Online Banking Review: ING Direct's Orange Savings Account

The Orange savings account from ING Direct is a great financial product that can help you save money by earning a high interest rate. This online bank account is easy to open, convenient to use, and safe and secure. ING Direct is a member of the
FDIC, so your deposits are insured by the federal government up to $100,000. The Orange savings account has no minimum balance requirement, no maintenance fees, no service charges, and can be linked to your existing checking account with another bank. The account is currently paying 4.35% APY interest and interest is credited to your account monthly. Interest rates do change and lately they have been going up, so you can check their website for their current rate. Their website is www.ingdirect.com. Why continue to accept a low interest rate from your local bank when you can earn more with ING Direct? And since you can link the savings account to your existing checking account, you don’t even have to change banks or order new checks. The reason that they can pay you a higher interest rate is because all of their transactions are done electronically, so their expenses are much lower than traditional brick and mortar banks. Without physical bank branches spread throughout the country, they have less operational costs, fewer employees to pay, and can pass this savings on to you in the form of higher interest rates.

There are a few different ways that you can apply for an account. You can go to their website and apply for an account directly online. Or, you can download an account application from their website, complete it, and mail it in. A third option is to call 1-800-ING-DIRECT to request an account application be mailed to you. Once the account is open, you can bank online 24 hours per day. Or, if you prefer, you can bank by phone through their automated touch tone system or by speaking to an ING associate from 7am to 9pm EST seven days a week.