No BS Finance

While I love both my ING Direct account and my credit union, I’m still old-fashioned enough to want a local checking account. All I need is a place with free ATMs, fast & easy deposits, no-fee checking, and a decent web interface.

Wells Fargo passes these criteria. They seem to be on every street corner in the Twin Cities with drive-thrus for the deposits and no-fee ATMs handy (2 drive-ups at the branch closest to my house). There are several checking accounts to choose from. As with most banks, be careful of what you choose. Most are free - with a high balance required. I chose the no frills version that has no fees, but you have to pay for the actual checks.

In fact, my only beef about Wells Fargo revolves around this. I initially signed up for a plan where they provided the checks for free, providing I set up three additional services to go with the checking account. So, I opened a savings account, signed up for online access (no brainer here, since it’s one of my requirements), and a check (debit) card. So far, so good.

One month later I’m hit with a service fee on the savings account of $3 for not meeting a minimum balance, which was never mentioned at the time I opened the account. The rep and I carefully structured the package so there would be no fees. Unfortunately, he turned out to be poorly-versed in the finer details, such as this fee. He assumed my mortgage balance (also through Wells Fargo) counted towards the balance that automatically triggers a fee waiver.

I stopped at the branch after getting my statement. It took less than 5 minutes and no argument to get the fee refunded and the savings account closed. At the end of the day, I ended up with free checks for the minimal hassle. I actually give Wells Fargo credit for fixing the problem without fuss or insinuating I was to blame.

The service is steady and reliable. My only quibble is that it seems transactions show up very slowly online. It appears to take between 24-48 hours for cleared transactions to appear online. It’s a bit annoying and, for people who tread very close to $0, can cause checks to bounce. I keep a close enough watch on my account balances that I don’t worry about that happening to me.

Savings rates are not high enough to compete with ING, but they are in line with other brick-and-mortar institutions.

Overall, it’s a fine account for basic checking needs.

Following up on my Simon Delivers experiment, I got my first order on Thursday. The produce was very nice and exactly what I would have picked out myself in the store. I have to say on an afternoon of snow and cold it was nice not to have to lug two kids to the grocery store.

I might do it again if I had a savings offer like I did this time. But here’s the one lesson I learned. If you are planning to try something like this, tell all your friends and ask them if they have any offers they are not going to use. I found out Thursday afternoon that a friend had a Simon delivers offer for a $25 gas card for first time customers and a different $20 off offer. So, I could have saved another $45 if only I had talked to friends first!

I got a coupon in the mail the other day for $20 off my first order of $100 or more from Simon Delivers, an online grocery store. Instead of just throwing it away I decided to research it to see if it was worth it.

I refuse to pay more to have my groceries delivered when the grocery store is a mile away. Granted, I have to cart two kids there and it takes at least an hour to do a complete trip, but saving money is my main objective. Simons Delivers is trying to save you time, not money. Time I’ve got. Money…not so much. But still, 20% off seemed tempting. Could their prices really be 20% more than the store?

While buying your groceries online may save time in the long run, it is not a timesaver in the beginning. I spent about six hours browsing through the online grocery store, comparing the prices there with the prices I pay at my local grocer, and trying to see if it was worth it. Not a time saver by any means, but I doubt that the people who use this service on a regular basis need to save money, just time.

I was excited to see they had some items that my local store does not carry; like the brand of bagel I like in the whole-wheat variety and brown Minute Rice. Naturally I stocked my cart with those. Unfortunately they did not carry some items that are necessities in my house, like whole milk. So much for saving me a trip to the store.

So did I do it? My total order (with my $20 off) came to $86.33. Those same items (or similar ones like white rice instead of brown) at my local grocery store comes to $84.91. So even with the 20% off it was still $1.42 more. Did I do it? Yeah I did. I really wanted those whole wheat bagels! I’ll let you know tomorrow if I think it was worth it after I get my delivery.

ING Direct is an Internet bank. They offer savings accounts, CD, mortgages, home equity loans, and investment accounts where you can choose from nine mutual funds. I use ING solely for the savings products.

As I write this, ING offers 3.8% interest on the savings account with no minimums or fees. MyMoneyBlog has an excellent comparison of ING with three of its competitors. Even though ING does not offer the highest interest rate, the intangibles are why I enthusiaticly recommend them.
Before I cover them, I’ll also mention that ING recently expanded the CDs they offer. Instead of five terms (1 year - 5 years), you now have nine choices - from 6 months to 5 years. You can link other savings/checking accounts to your ING account and exchange funds between them at will. However, there is transit time of 2-4 days for funds to show up in your account. This is fairly even no matter which direction the transfer flows.
The timeliness of transfers out of the ING account have been consistently quick. This is a huge deal for me due to my first experience with an Internet bank. UmbrellaBank made life difficult for us when we were buying our new home. Due to a corporate restructuring, we could not withdraw money for our down payment. After that we decided to find a bank we could trust.
ING earned our trust with a straightforward sign-up process and a privacy policy that is written for normal people, not lawyers. Their privacy policy is the most customer-oriented one I’ve ever seen. Opt-in for additional marketing is used, which is best for the customer. The one occasion I had to talk to them on the phone showed they have a professional, courteous, and knowledgable staff.

All of our savings are now handled through ING. We maintain a checking account at a local bank. We often transfer funds back and forth 4-5 times each month to keep just enough in the checking account.
ING offers a referral bonus - if an existing account holder refers you and you open an account with at least $250, you get a $25 bonus and the referrer gets $10. If you would like a referral, leave a message in the comments (or drop me a line) and I’ll set it up for you.