ING - any views?

ShelfStacker_3

Anyone got any views on Capital One savings?

http://www.capitalonesavings.co.uk/

Rates aren't wonderful, but they've been pretty safe so far...

Primrose

Regarding ING, we moved all our savings there bar £8 out to Icesave because we were fed up with the way ING treated their customers on interest rates . Having now got our Icesave money refunded, I'd be wary of putting any more money in a non-UK bank. I know it's covered by the Euro guarantee but that hasn't been tested yet and if it is, it may not work as efficiently as the FSCS scheme did. Besides, until we know how ING are going to perform towards their customer interest-wise under their new arrangement it may be worth holding back.

JohnAnt

blondie leopard: Egg's separate license means an account in Egg and an account in Citi itself are each separately covered for 50K max. But it is still owned by Citi.

JohnAnt

Many thanks to all for the v. useful feedback. This is just a few thou of cash I'll be using up monthly by next March in any case, and just need easy access to. (My main stuff is stashed in various places elsewhere in fixed-term.)
I must say I was dismayed by Egg's poor communications. They dropped their interest rate by the full 1.5% on 14th November, but still haven't notified me of any change in rates. And on their website you can only work it out by looking to see what their latest low rate is and adding 1.8% onto it. So the bonus rate is now 5.05%. To add to the confusion they're currently splashing their new introductory rate as '4.5%' on their front page. 'It's a sizzler,' they crow. Well, it isn't, and if other account holder see that and think their 6.55% has been trashed down to 4.5% without notification, they'll not be happy.
Actually, even Northern Rock are doing better than Egg's 5.05% for instant access - NR esaver=5.15%, and of course a promise of safety.

bjorn_again

Primrose wrote: »

Regarding ING, we moved all our savings there bar £8 out to Icesave because we were fed up with the way ING treated their customers on interest rates .

I think there is a moral here somewhere.

bjorn_again

If anyone has any concerns about the safety of their money with ING, they should consider the following.
1. Do they seriously believe that Alistair Darling would place "rescued" funds into an institution that was itself in danger of failing?
2. Does anyone seriously believe, that in the unlikely event that ING were to go to the wall, AD would not be honoured bound to guarantee their savings on the basis that he himself put them there?
3. Does anyone seriously believes that ING will go to the wall? Not only have EU leaders made a committment that no major Euro institution will be allowed to fail, the Dutch government itself recently 'invested' Euro 10 bn. in ING.
The pairing of ING with Icesave is redolent of the belief that "W*gs begin at Calais".

JohnAnt

LOL!
But getting the balance right isn't simple, is it - I mean, the balance between consistently good rates and safety.

bjorn_again

JohnAnt wrote: »

LOL!
But getting the balance right isn't simple, is it - I mean, the balance between consistently good rates and safety.

Unfortunately, rates and risk are usually inversionally proportionate to each other.

roddydogs

Your missing the relevant point-you are guarenteed the 1.67% bonus for 1 year-if rates drop by another 2% forecast, or even if they dont this will be the top paying INSTANT ACCESS a/c out there. There no point in posting "You can get this fixed rate" were talking Instant Access!!

opinions4u

bjorn_again wrote: »

If anyone has any concerns about the safety of their money with ING, they should consider the following.
1. Do they seriously believe that Alistair Darling would place "rescued" funds into an institution that was itself in danger of failing?
Not knowingly. But every bank on the planet seems to be 'at risk' at the moment and without Dutch government recapitalisation they would have crashed.
2. Does anyone seriously believe, that in the unlikely event that ING were to go to the wall, AD would not be honoured bound to guarantee their savings on the basis that he himself put them there?
Of course he has made an unstated guarantee. But at some point there won't be any money left in the pot to honour it with. The man was Chancellor last year too - massive tax receipts and he still borrowed £20bn (before Northern Rock is factored in). His judgement ain't perfect!
3. Does anyone seriously believes that ING will go to the wall? Not only have EU leaders made a committment that no major Euro institution will be allowed to fail, the Dutch government itself recently 'invested' Euro 10 bn. in ING.
No, I don't think they will go to the wall, because they have been 'rescued'. But their balance sheet had the same sort of gaping holes we see with HBOS and RBS.

For what it's worth, I would be happy from a security point of view to have money in ING. Not too keen on some of their ways of doing business though.