Financial Planner vs. Financial Advisor: Is There a Difference?
Step-Up CDs: What They Are and How They Work
What Is a Rollover IRA? Understanding Rollover Rules
CD Early Withdrawal Penalty: Should You Pay It?ING Direct vs EmigrantDirect - Response Time
Post a Comment
POSTED
ON BY Ken Tumin
In a previous post I compared the time it took for ING Direct and EmigrantDirect to transfer money into my externally linked checking account. Today I compared the time it took to get an email response from their customer service representatives.
For ED, I sent the questions using its secure message box which is only accessible when you're logged into your ED account. The nice thing about this feature is that it allows you to ask questions specfic to your account. ING does not have this secure message box. You can only send an email to [email protected]. For account-specific questions, you have to call ING. So I made sure my question was not account specific.
At 8:30am this morning, I sent the same two questions to both ING and ED. I recieved a response in my email inbox from ING at 9:46am. The response did include answers to my questions. ED was also prompt in its reply. I received answers from them today. However, I can't determine the exact time. Messages received by ED's secure inbox do not have a time stamp. I can only say that the response came by 4:45pm.
So I'll have to call it a tie. Both responses were prompt and gave clear answers to my questions. One of the worries of online banking is not being able to get help. Although my experiment was a very small test, it's good to know they both exceeded my expectations.
Savings Rate Comparison
BTW, refer to this chart to see how the interest rates have compared over the last 9 months between ING Direct's Orange Savings Account and EmigrantDirect's American Dream account (I also include HSBC's OnlineSavings Account).
For ED, I sent the questions using its secure message box which is only accessible when you're logged into your ED account. The nice thing about this feature is that it allows you to ask questions specfic to your account. ING does not have this secure message box. You can only send an email to [email protected]. For account-specific questions, you have to call ING. So I made sure my question was not account specific.
At 8:30am this morning, I sent the same two questions to both ING and ED. I recieved a response in my email inbox from ING at 9:46am. The response did include answers to my questions. ED was also prompt in its reply. I received answers from them today. However, I can't determine the exact time. Messages received by ED's secure inbox do not have a time stamp. I can only say that the response came by 4:45pm.
So I'll have to call it a tie. Both responses were prompt and gave clear answers to my questions. One of the worries of online banking is not being able to get help. Although my experiment was a very small test, it's good to know they both exceeded my expectations.
Savings Rate Comparison
BTW, refer to this chart to see how the interest rates have compared over the last 9 months between ING Direct's Orange Savings Account and EmigrantDirect's American Dream account (I also include HSBC's OnlineSavings Account).