Whatcha Know About ING & Their Sub-Accounts?

There's no such thing as saver's remorse.How many of you guys use ING? I have an account myself, but I still have yet to play with their sub-accounts.They sound freakin’ awesome though! I kinda remember hearing about them before I started blogging (and if you google it all your favorite bloggers show up at the top), but the idea that you can save in “categories” like that is brilliant. And I’m not getting paid to say that ;)

I truly think other banks should perk up and steal this cuz it’s budgeting genius (ya hear that, USAA?). I would absolutely love to have different sub-accounts set up to stash all my funds in – I just don’t use ING for the bulk of my savings.

But it seems so many of you guys do! Here’s just one of a handful of comments left on my $200 cash giveaway post last week (which, btw, is still open so go and enter if you haven’t already!!!):

“One of the main things that has helped my family is to open an ING account and create 4 different accounts for separate things. Right now I have 1) Christmas 2010, 2) Paying our Taxes 2010, 3) Paying back a family member, and 4) Our Fun Money account for a Disney vacation.”

I love that “Christmas 2010” fund :) It’s so smart to save in chunks like this so you can a) save a little every month over time, and b) SEE that grand prize at the end! When it all mixes up and goes into one “pot,” it’s a lot harder to mentally figure out what goes where. We still do it because that’s what we’re used to (including myself), but if you have the option to create these sub-accounts you should def. give it a shot.Here are a few referral links if you ever wanna open one up:

  • Referral #1 – ING Orange Savings Account – $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
  • Referral #2 – ING Orange Savings Account – $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
  • Referral #3 – ING Orange Savings Account – $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
  • Referral #4 – ING Orange Savings Account – $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.
  • Referral #5 – ING Orange Savings Account – $25 bonus for you, $20 for me.

Do NOT think you have to get one though just for the bonus. If you’re happy with your current bank GREAT! Stick with ’em :) I only share these for those who want a change or have been lazy setting one up. Happy Savings!

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35 Comments

  1. S March 10, 2010 at 1:08 PM

    This is awesome, the first time I tried opening up a sub account, I ended up opening a checking account and just managing it seperately from the Savings account. It would be easier if they had a button that just read, "Open a Subaccount", but all you have to do is just open up another savings account and fund it from your original source. Bing bang pow! Its that easy!

    Reply
  2. Karmella March 10, 2010 at 1:46 PM

    I so agree – this feature is awesome. And it is so easy to do. When it's separated out, it's so easy – and rewarding – to look and see right away okay, this is how much is in the "car fund" – and I am not tempted to mentally allocate it to something else.

    Reply
  3. Karmella March 10, 2010 at 1:48 PM

    And other banks should jump on the idea, because I didn't really use my ING account much, maybe 20% of savings, until I started using the subaccounts, and now about 90% of savings money goes into ING accounts.

    Reply
  4. Kitchen Penguin March 10, 2010 at 2:08 PM

    ING is great. I've got my emergency fund stashed in six staggered six month CD's that successively roll over every month, my future car sub-account, my travel sub-account, and my main savings account because ING has a higher interest rate than my local credit union. They have a good interface, it's easy to schedule transfers, setting up direct deposit was painless and I've read that their on-line security is pretty good.

    Reply
  5. Lisatella March 10, 2010 at 3:28 PM

    Wait wait wait. I already have a savings account with ING. You're saying I can make categories within that savings account?

    Best idea ever.

    Reply
  6. Dustin | Engaged Marriage March 10, 2010 at 3:29 PM

    We use ING for one of our savings accounts, and I've been very happy with them. I like the overall company approach and the fact that the CEO sends out newsletters encouraging you to get out of debt (from a BANK CEO). I've never used the sub-accounts feature, though…

    Reply
  7. Chris Gallagher March 10, 2010 at 3:38 PM

    My family and I do almost all our banking through ING Direct and have for a while now. We have different savings accounts through them: each child has a savings account (3 total), got an emergency fund, vacation fun, tax fund, home improvement fund and a couple others.

    We also use their CDs all the time. I love the ease of use ING Direct offers!

    Just my thoughts

    Reply
  8. Punch Debt In The Face March 10, 2010 at 4:28 PM

    I drank the ING kool-aid and I'm in love. I have three accounts.

    1) Emergency fund
    2) Wedding Fund
    3) Additional Savings

    I will eventually add a house fund, vacation fund, and a car fund.

    ING is sooooooo legit. And I like supporting good companies!

    Reply
  9. Investing Newbie March 10, 2010 at 4:38 PM

    There is so much hoopla about ING, I may have to check it out. But I'm still in love with Bank of America. They've never done me wrong, at least. And now they are doing away with overdraft charges. SWOON!

    Reply
  10. Simple in France March 10, 2010 at 5:05 PM

    Thanks for posting on ING. I'm interested but so slow to act . . .I think I have a six month consideration/procrastination/wait period on every major financial decision I make!

