They pratically revolutionized the online savings frenzy, but now they seemed to have lost focus. The high rates were key to their success, and suddenly with all the competition, they've just seem to have accepted taking last place.
I'm pretty dissappointed by ING's recent decisions to lag behind in the rates war. I like the ING site, it's clean and easy to use. But if they can't keep up, then I might have to consider moving almost all of my funds out. The Orange is going bad.
There is hope though. If ING doesn't want to play the rates game, then I think they could offer features. Features, like their "Orange Checkings," that they sent out surveys about 1 year ago, would be a good one. I don't think features are as effective as basic rates, but it could be enough. But still, for me, rates were the biggest draw to ING. We shall see. It seems the online banking business is going through a major stage of evolution. I'm guessing that largely due to the explosion in financial institutions offering "online" accounts. Competition is great isn't it?!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
The Orange (ING) That Started It All Is Going Bad
They pratically revolutionized the online savings frenzy, but now they seemed to have lost focus. The high rates were key to their success, and suddenly with all the competition, they've just seem to have accepted taking last place.
I'm pretty dissappointed by ING's recent decisions to lag behind in the rates war. I like the ING site, it's clean and easy to use. But if they can't keep up, then I might have to consider moving almost all of my funds out. The Orange is going bad.
There is hope though. If ING doesn't want to play the rates game, then I think they could offer features. Features, like their "Orange Checkings," that they sent out surveys about 1 year ago, would be a good one. I don't think features are as effective as basic rates, but it could be enough. But still, for me, rates were the biggest draw to ING. We shall see. It seems the online banking business is going through a major stage of evolution. I'm guessing that largely due to the explosion in financial institutions offering "online" accounts. Competition is great isn't it?!
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Remember when E*Trade and Ameritrade were new kids on the brokerage block. Eventually, Schwab, TD Waterhouse, etc got into the online game. E*Trade stuck around, but Schwab quickly became the biggest online broker in the world. However, Schwab was forced to reduce their trade prices.
I don't think ING is really trying to play the rates game. Their target market is people who aren't savvy to the whole online banking scene. I've found them to be easier than other banks to use, and really for the small amount of money I keep in there, the 0.5% difference isn't worth switching the money around all time. They've started to get into other products, but those haven't been as great an idea as the original no-fee, no-minimum savings.. their mortgage rates are OK but not truly competitive and they don't have a regular 30 year fixed mortgage, just ARMs. And they have some mutual funds now but they have rather high fees and I wasn't impressed. Overall I think they are doing OK for now, partially because they already ahve a big customer base, and they're making a little more money than the banks offering higher rates. But as more people get wise to online banking they may begin to lose share.
LAMoneyDude, I do remember E*Trade...I even had an account there...I liked them until I found Scottrade...
Kira, I agree, I don't think ING is playing the rates game either...and if they were, they are doing horribly! I do like the ING website, but it's not going to keep my money there...rates are. Anyway, I'm guessing eventually they will do something to bring money back in...like the Winter Save Up promo.
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