ING Group is a Dutch multinational company with over 53,000 employees with a presence in over 40 countries worldwide. It ranks #89 in Forbe’s 2019 World’s Largest Public Companies just below Axa Group (#85), PepsiCo (#86), Roche (#88).
ING has a presence in some countries with their online-only banking service. This means that they do not have any physical branches like other banks. This has a couple of advantages including no more queuing in banks before getting served. having no physical bank means less property to lease, fewer people to manage, and fewer utilities to pay – less cost of doing business overall. This gives them the ability to give better rates for their savings account.
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They are able to give up to a 4% interest rate for your savings. Without the promo, ING still gives an attractive 2.5% (rates may vary per country). If you do the math, deducting the withholding tax, the effective interest rate is 3.2% (promo) and 2% (without promo) per annum.
Computation of interest earned:
(Available end of day balance x interest rate) x (1 day / 365 days*) x Number of Days Held
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*366 days for leap year
If you deposit 500,000 and held it from March 1 to 31, 2020, you will earn an interest of approximately 1,358.9 for 31 days (500,000*3.2%)*(1/365)*31 days. Without the promo, your 500,000 will earn approximately 849.32 per month. The rate is better than a savings account and better than a time deposit. The best part, there is no lock-in period. You can withdraw your money any time without penalties. This is unlike a time deposit where you cannot touch your money for 30/60/90/365 days depending on your holding period.
All the process from opening an account to depositing and transferring money from ING to other banks are all done online through the app. It took approximately 1.5 days when I tried to deposit a check and another approximately 1.5 days to transfer from ING to my own bank account.
Of course, being an online-only bank, there are currently no physical ATMs to withdraw your money from, you need to transfer it to another bank via payment systems. The whole thing is very convenient and fast. Be mindful of the fees and transfer limits.
Using ING Online-Only Banking
You can keep an XXX percentage of your emergency fund with ING. The reason why you cannot keep all your emergency funds here is that it takes 1 to 2 days to transfer the money. If you are in dire need of money, you simply cannot go to an ATM and withdraw. Use ING to take advantage of its very good interest.
