Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

Last year I wrote a couple of notes (see How Much Do You Earn) about ING Direct. I was excited about ING Direct then as it was finally a savings account that has a great interest rate, is easy to setup and use and doesn't require any minimum balances. It's a great account.

Today I got an email from ING Direct describing a new account they call Electric Orange. I'd call it the Finally-it's-here Checking Account, but my name isn't quite so catchy. The Electric Orange account is a checking account that earns interest. If you're my age, you may remember when other banks had some interest-bearing checking accounts, but those days have been gone for a while (or the accounts have to have high balances to earn interest).

Here's the overview: First you need to have a savings account at ING Direct (I'm not sure if that's always going to be the case, but it appears to be that way right now). Once you have your savings account, you can add an Electric Orange account. You get a debit card for purchases and ATM withdrawals; you can have them cut checks for you or do e-pay on your regular bills; you can transfer money into your account from other bank accounts or you can set up direct deposit for your paycheck. Basically it's a checking account without a paper checkbook, but you can do everything you would do with a paper checkbook. Plus it currently pays a minimum of 3.0% interest on your balance. It pays up to 5.3% interest based on your account balance.

As far as I'm concerned this is the only bank to be seriously looking at right now. I'm going to see if there is any reason why I can't use Electric Orange as my primary checking and I'll follow up.