ING 5.1% fixed 6-month for existing customers (merged)

klondyke

klondyke wrote:

Are you sre you can't withdraw some withot closing account?

My email says:
"Please be aware that if you were to decide to close your fixed-rate savings account before the end of the 6 month term, you will incur a loss of interest. We would deduct 90 days of gross interest from the interest you have earned or, if you have earned less than 90 days interest, no interest will be paid to you."

That doesn't seem to preclude some withdrawals.

Will probably give them a ring in the morning to make sure.

Answering my own query as the printed blurb came today, but in case it's of use to others - no you cannot make any withdrawal during the 6 months without closing the account, in which case interest lost as above.

Also, you cannot add to your deposit during the term - but, as you can have up to 10 accounts, one presumably simply starts another if extra money becomes available for investment.

Paul_Herring

Milarky wrote:

But I'd be interested to hear how other people feel about ING now they are three years old?

Crap. They started off with a market leading product with no catches, then dropped the interest rates making the account more mediocre. They then tried to bounce the account up with a '6 month 6%' 'offer' or whatever it was back then. They now appear to be messing around again, with a new savings offer, leaving the old accounts behind.

Why can't they just have one product with a decent interest rate? Instead of doing what banks and BS's have done for years and have old accounts with dire rates of interest while creating new account names with headline grabbing figures?

I thought ING tried to pride themselves on not doing this sort of thing when they first opened.

Limes

In their defence though, no company is going to make a sustainable business out of just one product/service. Eventually something has to change as market pressures come to bear - particularly for savings which (if it's a single product as in ING's case) is more likely than not going to be subject to the pressures of the yield curve, which up until fairly recently was pretty rotten.

To be fair, although they have now a zero differential from base rate the rate is still reasonably competitively priced - not market leading but a good solid rate - if you compare the other 400 or so instant access-type products in the market place it is well above average and for the simple benefits the account offers it is much less of a headache to operate than some of the other ones out there. I don't think that their commitment to the standard savings account is going to change. Their rate hasn't plummetted so far in 3 years as it may well have done on other providers' accounts (Take A&L's Online Saver accounts or Egg's Internet Savings for example, or the very fact that some of the big institutions have only rarely or never even got as high as base rate - you know who you are NatWest, Lloyds TSB and Barclays!!).

A fixed rate of 5.1% AER for 6 months is a risk-free and short enough term to not make too much of a difference to accessibility and is definitely a great rate.

I must admit, I'm quite looking forward to seeing what they do next. . .

Paul_Herring

Limes wrote:

A fixed rate of 5.1% AER for 6 months is a risk-free and short enough term to not make too much of a difference to accessibility and is definitely a great rate.

Well considering I'm using a no-frills account giving me 5.15% AER (granted this isn't guaranteed, but it's certainly not a time limited bonus rate,) and you'll perhaps see why I cannot work up any great enthusiasm for ING's latest attempt to skew the best buy tables.

Limes

Understand and appreciate the sentiment.

A 6 month fixed rate product though is hardly going to upset the best buy tables, just like their 6% offer had no effect on instant access tables as it was only to existing customers. Both of these wouldn't be able to be classified by most of the best buy table providers anyway. I don't know of any newspaper titles that have a category that would include a 6 month fixed rate product, they tend to show a variety of 1-3 year products.

I guess we'll just have to see how ICICI develops over time to see if their experience is any different when it comes to questions of sustainability.

Secret_Wookie

Paul_Herring wrote:

Crap. They started off with a market leading product with no catches, then dropped the interest rates making the account more mediocre. They then tried to bounce the account up with a '6 month 6%' 'offer' or whatever it was back then. They now appear to be messing around again, with a new savings offer, leaving the old accounts behind.

Why can't they just have one product with a decent interest rate? Instead of doing what banks and BS's have done for years and have old accounts with dire rates of interest while creating new account names with headline grabbing figures?

I thought ING tried to pride themselves on not doing this sort of thing when they first opened.

Take a look at some of ING's overseas websites

You will see that they offer a number of other products such as mortgages. (Also due out here soon)

There strategy in other countries has been to launch first with a
competitive savings account in order to build up a big liability book which they then use to fund lending of mortgages and loans etc. INGdirect in canada for example offer over 14 different products.

With the new product launches my guess is that they will continue with the savings account matching base rate for the forseable future. If you want the best rates you are going to probably have to take new products like this or chase them elsewhere.


http://www.ingdirect.ca/en/

codetown

Limes wrote:

A fixed rate of 5.1% AER for 6 months is a risk-free and short enough term to not make too much of a difference to accessibility and is definitely a great rate.

While I understand that some companies will limit their flexibility at a certain time, I think Monesavingexpert spirit is to fight and search for better, not sit and relax letting them profit on your money!

Given there is an almost certain 0.25 percent rate rise coming in the next 3 months from BOE, I would suggest NOT to get into a 6 months fixed rate.

A more flexible and still good approach is the one offered from Coventry First, 5.1% AER and more
http://www.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk/coventryfirst/home.aspx
(only catch is that you have to have 1000 pounds a month available to deposit on it besides your savings)

Limes

codetown wrote:

While I understand that some companies will limit their flexibility at a certain time, I think Monesavingexpert spirit is to fight and search for better, not sit and relax letting them profit on your money!

Fair enough comment. Leads me to question why talk about fixed rates on MSE at all then?

codetown

Everyone has its own preferences and fixed rate might be convenient for the long term (2-3 years) if you believe the BOE rate will at a certain point go back down.

But clearly it is fairly predictable what will happen for the next 6 months (i.e. BOE will be 0.25% higher than today in 2-3 months and then stable), so investing now in a fixed 6 month at the same rate you can get in a more flexible product (like the Coventry First) is a mistake in my view.

ahll

If ICICI already has an interest rate of 5.15% AER why bother with this offer from ING ?