NerdWallet Credit Card Blog  »  Banking Feature • Current Events and Banking Industry News   »   GoodBye ING Direct, Hello Capital One 360

GoodBye ING Direct, Hello Capital One 360

capitalone360

by on February 1, 2013

Well, the time has come. The popular online bank ING Direct is no more, and Capital One’s new direct bank (the aptly named Capital One 360) is here to take it’s place. Earlier last year, when the news of this merger became public, many ING customers were concerned with how their beloved checking and savings accounts would fare. ING’s Electric Orange Checking and Orange savings accounts were some of the first to make a splash in the online banking community with extremely competitive yields and low fees across the board. While the interest rates took a slight plunge in recent years (as did those at all banks), they still remained in the top tier. The lack of fees has also persisted. Their checking account had no minimum balance requirements and threatened almost none of the typical fees (including overdrafts, out-of-network ATM withdrawals and others). Understandably, customers were concerned what Capital One, more known for their credit card products, would change about these consumer-friendly bank accounts.

Initial review of Capital One 360

Upon initial review, it seems that exactly nothing has changed for the worse, unless you were overly passionate about the orange ball that represented ING Direct accounts. The newly named 360 Checking, as well as the MONEY account for teens, include the same rates and features as before. The main observable difference is a positive one; Capital One charges no foreign transaction fees, so you can now spend more freely while traveling abroad. Similarly, their 360 Savings account offers the same yield (currently 0.75% APY) as before the transition, still a much better deal than what you could find at most other banks.

Although not much has changed in the account fundamentals (check out Capital One’s explanation of what’s different), customers will still be wondering if that’s bound to change in the near future.

How do the new Capital One 360 accounts match up to the competition?

NerdWallet’s Top 10 High Yield Savings Accounts (#10)

NerdWallet’s Top Online Checking Accounts (#3, based on yield)

  • jimgerrish

    So why can’t I log on to the new Capital One 360 bank as easily as I did to my ING bank account? For the past two days, I have been getting the “sorry for the inconvenience” message from Capital One 360. It is inconvenient. I don’t want a telephone bank, but an on-line bank and now I lost the best one to a bunch of incompetents. I guess I’ll be looking for a new on-line bank for the future.

  • Jane

    “Sorry for the inconvenience” and we aren’t answering our phones until Monday. I miss the orange ball. I miss it so hard.

  • CJ

    Do not get a mortgage loan with Capital One 360. Three weeks after a system conversion, the Capital One 360 staff still have not posted my payments correctly. Terrible communication. After you ask someone with Capital One to fix an error, you have to wait two or more business days to see if the error was fixed correctly. They blame “hiccups” and “display errors” for customers’ inability to make payments and/or see payments posted correctly. Locked out of payment functionality for several days, then payments inexplicably reversed without customer direction. Terrible bank. Miss ING Direct and the orange ball.

  • http://www.facebook.com/ntseltzer Nathan Seltzer

    Another mega-bank has ruined a good thing. Here’s what ING Direct customers can expect from Capital One 360:

    - No more 24/7 customer service. Instead they offer 8a-8p service and are closed for every holiday you can imagine.
    - No more near-0 hold times. I never had to hold for more than 30 seconds to talk to an ING rep. When I called them this morning I had to hold.

    I called them this morning because I had ordered a bank card and checks over 2 weeks ago and they have not arrived. The rep told me he would send out another card and it would arrive in 3-5 business days.

    I told him that is what they said about the last card and I need it ASAP because I have no way to access the funds in my account. He said he could expedite it, but they would charge me $25. He refused to waive the fee. By contrast, when I had my wallet stolen from my car last year, ING happily expedited me a new card in 2 days and didn’t charge me a dime.

    Although I hadn’t planned on it, I finally said “I think I’m just going to close my account. I don’t really think this transition to Capital One is–”

    The guy literally cuts me off mid-sentence and says “Okay would you like me to close your account now?”

    “Yep.”

    Its really too bad about ING Direct.

  • Providencia Rodriguez

    I am another unhappy about the conversion from ING to Capital One. I predict that within the next 6 months, we will be paying fees. I had to make a deposit into my checking acct. I decided to go to a Capital One branch instead of my credit union so that I can have access to my money (cash deposit) right away. I called and spoke to a man and was told yes come me you can make the deposit. When I left my home it was a nice 47 degree day. (So I dressed light) I took the bus (a 20 minute ride). I arrived at Capital One and went to the teller to make deposit. She could not accept the deposit because it was an on-line acct. Instead she suggested I open another checking acct. and then transfer the money to my already existing on-line Capital One checking acct. (During the transition didn’t anyone think this would happened, are these college educated people) The new acct. will charge me a fee of 8.95 a month unless I keep a minimum of of $250 at the end of each cycle or get direct deposit, which I already had with my on line Capital One acct. She said to split. Okay now I have to call HR get a new form and have them split my paycheck into two Capital One accts. The whether changed now it cold and raining. The bus arrives in 90 minutes. Gee all I wanted to do was make a deposit into my new Capital One acct.

  • http://www.facebook.com/anatoliy.lisovskiy Anatoliy Lisovskiy

    We also have troubles as the result of this sad purchase. My wife had mortgage payments set up automatically, everything was fine. After we received the letter about their merge and change of account number, she changed the number of the account on automated payments accordingly. Couple of months later we started getting annoying calls from some people calling themselves “Capital One” saying that we do not pay the mortgage and demanding to pay. Then we discovered that despite the payment come through, Capital One returned it back. We arranged the money transfer again, but it returned back. Nobody at Capital One could explain why it happened. Then we arranged payment by request from Capital One side, but it did not come through, despite account and route numbers are right. Capital One representative could not explain why. While this long process is going, people calling themselves “Capital One” keep calling and harassing us. Caller ID shows some weird number 1111-440-2035 that actually does not work. Each time that unknown people call they request to provide personal information. We are thinking about hiring a lawyer because what they are doing is beyond logical explanation.

  • http://www.facebook.com/vicks.luna.7 Vicks Luna

    IF you don’t have Capital one 360 don’t get it….They change if from ING DIRECT went down the tubes. Horrible …customer beware don’t say I don’t warn you …( I mean it)

  • Alex Darwigian

    I absolutely agree! I had the most terrible experience with them, they nearly ruined a very important deal because they messed up a simple money transfer. This bank has no regard for it’s customers, I loved ING and was using them for many years. I just closed my account and would urge everyeone to do the same!

  • wutusay

    When I first got word of them taking over ING Direct, I immediately transferred my money to my local (military) bank.