ING are getting desperate

lolly5648

I have just received a letter telling me that any money I put into the Direct Web Saver account will earn 6.3% between 8 October and 31 December. It will then drop to 5.75%. Why do they think anyone will bother with this when they can get that rate and more at ICICI, Icesave, etc

Do they not Know what is happening with interest rates. If they spent less money on advertising and mailshots and more on giving a better interest rate they might be able to retain customers.

Primrose

If ING think people have enough spare time on their hands to transfer money into another account for only three months they must be living on another planet. Busy people who don't have time to chase higher interest rates every day want a good reliable consister provider and I suspect ING have burned their boats for good in that respect. All the advertising and letters they send out now trying to recoup lost customers is a waste of time. I'd be interested to know how much money has been transferred out in the past 12 months by discontented customers as a result of behaviour on interest rates and what sort of bonuses their senior directors are receiving. Sounds as if they've all got their heads buried in the sand like the Northern Rock crowd.

angioma

I got the same letter from ING last week asking me to go back to them and earn the 6.3% until the end of the year. I hardly think anybody who left them through their repeated failure to increase interest rates over the last year are even going to remotely consider it for just 10-11 weeks!

However, there is a sting in the tail to this! I shipped out a significant sum months ago, but left my account open with just a couple of quid in. However, my son has had an account with them for nearly as long as me and has a few thousand in it. For various reasons he has never touched his and still has'nt moved the money elsewhere. But, guess what! He hasn't had the offer of 6.3%!

If I could find a way of doing it, I would like to be able to directly empty my son's account straight into mine, rather than via our respective bank accounts, just so that ING know they have been rumbled! He could then enjoy the 6.3% until the end of the year before moving it back to his.

MattB_4

I get the impression you think ING are either stupid or incompetent! I very much doubt they are either.

planemad

Well they are a little bit silly my friend. Most of us would recognises that "Same Rate For All" means that everybody gets the same interest rate.
This is a slogan that ING have used for many years and still use it to this day which is of course a pack of lies as they are offering "selected customers" a better rate.

Also if you we in a shop and the bread you wanted was £1 but the shop next door did the same bread for 80p i'm sure most people would get the cheaper loaf.
Its the same with savings why earn 5.75 when you could get 6.30, ING now have a poor interest rate that is uncompetitive and they are trying to pull back a bit of custom.

Innys

MattB wrote: »

I get the impression you think ING are either stupid or incompetent! I very much doubt they are either.

Depends on your perspective.

Most of the people on this site thinks that's exactly what ING are, because people here want their money to work as hard as possible.

I would suspect that "Joe Public" has a totally different view, mainly because they can't be bothered to get the best deal. A bank, is a bank, is a bank to them.

You could argue that ING are only interested in business from the second, much larger group. So they target their marketing to suit and don't bother about market leading rates. In that sense, they are neither stupid nor incompetent.

angioma

MattB wrote: »

I get the impression you think ING are either stupid or incompetent! I very much doubt they are either.

No, of course I don't think they are either of these in terms of what I was saying I would like to try out in switching my sons money directly into my higher interest bearing account. It was a tongue in cheek gesture.

I DO think they are being stupid in terms of trying to win back customers they have lost with an interest rate that will last for about 10 weeks. Basically customers they haven't lost don't need to be won back, and those they have lost have no intention of going back in 99% of cases. It is a waste of their time and effort, and makes them look desperate.

Shinds

It's strange how ING only offer these limited incentives to 'selected' customers..?

Why..? They should really offer these types of offers to everyone.... or better still - Just uP their rate!

bristolleedsfan

planemad wrote: »

ING now have a poor interest rate

ings rate is only 0.05% less than nationwides e-saver rate, nationwide spend a lot of money advertising saying that they pay "great savings rates".

rebeccaj

they're quick to reduce their rates when the rate changes though :mad:

"Following the recent Bank of England base rate reduction, we are writing to let you know our new rates.

As of 1 January 2008, our savings account rates are:"

[Deleted User]

yes. Its all come back to shoot them in the foot. They turned away from savers and towards the mortgage business, if I recollect correctly. We all know what is happening in the mortgage business these days. They made a very bad decision when they treated savers so badly and I can only be one of many, who withdrew ALL their money and popped over to icesave, where a goodly sum is now earning 6.7%

I would NEVER go back to ing