All good things must come to an end

I’ve been a saver for as long as I can remember and while I love watching my cash grow, my saving sprees tend to be goal oriented. As a child, I would save up my Dad’s spare change for book purchases, or as a teen I diligently put away baby-sitting money for tuition fees, and as a summer intern, I’d stash away my salaries for European travels during my semesters abroad.  

It comes as no surprise then that I’m in love with ING. Their motto of “save your money” speaks to my soul in the same way that Madonna’s music does. In addition to switching from CIBC to ING's THRIVE chequing account and a having Registered Investment Savings Plan with them, I have several savings accounts that receive automatic deposits with each pay cheque.  My favourite part of their savings accounts is that I can give each account a cute nickname and establish a goal for the account. ING then sets up a bar graph to show me how I’m doing and their CEO, Peter R. Aceto even e-mails me to congratulate me when I’ve reached my goal. 

At the moment, I have 5 savings accounts: one for a cash down payment on our next home, another for vacations, one for Fergie & Fernando should they need unexpected vet care, another for Christmas gifts, and finally an emergency stash that also covers out of pocket medical bills like my glasses or enormous bulk purchases of Reactin from Costco.

This morning I went to set-up another 2 savings accounts: one for our wedding in summer 2013 and the other for a king size bed. The only problem? A giant error messaged appeared announcing that ING limits the amount of savings accounts you can have. Darn! While I appreciate the other accounts that ING offers, they don’t suit my savings needs and I really love having one account per goal.  

In one Error message, ING broke up with me.
It's almost as bad as doing it via text message!

What’s a girl to do? I’m considering taking out the cash each month and stashing it into two giant piggy banks, but this seems unpractical. 

My love affair with ING savings accounts has reached its peak, and I’m going to have to look elsewhere for my savings options. I feel like I’m about to cheat on  my favourite bank, but then again, ING is the one who is ending our relationship out of the blue. 

*Rosie*

ING has extended their $100 bonus

Good news! I realize that when I wrote last month about my decision to switch my CIBC chequing account (which charged me $13 for the pleasure of using their services) to an ING Thrive chequing account (which gave me $100 to thank me for being their customer), I didn't leave you much time to make the switch as well. 

Fortunately, ING has extended their promotion so if you open an ING Thrive account and have your payroll automatically deposited into it by August 31st, you'll receive $100 bonus. The best part is that there are no monthly fees, free first batch of 50 cheques, free ATM access, and several other wonderful benefits explained in full here. To set up my account, to add my payees and to send in the paperwork to my HR department, it took less than 20 minutes. In the words of Gwen Stefani, what are you waiting for?

I must ask, what are you waiting for? photo source

I have been a fan of ING's savings accounts for years (mostly because I can nickname the account anything I want) and I am now pleased to be doing my daily banking with them. Using their handy ABM locator (available online or on your iPhone as an Ap), I have found 2 machines within a 2 minute walk to work and 1 behind my condo building. So the inability to access your cash quickly is no longer an excuse not to bank with ING. 

The only hiccup that I have found so far is in regards to e-mail money transfers. I did receive one recently from a friend who banks with the Bank of Montreal and when I accepted the e-mail link, I could only deposit the money into a CIBC, RBC, TD Bank, PC Financial, or BMO account. I phoned into ING to explain this dilemma and they took my call within 35 seconds. The rep explained that at a head office level, ING is working to be added onto this network list, but for now, the big banks are purposely excluding them. She said that their service and products are so good that the other banks are going out of their way to make the lives of ING clients difficult whenever they can. I found her explanation to be amusing, although not that helpful. My Eye Candy has not made the switch to ING as he has several automatic payees each month from his account that makes the $100 bonus not worth the aggravation so I simply deposited my friend's e-mail money transfer into his CIBC account and he wrote me a cheque. This is the only setback that I have experienced so far using ING chequing and in the grand scheme of things, it is not a big deal.

While you're at the ING site setting up your chequing account, why not start a savings account too? And if you're related to me, I suggest you call the account Cuba! or Havana Nights and start contributing $25 weekly to begin saving for our family fun vacation next April. The best is yet to come as if you use my Orange Key number 31643528S1 and deposit $100, ING will give you $25 and me $25. We will both $25 closer to the sand, sea, and sunshine.

No riddle me this, when was the last time someone gave you free money? 

*Rosie*

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*