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I know this is VERY off topic, however I would like to pass it on to our forum members...ING savings are offering an initial deposit of $123 (i.e they will give you $123) if you sign up an account with them today, they have a high interest rate of 5.40%, no joining fees, no maintenance fees, no minimum deposit and no limit on the no. of transactions you do. I don't work or have any affiliation with ING except that I already have a savings account with them and find it great. This is only valid until 11pm tonight. If you want to sign up, you MUST go via this url.. Cheers,

http://www.ingdirect.com.au/SM2005/123.asp?m=FAIRFAX%20DIGITAL&r=RON%20MED%20REC%20CPA%20GINGER&id=2037

Uhh... they're not paying you to say this are you?

Geoff

Pardon my natural cynicism, but what's the catch?

Minimum deposit periods or required deposits? Nasty Ts&Cs ?

Banks simply don't give away money, after all. What's to stop you withdrawing the $123?

The old addage: If it sound to good to be true... it is

ING have given money away in deals like this for ages. Usually it's $20 or $25 though... wonder what the significance of $123 is? Pity I already have an account!

Deposit into "Nikon Bank" is better!

You mean the "Birddog Bank of Nikon," eh Birdy?

Capturing a client costs money no matter how you look at it. For ING to advertise to people costs. This offer costs too, but they get lots of word of mouth advertising like this here for free. What we are a looking at is probably a genuine offer with a sound financial basis from their perspective. For everyone who takes the money and runs they'll no doubt end up with another customer who stays and from whom they make money by lending their deposits to someone else or ledning someone else's money to them.

too bad 4 me, i already have a savings maximiser account with them, but i am passing this on to others...

thanks for the link

As MCWB said, this is a pretty standard practice for ING to drum up interest. Several of my work colleagues have taken advantage of their little payouts in the past and they're annoyed they missed out on this increased amount! My filtering systems won't let me access this at work but I'll be straight onto it as soon as I get home.

No catches Gary... they are just trying to build market share... I've banked with ING for ages and I think I got $25 when I opened my account... $123 is very generous though although I'm sure that they've done their sums and this is probably a good alternative to paying for extensive advertising.

No fees, no minimum deposit, no minimum savings period...

They are just a competitive bank - unlike most Aussie banks...
Another good example is the HSBC... no bank fees and they pay me 5% interest on my cheque account...

I just laugh every time I hear people moaning about bank charges - I haven't paid a cent in years...

The big-4 banks rely on people's cynicism and lethargy to stop them changing accounts... I closed all my accounts with the ANZ (personal and business) about 4 years ago and they didn't even ask me why... That's how arrogant they are...

Thanks for the tip! I've been thinking about opening an ING account for a while and this was just the incentive I needed.

Don't even get me started on bank charges. Commonwealth has just informed me that I will have to pay fees to transfer money between my joint accounts on the internet. The Cheek! I've been with them (don't know why) for 10 years and they couldn't give a stuff. I'm not a customer I'm just another number on their list. If only everyone could leave them at the same time... that'd really f**k them.

So I'm thinking about doing this, and as I've only got less than 8 hours to do this, can someone tell me how the hell they make money out of this?

agriffiths wrote:Thanks for the tip! I've been thinking about opening an ING account for a while and this was just the incentive I needed.

Don't even get me started on bank charges. Commonwealth has just informed me that I will have to pay fees to transfer money between my joint accounts on the internet. The Cheek! I've been with them (don't know why) for 10 years and they couldn't give a stuff. I'm not a customer I'm just another number on their list. If only everyone could leave them at the same time... that'd really f**k them.

yeah I'm rather peeved about that too...

Am looking around at the moment...
What are ING's e-bank facilities like?

I've been trying to apply for this but every time I click the Apply now button nothing happens or i get redirected to the page I'm already on.
Is anyone else having trouble?

No trouble at my end. The ING sign up site was a little slow though.
As far as I can tell the E-bank facilities seem pretty straight forward. It gives you the option to have money automatically transfered from your existing acount on a monthly basis and you get to choose the amount, and how often. Check out their website for more info.
I'm searching for a new bank (to replace Commonewealth) as we speak. I'm fed up with them. Let me know how you go MHD.

rokkstar wrote:I've been trying to apply for this but every time I click the Apply now button nothing happens or i get redirected to the page I'm already on.
Is anyone else having trouble?

