Money in the bank

Did you earn an extra $100 this week just for being paid? I did!

Last week, I opened up an ING THRIVE chequing account in addition to the multiple savings accounts, GICs, RISAs, and a TFSA that I already have with them. I had never really thought of ING as a place to do my daily transactions, and I doubt that I was the only one. As an incentive for people to open chequing accounts and to arrange for their paycheques to be automatically deposited into them, ING offers $100 bonus.

I was a little skeptical at first, but with their THRIVE chequing account ING promises:

o        no monthly fees

o        a free first batch of cheques

o        free email money transfers

o        free bill payments

o        free ATM access

o        free Interac purchases

o        and more perks click here

Once I knew that ING would be giving me an INTERAC card and that an ATM is located less than 200 meters from my condo, I was hooked. It took less than 2 minutes to sign up for the account, and I followed their 10 minute tutorial to easily add payees for bill payments and to quickly fill out the forms that my workplace payroll department would need to switch my paycheques deposits. From there, I pdf’ed the form and emailed it to my HR rep with a request to update my banking information.

In less than 20 minutes, I earned myself $100 with ING and I will be saving $13 a month by not paying for my daily banking activity. I am looking forward to calling CIBC now to close my current account with them. I had unsuccessfully tried to negotiate  twice to lower my monthly service charge fees and now, I get the pleasure of taking my business elsewhere.

As for what I’m going to do with my $100? Each month, I’ve been paying $50 to Brault Martineau for an entertainment unit that I purchased last fall (no money down, no interest) and I only have 3 more payments to make. These are automatic with my CIBC account so I have just enough left in my CIBC chequing account to pay this month’s charge, and then, I’ll be going into Brault Martineau with my $100 to eliminate the rest of the balance. It will be one less monthly expense and earlier than initially thought. Thank you ING!

If you haven’t already signed up for ING savings or chequing, I encourage you do so. For a savings account, if you use my Orange Key number 31643528S1 and deposit $100, ING will give you $25 and me $25. We both win! The $100 promotion associated with the THRIVE chequing account is on until July 31st so I’m sure you can also squeeze in 20 minutes to get this organized. It’s not often that you make money for being someone’s customer so why not take advantage of it?

*Rosie*