    But I'm interested in ING because it has decent interest rates (in the US and France), because I haven't discovered that they are a bunch of thieving varmits(yet), because I can get accounts with the same bank for my euros and my dollars!

    **And, the added bonus is that here in France it's tough to find no fee accounts and you end up paying for stuff like your bank card, insurance on your bank card etc, which is free in the States . . .and apparently with ING!

    Reply
  11. Aaren March 10, 2010 at 5:12 PM

    Love my ING accounts! I have the Orange Checking, and then savings accounts for my car (insurance, personal property taxes, oil changes_, vacation, and medicine (I don't have a FSA through my insurance, so I set aside money every month to cover co-pays and Rx amounts). The concept is SO MONEY!!

    Reply
  12. Barbara March 10, 2010 at 5:38 PM

    I love ING as well … have multiple savings, Orange checking (they even mail paper checks for free), my Roth IRA and regular IRA accounts, plus a Share Builder account. That being said, when it comes to saving for a specific goal (Christmas fund, wedding/travel fund) I have those accounts set up at Smarty Pig … much higher interest rate than ING, which has been dropping like a stone!!! And, I have it funded from my ING account. Paycheck gets deposited to ING, then a set amount each month gets swept over to Smarty Pig.

    Reply
  13. Beth March 10, 2010 at 6:17 PM

    I feel the need to point out that it's not really subaccounts. It's just that you can open up multiple accounts, and view them all on the same page. They each have their own account number. So it's connected accounts. (I still call 'em sub-accounts, though.)

    I think I have seven of them. I have two for buying tickets to professional sports (one I have season tickets for; one I used to share season tickets, but now just buy tickets to random games), one for playoffs, one for charity, one for new technology (computer, etc.), one for gifts, and one for insurance (I save a little bit from each paycheck, and when insurance is due, I already have all the money saved specifically for that). I really love that they're named, and I can see the total at a glance.

    My emergency fund and new car fund are in different (online) banks. I do my banking (checking account) out of a local credit union.

    Reply
  14. Gabriela March 10, 2010 at 7:12 PM

    I have a car insurance deductible account. I keep $500, our deductible, in that account and let it make interest. That account is never used and we know if we were ever in an accident our car insurance deductible is there and we wouldn't need to use a credit card to cover that expense.

    Reply
  15. ctreit March 10, 2010 at 7:17 PM

    I have used ING for a long time, but I also have accounts at other internet banks. I use ING the most even though their interest rate is not the highest, but I like the features and the ease of use.

    Reply
  16. Saving Cents in the City: March 10, 2010 at 8:53 PM

    I used to love ING, but I absolutely despise them now: http://savingcentsinthecity.blogspot.com/2009/12/warning-about-ing.html Basically I called, had to verify my identity, got questions that didn't apply to me, and failed. They immediately took me off my joint account and I am blacklisted for life. They did not care AT ALL that these WERE NOT MY QUESTIONS.

    Reply
  17. TeacHer March 10, 2010 at 9:06 PM

    I have 4 ING sub-accounts:
    Freedom Fund
    Car Fund
    Gifts Fund
    Travel Fund

    I heart ING!!! I really don't like the idea of have just one big savings account for everything; I like knowing that I have my separate account for my car, for example, so that if something happens to my car, I don't cringe when I have to withdraw the money. It's there just for my car! And I can save up for a trip and travel without guilt, because I know I'm still saving for other things, too.

    Reply
  18. Lulu March 10, 2010 at 9:17 PM

    I am a BIG lover of ING (hey my blog is orange to match it…no, not really) and have been with them for about 5 years now.

    I have been preaching about the sub accounts for a long time now and one time I think I had about 9 for various savings goals…whittled that down now.

    ING is my MAIN bank and my salary gets Direct Deposited straight to them. I do everything online (except contribute to church, use Chase checks for that.)

    A friend of mine even says I should name my firstborn ING (or Walmart…but that is another story.)

    Reply
  19. Lakita (PF Journey) March 10, 2010 at 9:46 PM

    I just opened another sub account yesterday! I forgot how to do it so I called to have to customer service folks help me. By the way, ING has some of the best customer service around!

    We get the account set up in a snap. I was going to manually transfer money to my various sub accounts…word of warning….transfers are considered withdrawls and too much of that and you'll max your monthly 6 withdrawal limit. So make your you use automatic savings to fund your sub-accounts

    Reply
  20. Heather March 11, 2010 at 12:15 AM

    The last time I tried doing one of those $25 referral bonuses, it didn't work, so I don't do them anymore. :( I didn't get the bonus referral link from you, though, J. Money. It was on another blog.

    I'm happy with my USAA savings accounts. The only thing I wish is that when I open up a new USAA savings account, it always sends me an ATM card and there is no option to NOT get one. I wish they'd make it an option, because I do not want ATM access to my savings accounts. If I need the money, I transfer from checking.

