ING Direct and VirtualBank both raise rates to 2.80% APY
Today ING Direct and VirtualBank announced that they are raising the rate on their online savings accounts from 2.60% to 2.80%*. ING was a surprise to me, as I thought that they would become the CitiBank of online banks - i.e. they don’t have to offer the best rates, because of their strong “brand” image of stability and advertising. They are certainly spending a lot on advertising, I just got an ad for it on my TiVo. VirtualBank and ING are definitely egging each other, to our benefit!
Of course, both of them are still lagging behind other online banks, notably Emigrant Direct (reviews) at 3.25% and Capital One at 3.05%. This is probably in anticipation that the Fed is going to raise rates another 0.25% today. I personally use ING, VirtualBank, and Emigrant Direct. I like VirtualBank for their easy transfers, ING holds my emergency money nice and safe, and Emigrant holds most of my cash since it has the highest interest.
If you are interested in opening an ING Direct account, you can get $25 free with just a $1 opening deposit for opening an account there. Combined with the competitive rate, that’s pretty sweet. But not if you just open account on the front page - you’ll need someone to refer you, and they’ll get $10. There is a similar deal for VirtualBank - get referred and open with $100 minimum and you’ll get $20 free. The person referring you gets $20.
Of course, I’d be happy to refer you to either of these banks since I am a customer. I’ve referred a lot of people, amazingly with not one complaint. You’ll see the bonuses in 2 days or less. Just e-mail me. Serious inquiries only please. Thanks!
* the rate for VirtualBank may not show on the front page, but it is definitely 2.80% as confirmed by Bankrate.com. Specifically, 2.80% for balances $10k or less, 2.75% for over $10k.
Find more in Deals & Offers | 3/22/05, 10:29am | Trackback
March 22nd, 2005 at 2:14 pm
More clarifications to some good questions that I’ve gotten regarding referrals and opening an account:
1) With ING you have to keep your $1 minimum deposit there for 30 days in order to keep the $25 bonus. Not too shabby for a buck. There are also no minimums and fees, so you can take the money out after that if you wish. Otherwise, enjoy the interest!
2) With VirtualBank you won’t be able to take out the bonus for 10 days I believe, and you’ll need to keep the account open for 6 months. But again there are no minimums or monthly fees, so you can just leave the balance at $0 if you want.
3) Yep, after you sign up you can start referring other people yourself. Tell your friends! Gotta save them before they go and open one up without the bonus
March 24th, 2005 at 3:34 am
I just deposited a few hundreds bucks to a bank account at 10% for just one month. Want more - you can have 16.5% a year. Where? A nice bank in Kyiv, Ukraine :))