Sneaky ING

Paul_Herring

Fella wrote: »

Wow, hadn't realised they were quite so awful. Shame considering they were so good to begin with.

.. you appear to be somewhat behind the times - they've been awful since November '06, and haven't improved in the interim

Fella

I knew they were no longer competetive, but just not by how much.

xiox

I've held £0.00 with them for many months (maybe it's a year now), and they still insist on sending me regular statements and notices about interest rate changes. I did try to close the account by sending them a letter asking them to close it. They sent me a letter back telling me that my letter was non secure (!) and I had to ring them to close it. I can't believe they can't accept a signed letter as proof of identity, especially as the account holds £0.

I couldn't be bothered with their security requirements, so they end up losing money sending me useless letters.

ad44downey

Do they still have any customers left? I thought they deliberately reduced their savings interest rates to get rid of as many customers as possible, a bit like Egg are doing now.

Paul_Herring

ad44downey wrote: »

Do they still have any customers left? I thought they deliberately reduced their savings interest rates to get rid of as many customers as possible, a bit like Egg are doing now.

Egg are 'sacking' their customers - ING basically gave them a 'wage reduction,' and hoped that they wouldn't 'resign.'

Slightly different

david72

Primrose wrote: »

But the "ING" Saver of the Year Award must undoubtedly go to Milarky with his £13 saved across his 11 accounts. Boy, how they must gnash their teeth at the way he's taking the p*ss out of them after they way they've treated their customers. What an irritation for them having to credit such small sums of interest to his accounts and the management time it must take. Keep it up Mate !

It's an amusing plan, but let's not forget one important detail: the computer doesn't care about the effort! The development costs of ING's computer systems will have been written down long ago, and the computing time costs in updating all the "barely open" accounts each month will probably still nevertheless be pretty marginal.

Perhaps a more pressing thought is the "prize lottery" effect. Every one of us (and that still includes me, at present) who hasn't quite bothered to get around to closing an ING account with only a quid or so left in it has effectively played a small part in contributing to a grand total of thousands of pounds (if not hundreds of thousands of pounds) for ING to play with, that they can loan out and earn interest on. Each of those solitary pounds doesn't make much difference to each of us individually, but ING will certainly be winning big on it! (And then think of all those other moribund savings accounts with other banks that we haven't quite got around to closing down either..)

So, if you'd all each like to send me £1: it's only a pound, eh!

shown73

On the other hand, there are no threads on here debating whether ING is "safe" or not, as with Icesave, etc. Not defending them, but it may be attractive to some, security that is. The people running ING are obviously not stupid, but I do wonder what their reasoning is. There is a long-term strategy in there somewhere, but it's certainly well hidden!

EalingSaver

Am I missing something? ING website is now showing 6% for new customers, not 5.7% (and yes that is with a high 12 month 'bonus' with a poor underlying rate).

I finally closed my ING accounts some months back (having pretty much emptied them already). Now feeling twitchy given current conditions and want to spread from some of my other savings accounts, I could even be tempted, though I say it through very gritted teeth, to open up with them again...

nilrem_2

shown73 wrote: »

On the other hand, there are no threads on here debating whether ING is "safe" or not, as with Icesave, etc. Not defending them, but it may be attractive to some, security that is. The people running ING are obviously not stupid, but I do wonder what their reasoning is. There is a long-term strategy in there somewhere, but it's certainly well hidden!

IMHO the reason that there are no threads here debating whether ING is safe or not is due to the fact that most 'canny' savers here have removed the majority of their cash from ING and simply don't care whether ING is safe or not!

shown73

I doubt it, Nilrem, with respect. ING are pretty big in the rest of the EU, its a pretty solid institution, as far as I can see. I must admit, I can't see why they would alienate so many customers/investors, but there must be an underlying strategy somewhere. Doesn't help us in the short term, of course, I pulled my modest wedge out along with the herd, but even a slight movement would have me back in, I think, if only for safety's sake. I don't have enough to gamble, wish I did!