Online Banking with ING Direct

I was enjoying another great blog post from Get Rich Slowly: 10 Steps to Financial Success in 2010 and there is a tip in there about using sub-accounts at ING Direct.

I’ve been using ING Direct for a couple of years now and it is a great service for keeping track of your accounts. In fact, I’ve made the switch to only online banking.

• Good rates on their savings accounts.
• Easy to set up different sub-accounts with nicknames that are for specific purposes like vacation fund, or emergency fund.
• It’s easy to transfer money back and forth between the accounts.
• Their online checking account is great. Easy to send check electronically (free) and via mail (also free).
• They provide the routing/account/cancelled check if you need to set up direct deposit.
• You get an ATM/Debit/Credit card attached to your checking account which makes access to cash very easy.

Using ING, I’ve set up unique accounts for different purposes and it’s easy for me to keep track of when these accounts are fully funded or are still needing more. For example, I’ve got a summer fund to take care of summer-time expenses when I don’t get a normal pay check. I transfer a bit of money into my summer fund each pay period (automatic transfer is set up in ING) and when summer rolls around I can just transfer what I need from my summer fund into checking. These transfers within accounts takes just a second and the money is instantly available.