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First Republic Bank Fails and Is Acquired by Chase - Impact on DepositorsComparing Internet Checking Accounts at Ally Bank and ING Direct
Update 6/15/2012: Please refer to this post for a new comparison of these two checking accounts.
ING Direct and Ally Bank are both major internet-only banks which offer similar internet checking accounts. I thought it would be interesting to see how these compare. For both banks, the internet checking accounts are relatively new. ING Direct was the first to offer a checking account, the Electric Orange, in late 2006. Ally Bank's Interest Checking Account just launched early this year.
Both Ally Bank and ING Direct offer many of the same services that you would expect from an internet bank. This includes no minimum balance requirements and no monthly maintenance fees. Both provide free online bill pay and a free MasterCard debit card. Both accounts pay interest, but both have rate tiers with low rates for small balances. You would be better off keeping large balances in the bank's savings account. However, if you have a very large balance (over $50K), the ING's Electric Orange actually has a higher interest rate than the Orange Savings Account.
The one feature that both banks lack is a remote deposit capture service which allows you to make a deposit by scanning a check at home. That eliminates the need to mail in the check. Currently, you either have to mail in the check for deposit or deposit the check at your local bank, and then initiate an ACH transfer. I think we'll see more internet banks offering remote deposit in the future. One major internet bank that has started offering it is EverBank (see review).
Below is a brief comparison of some of the important checking account features. Which checking account feature is most important for you?
Comparing Checking Accounts at Ally Bank and ING Direct
| Checking Account Feature | ING Direct's Electric Orange Checking | Ally Bank's Interest Checking |
| Writing Checks | No paper checks allowed. Payments can be made online and sent by mail. | Paper checks allowed. Ally standard checks are free. |
| ATM Fees | Free at Allpoint ATMs (network of 35,000 ATMs nationwide). For non-Allpoint ATMs, there's no reimbursement of ATM fees charged by ATM owners. | No Fees. Fees charged by other banks are automatically refunded at any ATM worldwide |
| Maximum number of links to external accounts for ACH transfers | 3 | 20 |
| Accept mailed checks for deposit | Yes, but no postage paid evelopes | Yes, postage paid envelopes available |
| Person-to-person payment service | Yes. Requires other person's bank account number. | No |
| Overdraft Policy | No overdraft fees. Provides an overdraft line of credit. Interest charged on the amount borrowed. | NSF fee of $9 per day. Overdraft transfer service provides free automatic transfers from Ally savings account to checking account to cover transactions when you exceed your checking balance. |
If your main concern is interest rates, please refer to my short list of the best internet checking accounts. You can also compare rates on checking accounts from both internet banks and brick-and-mortar banks in our checking account rate table. If you don't mind using a debit card, high-yield reward checking accounts pay the best interest rates. Please refer to our table of reward checking accounts.
Shota
www.ranxem.com
Shota
www.ranxem.com
Paper checks are going the way of the dodo bird. It's rare that I get a paper check that I need to deposit. So that has not been an issue for me.
Ally's account is more liquid too because ACH transfers in and out are pretty fast -- about 1 or 2 days.
If Ally added remote deposit I would be ecstatic. This is pretty much the last feature I'm waiting for. Good comparrison!
Agree, I cannot add or replace more new ACH links with my existing account. But there are creative workarounds...:-)
I have never seen such as ****ed up amateurish operation---because its contracted out, they (Ally Reps) havce NO direct access. And just TRY to get to talk to a real manager.....
I do not think the product is merchantable or fit for its intended use.
I am in the process of unraveling all my direct deposits BACK to a different bank....that in itself takes almoswt 60 days---and then its good freakin riddance ALLY.
Ally was the all time WORST financial decision I have ever made.
My first online bank was PCBanker, years later I switched to presidential for my primary checking and a month ago, I attempted to go back to PCB but was rejected, apparently because I opened a lot of accounts and my checksystem shows it. (No problems, just lots of inquires)
So, I had to choose between ING & my 2 reward checking accounts and ING won out.
Have an account at Ally too but not a checking account so no reason to keep $15k in it for a lower rate than ings 1.15%.
My ally money market has paper checks for the few times a year that I need one.
Only difference seems to be ING takes an extra day to process a billpay. I think they keep the float whereas my other banks did not.
Ive got to post the payment for the business day PRIOR to the due date where at the others, I posted ON the due date and every payment was ontime.