What are your browser's popup settings?

I just went through with no issues, although a couple of screens were a bit slow.

Nnnnsic wrote:So I'm thinking about doing this, and as I've only got less than 8 hours to do this, can someone tell me how the hell they make money out of this?

Nobody's saying that they make money out of it... but they probably save a lot of money on advertising and give it to their clients instead of the advertising agencies... They have built a solid market share for savings accounts in the few years that they have been active here... They make their money at the other end of the market by lending out your money in the form of mortgages...

agriffiths wrote:Thanks for the tip! I've been thinking about opening an ING account for a while and this was just the incentive I needed. Very Happy

Don't even get me started on bank charges. Commonwealth has just informed me that I will have to pay fees to transfer money between my joint accounts on the internet. The Cheek! I've been with them (don't know why) for 10 years and they couldn't give a stuff. I'm not a customer I'm just another number on their list. If only everyone could leave them at the same time... that'd really f**k them.

I'm just in the process of moving my wife's accounts to HSBC from Commonwealth... She actually works for them and still has to pay the fees... Vote with your feet!!!

MHD wrote:yeah I'm rather peeved about that too...

Am looking around at the moment...
What are ING's e-bank facilities like?

ING don't do transactional banking - they specialise in the savings accounts such as this... If you want a fee free option for transactional banking try HSBC's Online Savings Account... Only drawback is the lack of branches, but you can use any post office to deposit / withdraw money.

Alternatively I think BankWest have a similar product...

Branches? who the hell needs branches... give me free internet transactions and next to free auto-teller... and you can charge the earth for me to walk into a branch as far as I am concerned!

So if I have this account, I just deposit money and make interest off of it... I fail to see what they're making out of this... they have to be making something, otherwise I don't understand the point of doing it from a business perspective...

MHD wrote:Branches? who the hell needs branches... give me free internet transactions and next to free auto-teller... and you can charge the earth for me to walk into a branch as far as I am concerned!

My thoughts entirely...

HSBC's Online Savings Account is totally fee free (apart from unusual things like bank cheques) and you get 5 free ATM transactions (from any bank's ATM) per month...
You can however use cash-out with EFTPOS and post-office withdrawal for free to tide you over... If you use other bank's ATMs more than 5 times, you pay $1.50 a shot... see the full details HERE BTW... I do not receive commission from the HSBC... I just STRONGLY object to paying bank fees for accessing my own money and want as many other people to take advantage of this...

I wonder if "Cash For Comments" works online...

Nnnnsic wrote:So if I have this account, I just deposit money and make interest off of it... I fail to see what they're making out of this... they have to be making something, otherwise I don't understand the point of doing it from a business perspective...

Leigh... See my reply to your earlier question above...

They make their money in the mortgage arena... They use your savings as collateral in the financial markets and they are then allowed to lend out 6 times that amount in mortgages... The mortgage rates are slightly higher than the savings interest --- therefore they make money... Lots of it... They are the 4th biggest bank in the world, so it must work...

leek wrote:ING don't do transactional banking - they specialise in the savings accounts such as this... If you want a fee free option for transactional banking try HSBC's Online Savings Account... Only drawback is the lack of branches, but you can use any post office to deposit / withdraw money.

Alternatively I think BankWest have a similar product...

HSBC have ATMs though, don't they? That's about all I'd need, I suspect. As well as foreign access to my account while travelling. As long as I have access to two ATM accounts, I can deal with just about anything.

I find going to the Post Office - especially the one on Bondi Road - to about as refreshing (in terms of the pleasant customer service experience) as a visit to the dentist.

So if they somehow lose a lot of money, do you hypothetically lose your money?

Nnnnsic wrote:So if they somehow lose a lot of money, do you hypothetically lose your money?

I think they might have insurance.

But they'd have to lose a hell of a lot of money for it to do more than cut profits. Australian banks make 4+ billion profit regularly, if ING is the 4th largest in the world (said above) they'd be raking more than that in.

gstark wrote:

leek wrote:ING don't do transactional banking - they specialise in the savings accounts such as this... If you want a fee free option for transactional banking try HSBC's Online Savings Account... Only drawback is the lack of branches, but you can use any post office to deposit / withdraw money.

