Where to bank in a post-ING world?

November 11, 2012 10:09 AM

ING Direct is slowly but surely being absorbed into Capital One. Recently, they even announced that their name will be changing soon. Call me paranoid, but this scares me and I want to find a new home for my money. ("Online" banks preferred.)

I have a checking and savings account with ING, as well as a tiny Roth IRA. The IRA will most likely be heading over to Vanguard soon, so no worries about that.

I'd like for my destination bank/CU to have the following features:

- Free and instantaneous transfers between checking and savings
- Decent Android mobile app w/ photographic check depositing
- Free sending of money to others via email or some such
- Online bill pay system of some kind
- Free ACH transfers to and from a traditional bank

Basically it seems like I need another ING... I've heard good things about Ally and USAA, but I'm not sure if they have all the specific features I'm looking for, so I'd like to hear from current customers if possible.

Thanks so much!

posted by aheckler to Work & Money (15 answers total)

Response by poster: Side note: I am aware of this thread, but wanted to ask again due to my list of required features.
posted by aheckler at 10:14 AM on November 11, 2012

I use Schwab bank, and it has the features you want, except I'm not sure about the sending money by email thing. I do use online bill pay to send people checks, takes a couple days but works great.
posted by medusa at 10:15 AM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ally is the new name for GM Financial - the bank that also happens to make cars. Stay away, I think. I've heard good things about USAA, but ING hasn't yet done anything to actively piss me off, so I'm staying with them ... for now.

My other bank is my credit union, but they offer only 0.1% interest and their web interface is really painful. Otherwise, I'd really just stay with them and keep my money in town.

Very interested to see if others have good recommendations.
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:16 AM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: RedOrGreen: They haven't pissed me off yet either, but at the same time I don't want to wait around until they do. It's a shame though; I loved ING.
posted by aheckler at 10:27 AM on November 11, 2012

I'm a big fan of Ally. I've been with them for few years now, and they've been pretty great; easy to deal with, always available by chat or phone, ATM refunds, decent rates (as much as anyone these days, anyway)... and I haven't been charged a fee for anything, ever. I'm aware of the GM history but so far, so good. The only thing is that they don't (yet) have an Android app with mobile check depositing, but that's slated for later this month.

I had an ING account too but dropped it in favor of Ally, and the Capital One thing makes me think that was a good call.
posted by captainawesome at 10:35 AM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I bank with USAA and regularly evangelize about them to strangers. They have great services, minimal fees, very robust online banking capabilities and top-notch customer service. Happy customer here. Of the features you're looking for, I know they offer most of them. I don't know about the Android app. You can send money to other people fairly easily through transfers or having USAA write a check for you; don't know if there are any options for transferring via email.
posted by aka burlap at 12:02 PM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I hope this isn't a hijack, but I'm curious to know what exactly is the problem with Capital One? What's so bad about them?

I haven't had any problems... yet. I just want to be prepared so that when/if things start going downhill, I have a decent bail-out plan in place.

I've never dealt with Capital One, so I can't comment directly, but I've heard quite a few complaints about their customer service in personal finance forums/blogs.
posted by aheckler at 12:18 PM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm also a satisfied USAA customer, and I can verify that they do have a good Android app with photographic check deposit.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:28 PM on November 11, 2012

It's still in its baby stage, but keep an eye on Simple. There are still a lot of features they need to introduce, but what they have so far is, really, just a pleasure to use.
posted by logic vs love at 12:47 PM on November 11, 2012

I use USAA and have for years (insurance customer since 1995, banking customer for a few years) and second what everyone has said. I use their iPhone app and the photographic check deposit works quite well. To the best of my knowledge there is no "send money by email" option but it's pretty simple to link your account up with your PayPal account if you have one and get that done that way. Have not done ACH with them but I recall when I was looking into it there was some upper limit that seemed not large enough to me, but I've been dealing with a bunch of executor/estate crap lately so this isn't like a normal thing for me. Regarding that, I peppered them with a zillion questions and they've been super great to deal with. I also used some of their other options (track my investments through them, used their "Hey do you need to sell your house? Let us help!") and I have had good results.
posted by jessamyn at 1:43 PM on November 11, 2012

I transferred my online banking needs from ING to Capital One a few years ago, because they had a better interest rate for savings. I have to say I am actually happier with Capital One than I was with ING - they had every service I used with ING, plus higher interest rates, plus I can transfer money quicker than I could with ING, PLUS physical locations/ATMs (depending on where you live). I've had great customer service online, by phone, and in person.

So...a plug for staying where you're at? I'm all for doing research, but it seems a bit cart-before-horse to move your money to avoid being pissed off by a bank that hasn't done anything to piss you off yet.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 1:45 PM on November 11, 2012

Response by poster: I received this MeFi Mail earlier and am reposting it here with the sender's permission:

I can't really respond to your AskMe as I know little about Ally & USAA (other than deciding not to go with them) but I thought I'd poke my nose in this a bit. As an INGD customer first and a CapOne employee second, everything I've heard behind the scenes says they're trying really hard not to screw this up. So much so the INGD folks are still steering the ship and there are no plans to change how things work. If anything there's talk about how to change aspects of the other businesses to be a bit like INGD.

So frankly my recommendation, given they're so vocal about keeping INGD the same, is to call them on things that piss you off publicly via Facebook & Twitter.

And the name thing was inevitable as ING would not let them keep it. The result is a whole lot better than some of the other options I've heard were in consideration. So if none of the other options work out, I hope you don't stress about it too much.

This is of course my personal and completely unofficial opinion.
posted by aheckler at 2:01 PM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

I know you're looking for an alternative to ING but as an ING and Capital One customer, I wanted to chime in that I am still VERY happy with both. I am not at all concerned about the association with Capital One! I have several credit cards and CO has, by far, the best customer service out of all of them. Yes, they do use call centers in third-world countries with people who are sometimes not entirely easy to understand, but as soon as I call about an issue I am immediately transferred to a US call center where I talk to someone who is friendly, helpful, and not at all pushy about upselling me on stupid services. Their fraud protection program is top-notch too.
posted by joan_holloway at 2:11 PM on November 11, 2012

Ally is amazing: good interest rates (even on checking!), they refund ATM fees for any ATM that you use, you can always reach a person on the phone very quickly. I've got no idea what kind of bad experience RedOrGreen has had with them, but in my experience (I've been with them for a long time), they've done everything right.
posted by bsdfish at 8:39 PM on November 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

nthing Ally Bank! My wife and I love them! If you can get in, I've heard great things about USAA as well.
posted by sgo at 11:13 AM on November 12, 2012