instead of putting my precious one dollor there?

Way to help your PR campaign ING.

It will be interesting to see how much of a rebate ED is giving as I am getting full 5% on everything from my Citi card already.

fire their customers? i dont think that is a very good thing to say.

in fact, i had $5 in my ing accoung, which is about to change to $1. ing sucks. i should just close my account

s0meguy said: fire their customers? i dont think that is a very good thing to say.

in fact, i had $5 in my ing accoung, which is about to change to $1. ing sucks. i should just close my account

I have that exact amount currently + 0.05 of interest off that $5. Will be $1 now...

What really gets me about ING Direct is that you can't email them with certain questions ... if you do, they tell you that you must call them. However, do that too many times and they will close your account.

ING is no longer an industry leader in my opinion. There are other banks out there offering higher rates and more personalized service, or at least the willingness to keep your account open if you have to call them for service more than a certain number of times.

ING is not the leader in rates they used to be, either.

4.00%APY Emigrant Direct (no balance requirements, no fees)
3.80%APY UFB Direct High Yield Money Market Savings (no balance requirements, no fees)
3.75%APY HSBC Online Savings Account (no balance requirements, no fees)

I agree with you regarding Emigrant Direct's website/online banking design ... it leaves a lot to be desired.

ING Direct's online banking is a lot sleeker ... it looks a lot nicer, but, in my opinion, that doesn't make up for ING's lower rates and lack of willingness to provide more customer service. I understand about cost effectiveness, but when the CEO says "We fire our customers," well, that shows a major gap in customer service.

soupcxan said: The only thing I can say in ING's defense is that it is much easier to open an account there and their website is much more user friendly than ED. I had to jump through so many hoops just to open an ED account, what with the multiple user names and passwords. Maybe they've simplified it since then. But the website design also leaves much to be desired.

Now that I have my account, I go for the higher yield at ED. But ED should really fix these things!

I don't know, but I never had a problem opening an account with ED. To me it didn't seem like jumping through hoops. I also don't have an issue with Ed's lack of beautification as compared to ING. If I need to give up a few bells and whistles to keep higher interest then so be it. ING can keep its bouncing orange ball and I'll stick w/red white and blue to gain more green in my account.

ED saves money by outsourcing their online services out to a third party vendor. There are quite a number of banks and financial services firms using the same https://cib.ibanking-services.com/ systems. The interface is pratically identical.

I always like no frill fast loading websites than Flash filled websites that bombards you with Flash ads like ING. Just give me my account information quickly, that's all that matters.

GoCowboys said: I agree with you regarding Emigrant Direct's website/online banking design ... it leaves a lot to be desired.

ING Direct's online banking is a lot sleeker ... it looks a lot nicer, but, in my opinion, that doesn't make up for ING's lower rates and lack of willingness to provide more customer service. I understand about cost effectiveness, but when the CEO says "We fire our customers," well, that shows a major gap in customer service.

What I'd rather see are more interest dollars racking up!

nobody was complaining when ING used these techniques to give us industry leading rates. move your money to ED and shut up about it.

and it's not that ING's service sucks, it's that if you overuse it they will get rid of you. i've spoken with their CS twice, I think, and each time they helped and were pleasant.

bill777 said: Geez, ING, maybe I should FIRE it instead of putting my precious one dollor there?

I put everything I can in emigrant, ING was ok for the bonus referral money...

Yes, I mean everything!! Not forever though, just for promotional period of 9 months I think.

What card is that?? Do you have a link to application?

Thanks

pretty funny from

www.ingsucks.com

THIS FIVE-DAY MONETARY KIDNAPPING EXTENDS WELL BEYOND THE LIMIT IMPOSED BY ANYONE ELSE IN THE BUSINESS. (GEE, GOSH, HEY WAIT....)