Alternatively I think BankWest have a similar product...

HSBC have ATMs though, don't they? That's about all I'd need, I suspect. As well as foreign access to my account while travelling. As long as I have access to two ATM accounts, I can deal with just about anything.

I find going to the Post Office - especially the one on Bondi Road - to about as refreshing (in terms of the pleasant customer service experience) as a visit to the dentist.

They do... but they are few and far between... They have 12 in NSW and luckily for you, one of them is in Bondi Junction... Here's a full list of their locations: http://hsbc.com.au/utility/locations/branch.html

Yes, HSBC has branch in Burwood and Hurstville.

pippin88 wrote:

Nnnnsic wrote:So if they somehow lose a lot of money, do you hypothetically lose your money?

I think they might have insurance.

But they'd have to lose a hell of a lot of money for it to do more than cut profits. Australian banks make 4+ billion profit regularly, if ING is the 4th largest in the world (said above) they'd be raking more than that in.

Sorry - my Sony... ING are actually the 17th biggest in the world... I was thinking of HSBC who are actually the 3rd biggest...

Nnnnsic wrote:So if they somehow lose a lot of money, do you hypothetically lose your money?

Yes, but that's no different from any other bank.

What all banks do is simply borrow from you at x% and then lend to someone else at x+ 2%, or along those lines. They make their money on the margins.

gstark wrote:

Nnnnsic wrote:So if they somehow lose a lot of money, do you hypothetically lose your money?

Yes, but that's no different from any other bank.

What all banks do is simply borrow from you at x% and then lend to someone else at x+ 2%, or along those lines. They make their money on the margins.

And charges you bank fees, it means it pays you $5.00 and will take back from you $7.00

I'm probably not seeing the big picture here as I'd probably only work in small numbers... like under the 1000 buck mark... they make their money off of bigger numbers like around the upper thousands... i.e. beyound 25,000... etc.

So, hypothetically, starting this account (which must be as easy as 1-2-3, hence the $123), if I didn't put anymore money in by the end of a year, I'd have made.. what... maybe 7-10 bucks?

Hmm...

Nnnnsic wrote:I'm probably not seeing the big picture here as I'd probably only work in small numbers... like under the 1000 buck mark... they make their money off of bigger numbers like around the upper thousands... i.e. beyound 25,000... etc.

So, hypothetically, starting this account (which must be as easy as 1-2-3, hence the $123), if I didn't put anymore money in by the end of a year, I'd have made.. what... maybe 7-10 bucks?

Hmm...

OK... Let's try again

If you give them $1000 of your savings... under the rules set by the Reserve bank they are then allowed to lend $6000 on paper (even though they don't really have it) to other people as personal loans or mortgages...
During the year they would pay you $50+ interest on your savings and people would pay them $450+ interest on the loans... Sounds like a good deal to me...

ING currently have a couple of $billion sitting in Savings Maximiser Accounts - so do the sums on how much money they make on it... It more than pays for the $123 dollars joining gift they are going to give you...

Nnnnsic wrote:So, hypothetically, starting this account (which must be as easy as 1-2-3, hence the $123), if I didn't put anymore money in by the end of a year, I'd have made.. what... maybe 7-10 bucks?
Hmm...

No... you would have made about $130

Sounds like a good deal to me...

Rightio... I knew there was a reason why I was good at writing, arts, and computers, but not finance...

So, I can join and get $123 free! Sweet! Lol.

No, I do understand what's going on.

I'm still confused about one thing however.

Is there a catch, say, is there a time limit on when I can pull from the account or transfer to a different account.. say, a minimum waiting period as opposed to a time limit...

Nnnnsic wrote:So, I can join and get $123 free! Sweet! Lol.

Leigh,
It's part payment of the Tamron 90 micro lens , do you need my bank account

Nnnnsic wrote:Rightio... I knew there was a reason why I was good at writing, arts, and computers, but not finance...

So, I can join and get $123 free! Sweet! Lol.

No, I do understand what's going on.

I'm still confused about one thing however.

Is there a catch, say, is there a time limit on when I can pull from the account or transfer to a different account.. say, a minimum waiting period as opposed to a time limit...

