The safest bank in America - ING Direct
Banking with ING can help you avoid identity theft
A study from the University of California, Berkeley was just published that measured occurrences of identity theft at the top banks. The study analyzed all of the identity theft complaints issued for a few months in 2006 and provided some clear distinctions between banks.
You can see in the chart below that HSBC and Bank of America are the most prone to identity theft. It is no surprise to me that ING Direct has the lowest incidences of identity theft on the list. If you bank with ING, you will know that they have so many security measures that it can ALMOST be annoying. But, I can’t fault them for taking my security so seriously. The increased levels of protection are worth an extra few seconds every time I log in.
I had plenty of reasons to love ING Direct before, but now I have one more. If you are considering banking with ING, let me know because I can get you $25 for opening a new account.
This study alone shouldn’t be a cause for bailing out of your bank. Identity theft is still on the rise and I assume that it will continue for a while, but that is not a reason to panic. There are simple identity theft prevention tips that everyone can follow that will greatly diminish your risk.
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Comments on The safest bank in America - ING Direct »
That’s great to know! I agree that ING’s sign-in procedure is a bit cumbersome. It’s nice to know that it is serving it’s purpose so well
Nice.
I see Wachovia is low too…and they’re my other one.
I took advantage of your offer to sign up with ING Direct. I opened an account for my business needs. I’m very happy with the account. The interface is good and it is a good set-up.
It’s worth it even without the $25 bonus.
Thanks for the post! This is great info. I’ve been the victim of identity theft before (through Commerce Bank here in St. Louis), and it’s not fun! I’m glad I use ING for some of my banking…I may consider moving all of my funds to ING now.
I do a lot with ING currently, but it has made me consider moving a bit more of my banking over to ING…
Hi! It may be true that ING Direct provides the safest online banking experience, but I believe your interpretation of the study casts Bank of America and other large banks in an unfair light.
The chart in your post shows incidents in absolute numbers, not as a percentage of total customers or total deposits. In fact, the original study you linked to states on page 9:
“Bank of America ranks highest in total number of events. Given that this institution is the largest among US banks for deposits, and the resulting concentration of attacks against it by impostors, it is not surprising that it ranks so highly in overall events.”
Furthermore, the study does not distinguish identity theft that occurred by attacking the web site versus other forms of attack, such as in a branch, at an ATM or point-of-sale with a stolen debit card, or over the phone.
Ultimately, Bank of America online banking has several security features going for it:
- SSL/HTTPS for encrypted access
- Customized “SiteKey” login to protect against phishing attacks
- Optional one-time codes sent as text messages
- 0% liability for fraudulent activity
Don’t get me wrong; ING Direct is great, but Bank of America isn’t so bad either.
Thanks for sharing this study with us!
I should clarify that the quote I provided from page nine is referring to a different chart, which documents the percentage of total identity theft complaints registered by the FTC, and not the chart shown in this post.
I would still be curious to know what the percentage of incidents vs. customers is for all of these banks, though, and see how Bank of America and HSBC would fare.
Corey,
Thanks for digging into that so much - I appreciate that you are trying to clarify, It is better to be safe than sorry… I must admit I didn’t read the whole study that was done - it was very large!! But, I was under the impression that the above chart shows the average number of incidents per billions of dollars on deposit, therefore leveling the playing field between the bigger banks and the smaller ones. That was why I picked that chart to use, because like you mentioned it would unfair to the larger banks - of course they would have more incidents since they have more customers.
Excellent point re: the chart. I spoke too soon and stand corrected.
We love our ING accounts, and have accounts set up for all of our kids too. Many bonuses from them….:-) It is very nice to know that they are well-protected. Thanks for sharing!
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