    Reply
  21. fallingintofavor March 11, 2010 at 12:23 AM

    I love ING! I have 4 accounts with them:

    You Only Live Once! (for travel)
    New Car Fund
    Chanel Purse fund
    Christmas 2010 fund

    But I too have a USAA account! Best bank ever :) I just like ING for savings since its totally out of sight, out of mind. My USAA I check a lot since I use the checking account, make online purchases and its linked to my ING….so I can't really keep it out of sight…

    Reply
  22. myfinancialobjectives March 11, 2010 at 2:14 AM

    I love my ING accounts. I have three set up:
    Grad School
    LT Savings
    MT Savings

    ST Savings is with Wachovia (Way2Save)..

    If I get more money or the interest rate increases a decent amount (hah) I will probably combine them in order to maximize my interest, and just keep track of what is what, so I can still take out money appropriately.

    Reply
  23. dale March 11, 2010 at 2:55 PM

    I just opened an Orange account using your link. Thanks!

    Reply
  24. piedras platas March 11, 2010 at 11:06 PM

    I've read about this feature before but didn't have an idea how to do it. Your post made me jump on my ING account and create my subaccounts.

    December Fund – for Christmas and 12 birthdays in the family.
    Emergency Fund
    College Fund
    Moving out Fund

    :D

    Reply
  25. J. Money March 12, 2010 at 12:43 AM

    Wow so many of you are already using these! So cool to see :) It actually makes me want to go and create them too, haha…

    In fact, I forwarded this post over to my contact at USAA in hopes they give it some thought. I would be so freakin' elated if they come out with it!!! I can't be the first one to alert them of it I'm sure. But maybe this blog and all your comments will excite them more ;)

    Keep the excellent savings up my friends! All really good sub-accounts/real accounts/whatever they are – much easier to deal w/ psychologically I think.

    Reply
  26. donkee March 12, 2010 at 12:53 AM

    Great idea with the sub-accounts.

    I have ING savings for my e-fund and that's about it. Oh, I have an IRA with Sharebuilder, I guess that counts too?

    I like the Christmas fund idea, although a Vacation fund is more URGENT right about now!

    Reply
  27. Jeff @deliverawaydebt March 12, 2010 at 6:53 PM

    Sub accounts are the only way to go. I have 15 sub accounts and all my money is routed through them. The mortgages and taxes are drafted from the "housing" account. All Utilities are drafted from the "utilities" account and so on. I love it, we just move the budgeted money from our checking (ing orange) into each account and that's it.

    Rock on Brother!!

    Reply
  28. Mrs. Accountability March 12, 2010 at 8:17 PM

    Just today I called the credit union to get the routing number and full account number so I can move money into one of my ING Direct sub accounts. I keep all our savings in one account right now, and keep an Excel spreadsheet so I know how the money divvies up. But I keep thinking it would be great to have the money in its own account… I do know one thing, if you want the account to be joint, the second person has to have their own individual account.

    Reply
  29. J. Money March 14, 2010 at 5:09 AM

    yeah i have to use the spreadsheet method too to divy up my savings w/ USAA….def. gets old.

    Reply
  30. Kristen from FiLife March 15, 2010 at 4:09 AM

    wow – this reads like a giant ING commercial – that works! I’m going to have to check out the sub-accounts.

    Reply
  31. Keith Morris March 15, 2010 at 2:22 PM

    I have ING and several savings accounts:

    Emergency Savings
    Future Car Fund
    Charity Fund
    Sister’s Graduation Present Fund

    Reply
  32. Kristin March 19, 2010 at 7:34 AM

    I have an ING account broken out into:

    House downpayment fund (DO NOT TOUCH!)
    Emergency Fund – in cds
    Vacation Fund – so I never have to say no to a spur of the moment trip
    Rent and Utilities Checking – I transfer a set amount of money here each month that will cover everything, and if there’s anything left at the end of the month I let it build up for big house purchases like a new couch :)

    The checking account actually pays interest. They don’t give you a checkbook, but you do get a debit card and you can send checks through the the online program.

    Reply
  33. J. Money March 23, 2010 at 10:26 AM

    Haha….I know, this does come out kinda like a commercial, doesn’t it? :) Really wasn’t my intention, just wanted to help spread the love and get some more opinions on it all. Hoping USAA will read enough posts like this around the web to create something similar too!

    Reply
  34. Bill Brasky April 3, 2010 at 12:26 PM

    I do this currently through USAA. Just open up multiple savings accounts. I have opened up five so far and they are categorized under a “Sinking Funds Budget”. I have certain amounts withdrawn from my checking that go into each account every two weeks. ING is not the only bank that allows this.

    Reply
  35. J. Money April 4, 2010 at 11:52 PM

    Interesting, I’ve never thought about whether USAA caps the # of savings accounts you can open or anything, good point. Guess they just don’t market it as well as ING does ;)

    Reply

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