ING Direct Internet Banking www.ingdirect.com Review

Overall Rating

initally good interest rate and low initial deposit

Bad (or clueless) Customer Service. Totally not helpful in researching transactions nor advising customers when they decided to do major things--like close their checking accounts. I've never dealt with a company that was so ill-informed or uninterested in their customers...but then again, I never dealt with Enron, so perhaps they might have been worse.

I had set up an ING Savings account back in 2005. Then I decided to set up a checking account with them in 2007. Things seemed to be going well until yesterday. I have my paycheck direct deposited into the ING checking, and yesterday, when I logged into the website to check my payroll amount and pay some online bills I found out that my account had been suddenly closed. I called THREE times yesterday to figure out why the account was closed and where my paycheck was and when I can expect to finally have it. I was told that because I had recently used the overdraft line of credit, paired with a few questionable denied transfers to my savings account in 2005 they had decided to close my account. I did not receive any notice of them considering doing this, obviously, as I had my employer still direct deposits my paycheck into ING. I asked about these supposed denied savings transfers I had (from THREE YEARS ago) and they couldn't provide specifics. I have no idea what those are as I've only deposited into my savings when I had extra money lying around that I was able to put into savings. The overdraft line of credit is there for their customers to use, if they offer it, and I use it on rare occasions (it was just a minimal amount) and I pay it back, why am I being penalized? When I called three times yesterday I was told by the first employee (early in the morning) that he wasn't sure if my paycheck would be returned to my employer OR sent to a linked account. I called back a second time around noon to get a real answer on where my paycheck is (and when I can have it) I was told that it would go to one of my linked checking accounts and would be available in 2 business days (which does a lot for me with a low gas tank, a near-empty fridge, and plans for the weekend). The second employee told me that the funds were going to be sent to a closed account that used to be a linked checking account, so if that happened, I would have to wait at least ANOTHER week for my paycheck. When I called back a 3rd time around 6 pm, I was told that they had finally noted the correct account to return the funds to...but despite me calling that request at noon, they still had not submitted the transfer request, so that initial estimate of "two business days" was probably not realistic at all. I just can't believe their reasons for closing my account, nor the fact that they've had my contact phone, mailing address, and email, but did not bother to let me know about their plans to close my account. We get notices by telephone call or post card when we have a dentist appointment, a hair salon visit, a late cable bill, or an upcoming due car registration, why can't ING bother to inform their customers when they decide to serious things to their accounts?