ING Direct Reveals More News on Its Acquisition by Capital One

Last week I posted on the news that Capital One completed the acquisition of ING Direct after receiving approval from the Federal Reserve. The transition process now starts. ING Direct has released a webpage for its customers detailing what to expect. Some noteworthy things mentioned include:

• Your accounts will continue to be FDIC-insured at both places separately. That means your deposits will be FDIC-insured up to $250,000 at ING DIRECT and an additional $250,000 at each of Capital One's two other banks (Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., and Capital One, N.A.).
• ING Group will allow a one-year transitional use of "ING DIRECT" from February 17, 2012. So, yes, our name will gradually change over time
• Electric Orange and MONEY Customers will now have access to the over 2,000 Capital One ATMs (cash withdrawal only) in addition to the 35,000 free ATMs already available through the Allpoint network.
• coming this spring you'll have access to CheckMate, our new remote deposit service. You can deposit checks directly into your ING DIRECT accounts anywhere from your computer or mobile device.

It's interesting to see ING Direct mentioning its new remote deposit service as part of the Capital One transition. I wonder if the acquisition had slowed them down in rolling this out. It was almost a year ago when I was first told by ING Direct representatives that the service was in the works.

As I mentioned last week, there's a question about future deposit rates at ING Direct and Capital One Direct Banking. Will they remain competitive? As I described last week, recent rate cuts at Capital One Direct Banking have been disappointing. Also, the CD rates at both ING Direct and Capital One Direct Banking are dismal. Now that Capital One is the sixth largest bank in the country, I hope it doesn't start acting like a megabank with uncompetitive deposit rates.