Today I’m going to explain why it might be a good idea to open an ING DIRECT Electric Orange Checking Account, and then tell you exactly how to make the move, including setting up free bill pay. I know a lot of my readers already have an ING DIRECT Savings Account. That’s awesome. But what about an associated Electric Orange Account? I understand the hesitation with getting one (“how does check-writing work?”, “how do I get to my cash quickly?”, “how do I make deposits?”).
I’ve had one since early 2008 and initially started using it as a daily spending account (see how we set up our bank accounts). Just recently (because we’ve gone to one income) I started using to it perform a majority of my bill pay activities. It’s slowly become our primary checking account. Well, here are the details, starting with why you might want to open an Electric Orange Checking Account:
Benefits of Having an ING DIRECT Electric Orange Checking Account
Earn Interest on Your Checking Balance – Like their savings account, ING DIRECT’s Electric Orange account is going to pay you more than your average bank just to keep your money there. At the time of this review, they are paying 1.75% APY. I know that doesn’t look like much, but it’s way better than an average bank’s 0%.
Free Bill Pay, Electric Checks, and even Paper Checks – Yes, there are multiple free ways to “pay ya bills” with this account. The bill pay setup is really basic and the check features are straight-forward. Did I mention it’s all free? Some banks don’t offer all of this for free. If you’re paying for these services you’re wasting money.
Easier Access to Your Savings – You will be able to move money from your ING DIRECT Savings Account to your Electric Orange account instantly. And, because you have a MasterCard® Debit Card associated with this account, you’ll be able to access money from your checking or savings account by ATM or at the register.
Free ATMs – The network of free ATMs in my area is great. Check out the list of ING DIRECT’s ATMs to see if it would benefit you.
FDIC Insured – Last but not least, the accounts are all insured by the FDIC. No worries.
For more info, view this short demo about the Electric Orange Checking Account. In it you’ll learn how to make deposits and write checks, two of the most common concerns about the online checking accounts.
For me, it came down to convenience (easier transfer from the savings account) and making my money work for me (earning interest). I do still keep an account with Bank of America in the event that a physical check is needed immediately (you don’t get paper checks with this account) and for when I need to deposit a check (ING DIRECT deposits need to be mailed in). Also, keep in mind that physical branches have many other benefits making them worth holding on to: free notary, cashier’s checks, etc.
How to Open an ING DIRECT Electric Orange Checking Account
Now that you’re convinced to make the move, here are the steps to opening up your new ING DIRECT Electric Orange Checking Account:
- Login to your ING DIRECT Savings Account (if you don’t have one, be sure and open one and get a $25 bonus).
- Locate the link to “Open an Account” or the “Electric Orange” tab.
- Complete the Electric Orange account opening process, including: linking it to your savings account, requesting your MasterCard® Debit Card (optional, I believe), and depositing some money from your savings account. The process is fairly straight-forward.
- Once you have your account open, you’ll want to establish either a direct deposit using a portion of your paycheck (talk to your HR dept.), or automatic transfer from your ING DIRECT savings account (very easy setup you can do online).
How to Pay Your Bills Using Electric Orange
Okay, now that you’ve got your account opened, made some transfers, and used the MasterCard® Debit Card to make some purchases or get money without fee from an ATM, you’re ready to take the account to the next level by paying your bills online.
There’s several different methods you can use to pay your bills with Electric Orange. So there’s bound to be one that works for you:
1. Free Bill Pay – Bill pay is great for paying your monthly bills. Simply add all of your bill companies to your list of payees and initiate payments to these payees for the amount and date you designate. If your monthly bill is a fixed amount (mortgage, student loan debt, etc…) then you can select the payments to recur automatically each month. I use this method on about 6 or 7 of my accounts. Each recurring payment comes with an email notification so that you can ensure you have enough funds prior to the payment going out.
2. Auto Withdrawal – For the remainder of my bill companies (2 or 3) I use auto withdrawal. This is simply providing the bill company your banking information (routing and account number) so that they can pull what you owe them from your bank account. Traditionally, you would locate this information on one of your checks. Since you don’t have a check, visit the “account maintenance” link from the Electric Orange details page. On the account maintenance page, look for the “voided check” link. There you’ll find your routing and account numbers, which can be provided to your bill company to set up auto-withdrawal.
