Online Bank Accounts - ING now Capital One

[Gingerella72]

This is probably old news to everyone else, but I just found out today that ING was bought by Capital One. I haven't logged into my ING savings account in over a year, so no wonder I didn't know, heh. It seems, so far, that nothing but the logo has changed (same navigation, services), but I'm thinking about looking for a different company, now that I have something to actually put in the account. I have nothing but gut feeling to back me up, but I'm not sure I trust Capital One.

Does anyone have any opinions on Ally? Or any other online banking company/service? I know interest rates are abysmally low all across the board, I just want something trustworthy and reliable. That is free, with no minimum balance or fees. I don't have a lot to put in the account, just 1 or 2 dollars a week, but I have to start somewhere.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I have nothing but gut feeling to back me up, but I'm not sure I trust Capital One.

Does anyone have any opinions on Ally? Or any other online banking company/service? I know interest rates are abysmally low all across the board, I just want something trustworthy and reliable. That is free, with no minimum balance or fees. I don't have a lot to put in the account, just 1 or 2 dollars a week, but I have to start somewhere.

I've dealt with Ally, their rates are better than most. BankRate seems to push them . They seem easy enough to do business with (and not all banks are - EverBank is EverPain to deal with for instance ). But none of this really answers your basic question, which is deeper. Trusting a bank, has to do with a guess fear of the bank going bankrupt or whatnot maybe? Yes there are ratings out there on banks for fiscal soundness, I believe the BankRate star system incorporates this but it may not be the only one. So I think that's what you want to look into.
here's bankrate on their star ratings:
http://www.bankrate.com/rates/safe-s...thodology.aspx

Which incidently I think is fine to look into. Banks have been made counterparty to derivatives and the derivatives have priority over your saving account. Noone knows if Cyrpress is the new model. Ultimately I may just consider credit unions (financially sound ones!). Because I think at this point we're sucked into playing along with economic games (counterparty to derivatives at banks, putting our money in the stock market etc.) that appear if morally questionable to at least benefit us economically, but I have become skeptical they will even benefit us economically in the long run. What does it profit a man if he loses his own soul AND his investments all end up tanking? Because they were elaborate hoaxes that ultimately benefitted others and not him ....

[Gingerella72]

Thank you; when I say trust, I think I mean (more) like. I don't *like* Capital One. I gather this moving more into the online banking sphere is kind of a "save face" move in trying to build back up their crappy reputation. I do want to check more into Ally....thank you for the BankRate link!

[Float On]

I have our truck loan with Ally. Had never heard of them before we got financing for that. Very simple website but I never noticed that they had anything else. Will have to look.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Just on the rate question - Ally also has a CD that you can basically withdraw your money from any time, that actually pays something (not much but noone does these days), but better than you'll get on your average bank account.

[rosarugosa]

My understanding is that Ally was formerly GMAC. I've opened a couple of CDs for my Mom with them, and moved cash from her no-interest checking with a local bank to an online savings account with Ally. Their interest rate tends to run a little higher than Capital One (currently .85 compared to Capital One's .75) although not enough higher to motivate me to move our savings from Capital One to Ally. Their CD rates were comparatively high.

[pcooley]

I haven't found Capital One to be any more difficult to deal with than ING. I also don't like Capital One, but on the other hand, I didn't know much about ING. I liked their orange logo, I thought it was kind of neat that they were based in Denmark, but I bet if I dug deeply I would find that they were loaning money for projects I did not care for. I just didn't dig deeply. I wonder if I don't like Capital One just because it has more name recognition as a big, old, nasty American financial institution. I also have some money in the Permaculture Credit Union so that I feel like I'm supporting my values, but they don't have a checking account/debit card option, and the interest rate is close to non-existent. I believe I could get a PCU visa card and then pay it out of the account, but I don't like to use credit cards, so my account there is purely symbolic.

[Gingerella72]

I wonder if I don't like Capital One just because it has more name recognition as a big, old, nasty American financial institution.

I think this is why I don't like them....pure conjecture. Although they do have funny commercials!

[gwendolyn]

Gingerella, your instincts are right on to "not like" Capital One. I did a little research on them in 2011:
They were the inventor of the “balance transfer” scam to keep people in ever-larger debt. Brilliant! It would appear that Capital One pioneered the “harvest the working poor” strategy, using, of course, information technology to figure out just who the working poor were. Before Capital One, banks only gave cards to people who could afford them, and the “loans” were backed by the bank's deposits. THAT's how Capital One busted into a mature industry – by creating a whole new class of customers that the banks wouldn't touch. Capital One amasses information from all sorts of nefarious sources, and then specifically targets people who are living below their means, but who are not going bankrupt – they won't lend to people who pay their balances, and consistently provide incentives through lower rates for people to float and/or expand their balances. Capital One's success then led the way for ALL banks to target people who were living below their means... and WAH-LAH – subprime-induced Second Great Depression! Now C.One is poised to merge with ING (Dutch) and HSBC's credit card operations (UK) and become the 5th largest bank, assuming regulators let them become a "too big to fail" company that is bound to fail with the coming double dip...

[bUU]

I haven't found Capital One to be any more difficult to deal with than ING. I also don't like Capital One, but on the other hand, I didn't know much about ING.

In terms of customer service, I've received identically acceptable service from Capital One and ING. They simply haven't change their tune, like some of the doom-and-gloomers posited the would, back when the acquisition took place.

I also have some money in the Permaculture Credit Union so that I feel like I'm supporting my values, but they don't have a checking account/debit card option, and the interest rate is close to non-existent.

And that's the rub: Do we unilaterally cripple ourselves to support our values, or do we compartmentalize the different aspects of our lives - making the best purchasing decisions when purchasing; making the best saving decisions when saving; making the best investing decisions when investing; etc. - and live out our values in how we work to shape society? If the disparity between how the credit union acts and how the bank acts is offensive, and economies of scale in the bank's favor make patronage an ineffective tool in influencing the bank to act differently, then I believe it is foolish to tilt at windmills in an impotent effort to influence the bank to act differently via patronage. Instead, we should seek other means to realize those values, perhaps supporting appropriate regulation.