ING hack to get around the six w/d limit
Money Market accounts only allow six withdrawals per month
It doesn’t happen too often to me, but since I use my ING sub-accounts for budgeting I occasionally make more than six withdrawals per month. When this happens they send me a kind, but firm email informing me that if I make that mistake again they may be forced to close my account.
What you will get in your inbox from ING if you are bad…
Based on recent activity in your Orange Savings Account™, we want to remind you that you cannot make more than six withdrawals from your account each month. This is a federal regulation that all banks are required to follow for savings accounts like this one, so if this type of activity occurs more than three times in any 12-month period, we will have to close your account.
Since this is not the first time that you have made too many monthly withdrawals, we will be required to close your account if you do this again - and we don’t want that to happen!
So here’s what you can do to prevent your account from being closed:
Take a look at your statements or go to ingdirect.com and review your account activity. Keep track of how many times you transfer money out of your Orange Savings Account, including transfers to other ING DIRECT Accounts, and make sure you’re not making more than six withdrawals each month. Make one or two larger transactions rather than moving money numerous times. This will reduce the number of withdrawals you make each month.
Having worked closely with Money Market accounts earlier in my career I am very familiar with these restrictions. As the email mentions, the six withdrawal per month limit is a government restriction on the accounts, the bank itself can get in trouble for allowing customers to make more than six. Some banks will be more strict about enforcing this policy than others. But, if it comes down to it most banks will eventually close your account if you continue to abuse it.
I was frustrated about not being able to withdrawal my money once I reached this limit, and then the simple solution dawned on me…
The ING Hack to get around the six withdrawals
My wife and I budget for gifts and some months (i.e. December) we may be transferring a lot from the Gifts fund to our checking account. Once we reach five withdrawals for the Gifts account and we know we will need to do more that month, we simply transfer the remaining balance of that account to an unused (or a new) account. Then we just rename the new account “Gifts”. Viola, now we have another six withdrawals that we can make that month.
Renaming and opening new accounts (once you have opened the first one) takes about 20 seconds. So, really it is a very quick and easy process. I wouldn’t want to have to do it often, but it is better than getting your hand slapped or having your account closed.
A phone call to ING
I was also curious about what exactly they meant when they say they will, “close your account.” Did this mean just the individual savings account or did it mean the ING user account as a whole?
So, I called them and they confirmed that after exceeding the limit three times within 12 months, they will close the individual savings account. They did also mention that if a user does it multiple times for multiple accounts, they may consider removing that user’s profile from the system.
Just FYI.
Does anyone have any other ING helpful tricks or tips?
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Filed under How to Manage Money
Comments on ING hack to get around the six w/d limit »
For a long time now I was wondering how good ING financial services are, and reading your story here, I could not resist asking your client feedback on the ING experience. Would you be so kind to reflect on the following based on your personal experience?
How good is the ING savings account?
How good is the ING chequing account?
Is the ING mortgage account really as better than the competition as it sounds on those TV ads?
Are all ING accounts come with online access?
is the ING online good in terms of interface and features?
Are they good to deal with for customer service and support?
And finally, do you really save money with them?
Hope I am not asking too much, and thanks in advance for the feedback,
Shony
@Shony
I personally think ING is the best online bank out there… User interface is great, customer service is great - the savings rates are not the best, but they are competitive. I don’t know much about their mortgage. As far as their checking, it is hands down the most feature rich checking account that I have ever used - tons of cool features that you don’t get at other banks. All accounts come with and only have online access - no local branches are available. And finally, they have helped me save quite a bit of money, in fact I budget with them
if you are concerned about safety check this out
Thank you Bob for this info, and I will follow up on what you said here. Also have you heard of OOTD? The link is at:
http://www.myexp.org/OOTD_gate.php
Shony
ING is very good. There are however some downsides to their system that DO bug me because i was spoiled by an internet bank that did everything right for the customer. The problem with that bank was they didn’t run their business well, and died as a result. (FDIC can be important!) So, given that ING is still with us, they are doing some things right. That said (and keep in mind overall i’m satisfied) i’d like to point out whats broken (in my opinion).
1) Lack of paper checks. (I use only 1 or 2 a year, but still, when you need one — you need one. I have to maintain a second account to preserve this feature. Annoying.
2) Billpay system is kinda lame. Two complaints here, they don’t present bills, its a payment system only. Many places will get the bills for you and present them to you online. this cuts down on paper clutter. Its frustrating to have to get paper bills only to pay them online. Secondly, the billpayment interface has a second “pay a person” feature which is a FABULOUS feature for one-time payments to someones checking account at *any* bank. (provided they will give you their account number…. wish the didn’t have to provide that information to me, its a bit of a security nightmare, but then its printed on all your checks anyway). BUT — you can’t automate a payment or schedule such a payment in the future. So for example, my small time landlord — I can’t automate the direct payment to her. I have to use a billpayment, which mails a check and is therefore less convenient for her. I wish you could automate “pay people” events too. Seems silly you can’t.
3) Customer Service. Most banks in the online realm have ways of talking to them that don’t involve calling and waiting on hold. You can often use a secure mail system to mail the customer service with questions, and they can resolve issues and get back to you. its great. No phone required. Not so with ING. If you ever DO need to call them (with whatever question) you HAVE to use the phone. Hold times aren’t terrible, but they do exist. And its so frustrating to listen to the recording telling you to “go online and do blah….” when the whole reason I’m calling is because I can’t ask them a question online! I can’t even write a simple note and tell them of a feature that I think would be great. Calling to talk to them about such a thing just feels like a waste of time.
4) ATM card is not a member of Plus network. I believe its only STAR and Allpoint. The net result of this is 0 impact for use in the United States. There are places where the lack of plus means you won’t get cash out of the ATM. These are usually places where you don’t speak the language and being without funds is the LAST thing you want to have happen. ING customer service assures me that it should work internationally and i’ve personally had no trouble. But i’ve known folks traveling in Asia before to run into issues. International Travelers Beware.
——
all the other pro’s listed I agree with and seeing as how I maintain my account despite these griefs, I hope its clear I don’t consider them a huge deal. But I like to tell people what I don’t like, just so they aren’t surprised.
ok James here are my thoughts…
1) I rarely need paper checks and 95% of the time when I do, the paper check that they will send for me works fine. Just like you I have a 2nd account (which is needed anyway to open an ING account) for those rare times when I need a check in hand.
2) I have never tried a company that presents my bills - I am not sure what I think about that yet. As far as scheduling the pay a person in advance, I bet it has something to do with the way the check clears - I am not sure, but that could be the case. I don’t use the feature, so it never bothered me.
3)I have had nothing but good experiences from talking to them, they don’t (last I checked) outsource the calls and they have been very quick and helpful in my experiences thus far.
4)Yea, that would be nice. I just use it at credit unions (CUs rarely charge fees at their ATMs) and get cash back using it as a debit card. That takes care of it for me…
Thanks for bringing up the points, I agree it is good to shine light on the whole thing so people know what they are getting into…