FORGET THE SMARMY COPY (WHOA, GOSH, GEE), THESE ARE JUST GREEDY BANKERS TARTED UP TO LURE WEB-SAVVY, BUT NOT FINANCIALLY SAVVY, DEPOSITORS (GOSH, GUY. SAY NOT)

A 120-HOUR HOLD, WHEN BILLIONS FLASH WORLDWIDE IN SECONDS, SHOULD HAVE NO BASIS IN BEST-PRACTICE BANKING; EVEN THE MOST PREDATORY COMPETITOR ONLY GOUGES FOR THREE DAYS.

NOTE ALSO THAT THE UPDATED LEGAL LINK WARNS THAT YOU CAN'T CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT FOR A WEEK FOLLOWING DELIVERY OF WRITTEN NOTICE. (BUT, GOSH, WE ALMOST NEVER REQUIRE THAT. HEY, WE'RE BUDDIES, RIGHT?)

SMALL SURPRISE THAT NO ONE AT ING WILL TELL ME HOW I CAN GET CASH WHEN THE TRANSFERRED FUNDS DO BECOME AVAILABLE.

(GOSH, WHY YA WANNA TAKE AWAY ALL THE MONEY? LIKE, I THOUGHT WE WERE, LIKE, BUDDIES. LIKE?)
subject = Survey Results

Anybody noticed. ING used to have graphs as to how their rates are higher then feds, average, and etc etc. Then they removed one graph and then another. Now i think they are down to 2. Anyways, just because i used them earlier doesnt mean that i cannot comment on them now. its a competitative world and if they chose to love in their past glory so be it. They need to be more sensitive.

Anyways i have a lot stacked with ING right now. I am planning to take 90% out this month. Thats 9 dollars out of 10 that i have there.

FatWalrusMember said: pretty funny from

www.ingsucks.com

Can www.emigrantdirectsuckshardcoreandwtfdoestheirbankhavetodowithimmigrantsanyway.com be far behind?

In some ways, ING is smart. They know that in order to offer higher rates consistently they need to ensure they are not spending too much money or time servicing those customers. Its allowed them to branch into the home mortgage/equity market.

ED is flying high right now because they need deposits under their belt to open up the credit card service so they are offering a great interest rate. Wait until they begin getting bad credit card customers and heavy users willing to follow up each weeek to debate the CashBack calculation.

One question I have is, outside of linking your accounts or inquiring about the holding period, what else are people calling ING about??

B

johto said: nobody was complaining when ING used these techniques to give us industry leading rates. move your money to ED and shut up about it.

and it's not that ING's service sucks, it's that if you overuse it they will get rid of you. i've spoken with their CS twice, I think, and each time they helped and were pleasant.

agree... it's not like ING has this new attitude on getting rid of customers, instead this was their whole stategy from the beginning... offer high rates. And the way to go about that is through little or no support.

Companies have the RIGHT to get rid of their customers, if those customers are not profitable. Its not good PR, and many don't fess up to it... but its life. Glad that ING is honest about it.

and as a disclaimer, the money i had at ing has been at emigrant since they had the high rates.

EDIT. ing attitude on self sufficency reminds me of IKEA. if you ever saw ikea's catalog, they are first to say they offer low price because they do not offer extra services...

"Companies have the RIGHT to get rid of their customers, if those customers are not profitable. Its not good PR, and many don't fess up to it... but its life. Glad that ING is honest about it."

Were you as happy when Best Buy did it?

Archon810 said: SoonerFan said: You don't need the letter to access your account. Your account number should be shown on your bank statement in the transaction details of your initial deposit. Search the Emigrant threads for more details.

Archon810 said: well, i'm moving all my money to ED, but it's taking them almost 2 weeks now to open the dang account. my money's been sitting in my checking for over a week now ready to go but I'm still waiting for ED's snail mail letter. This is getting ridonkulous.

get ready for a 2 week process when u open up an ED account and don't move ur money from ING to checking right away.

09-26 AUTHORIZED TRANSFER
EMIGRANTDIRECT NEW ACCT $ 1,000.00

No mention of my account... still no letter either.
welcome to the club.