One of my long time favorite “banking” institutions over the years has been the Dutch bank Ing. I have had a savings account with them for about 20 years. More recently I have opened a checking and brokerage (Sharebuider) accounts with them. Always appreciated that you could call them and immediately reach a human being who had a good grasp of the English language and how their accounts operate. This is so unlike so many big financial institutions these days and something I reward by refusing to maintain accounts with those entities that take their customers for granted.
With great trepidation I read recently that Ing Direct was acquired by Capital One Bank. Unlike Ing, I have thought of Capital One as a predatory financial institution. Their account offers in the past seem too often to have hidden fees with marketing pitches that turn out to be traps once they have a hold of your money or if you use their credit services.
Carefully Capital One will be watched to see if they mess up Ing. Just read an email from Capital One that they are adding the ability to scan deposits to the Ing accounts. That has the potential to be a great improvement and takes using Ing accounts to another level, not just to be used as a secondary account. Getting money directly into their accounts has always been one of the drawbacks of Ing accounts requiring another account to deposit into before making online transfers.
Best of luck to Capital One on their new acquisition. Don’t mess up a good thing please.
Related articles
- Fed Approves Capital One’s Deal for ING Direct (dealbook.nytimes.com)
- Capital One Has 21% Upside Off ING Deal: Citigroup (thestreet.com)
- ING Direct Consumers Take to Twitter to Bash Acquisition by Capital One (adage.com)
John F Howes on 