I don't think there are any time limits... They are probably hoping that most people will stay and will deposit more money on top of the $123 they give you... And most people probably will...

It's not all that different to Nikon offering $200 cashback on a D70 - it gets you over the line to buy the product and hooks you in for a future income stream...

Sorry for the delay in replies guys..I have been out for most of the day. I already have one of these accounts, it DOES seem too good to be true, however I have had my account with them for over a year and I just t/f funds in and out of this account into a nominated savings account (i.e westpac)...you just t/f the funds out of the ING account into your savings account if needed then use your bank (i.e westpac) atm to access the money after it's transferred. I have a number of friends who have ING accounts too . This thread sure took off

Nnnnsic wrote:Rightio... I knew there was a reason why I was good at writing, arts, and computers, but not finance...

So, I can join and get $123 free! Sweet! Lol.

No, I do understand what's going on.

I'm still confused about one thing however.

Is there a catch, say, is there a time limit on when I can pull from the account or transfer to a different account.. say, a minimum waiting period as opposed to a time limit...

Once the account is established Leigh you are free to t/f whatever you want whenever you want...usually takes 2-3 business days to transfer the funds into/out of your account.

Not that I'm one to milk offers unless the people running them are generally idiots (i.e. OfficeWorks' Xbox Notebook offer, Atari's free game code promotion), but according to ING's website:

Can I have more than one Savings Maximiser?
Yes. You can open up to nine Savings Maximisers and give each one a different name if you’re saving towards different goals. Simply name your Savings Maximiser on the application form.

Does this mean a person can create 9 different accounts from this promotion and, hypothetically, make $1107?

Nnnnsic wrote:Does this mean a person can create 9 different accounts from this promotion and, hypothetically, make $1107?

Leigh,
Not a Tamron 90Di now perhaps a new D200 body by the end of the year

Nnnnsic wrote:Not that I'm one to milk offers unless the people running them are generally idiots (i.e. OfficeWorks' Xbox Notebook offer, Atari's free game code promotion), but according to ING's website:

Can I have more than one Savings Maximiser?
Yes. You can open up to nine Savings Maximisers and give each one a different name if you’re saving towards different goals. Simply name your Savings Maximiser on the application form.

Does this mean a person can create 9 different accounts from this promotion and, hypothetically, make $1107?

I highly doubt it - u can call them and ask  24/7 1800 500 240

Interesting loophole, isn't it?

Edit: It's not really a loophole, but just a flaw in the otherwise normal logic their product has.

Nnnnsic wrote:Not that I'm one to milk offers unless the people running them are generally idiots (i.e. OfficeWorks' Xbox Notebook offer, Atari's free game code promotion), but according to ING's website:

Can I have more than one Savings Maximiser?
Yes. You can open up to nine Savings Maximisers and give each one a different name if you’re saving towards different goals. Simply name your Savings Maximiser on the application form.

Does this mean a person can create 9 different accounts from this promotion and, hypothetically, make $1107?

read fine print, second last paragraph, offer only for new members "who have never had a Savings Maximiser" . too bad was going to close current account and take up this offer!!

Yes, but I've never had an account with them...

Nnnnsic wrote:Yes, but I've never had an account with them...

And ...

As they "cannot open your savings maximiser until we have verified your bank account details", then even if you open up 9 accounts today, it seems to me that each one of thode must be a new account under that condition.

Last shot in my personal campaign to get everyone to change banks

Choice magazine has set up a great website that compares many different bank accounts and also provides advice on what you need to think about when changing banks...

It's here: http://www.flickyourbank.com.au/index.aspx

Sorry: Only applicable to Australian members...

I already have an ING account, have had it for some time unfortunately there were no cash incentives when I joined.

Do you think I could sign up each of my kids? They have their own St Geroge accounts in their names....would this work do you think?

HappyFotographer wrote:I already have an ING account, have had it for some time unfortunately there were no cash incentives when I joined.

Do you think I could sign up each of my kids? They have their own St Geroge accounts in their names....would this work do you think?

Can't see why it wouldn't

I signed up to ING savings maximiser some 5 years back when they offerred just $20 bonus for signing up. This is a bloody good deal, and nowadays what ING offers me as interest on my cash savings just about equal what my bank charges me in monthly account keeping fees.