3. Paper Checks – With the Electric Orange account you don’t get paper checks in the traditional sense, but you can have a paper check mailed to any address. You can even have the check mailed to yourself to be signed over to someone else. I only use this method if I owe a friend or family member some money.
4. Electric Checks – Although this is a method that I’ve never used, it looks pretty easy. Basically, you send money to someone else’s bank account. It can be another ING DIRECT account, or a completely different bank account. All you’ll need is that person’s routing number, bank account number, and email address. This might be a good situation for a small business owner looking to pay their employees straight from a checking account. The recurring payment would justify requesting the banking info.
Open an Electric Orange Account with ING DIRECT
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Love it, been using it since last November. My car payment goes automatically, and if I ever come up short for some reason, I can transfer money from savings in ten seconds (literally). One piece of advice, have ING set up to send payment a week before due; weekends and holidays can throw the timing off.
Great point about the timing, J. So far, my auto and manual bill payments have all worked. I’ve even sent a few paper checks out with success.
Despite my devil’s advocate post, I do love my electric orange account.
I haven’t used the paper checks yet, but I love the ease of managing it, bill pay, and how I can just shift money between it and the savings account…but even my checking balance earns interest. Vs. my old place where I earned 0.2% interest!
I use ING checking for my car and student loans. It is really easy, and since I have a lot of my snowflake money deposited at ING it makes it easier to get that money to the loans.
I’ve never sent a paper check for anything official. I was trying to convince my mom (who has had ING for 6 yrs) that it’s a good idea and sent her a check for $1.
@sara – Way to drive the point home.
I just moved to California from Tennessee, and would love to switch to using Electric Orange because they don’t have Regions banks out here.
Only problem is .. I don’t know what to do with a physical check that someone would give me. How do I deposit that into my Electric Orange account ?
@Jeremy – Two ways to make deposits:
1. mail the check to ING DIRECT;
2. deposit the check into a local “brick and mortar” bank and transfer it to ING DIRECT.
I only use #2. I find it necessary to have a local branch available for this reason and for other services: notary, cashiers checks, etc…
There’s also no overdrafting with this account, you just pay a ridiculously small interest payment on the amount you go over, and if you go beyond the small line of credit it declines the card. That alone saved me about $120/yr in accidental overdraft charges.
I can’t say enough about how much I love my ING Electric Orange and my savings account. I am totally satisfied.
Nice review.
I got incredibly frustrated today. opened my electric orange account,a few days ago, linked to my ING savings account, and my brick and mortar bank. I tried to send a small check to a freind…all I could find was cancel, no place to accept. Tried to post 2 busineeses, beforeI needed to make payments, into their bill pay system. Again, could find no place to accept, only cancel. they did not show up in my list of businesses. what am I doing wrong?
@ andi dalt – sorry man. actually, i just logged into my account and i’m having trouble as well. the pages don’t seem to be loading correctly right now. i will play around with it and see what i can see.
A great idea but until American banking catches up it’s useless. One of my employers uses PAYCHEX one of the largest payroll service companies in the US they refuse to accept ING’s Electric Orange as a valid bank account for direct deposit. After filling out my empoyers DD form, and providing a signed copy of the DD form available from ING PAYCHEX still refused to change my direct deposit. They insist on a “personalized letter” on “bank letterhead”. When I called ING’s customer service they refused to provide such a letter … claiming they were unable to do that … i.e. “the computer says no”
A complete impasse
Al, I converted a paychex direct deposit to Electric Orange in January without any issue whatsoever… I think you all have a bad paychex account rep.
I actually have both an Orange Savings and an Electric Orange account. Everything that the writer said about the Electric Orange account holds true; I haven’t had any problems with it at all. At first, I, too, used it for daily spending. However, now I’m starting to use it to pay more of my bills. And the convenience of being able to transfer from one account to another really helps. I do recommend this account to anyone who’s looking to earn interest on their checking account while paying bills. Whatever bills are taken care of, the remainder of your money can simply earn interest. You can also have money withdrawn from an outside account to go into your Electric Orange account as many times during the month as you need to.