EmigrantDirect v. ING Direct Review

Although I think ING Direct offers great service and I intend to keep using it for online savings, I have been disappointed by the fact the interest rate on savings has been consistently lower than available with other banks. As a result, I have started the process of opening 3-4 online savings accounts and plan on transferring my emergency fund to the one offering the best rate at any given time. Because it has consistently high rankings from other financial bloggers, I opened an account with EmigrantDirect.

Review: First of all, the signup process was relatively easy and the initial deposit, $100, was transferred quickly and without incident. Nevertheless, I am not happy with the overzealous online security they employ. Instead of ING's difficult number and moving cursor keypad, they force users to answer 2 personal questions before logging on. While not a problem when I am logging onto the site, it is an annoying process when I try to use Quicken's online update feature. Every time, it slows down the process. Although the site works well, it is poorly designed and makes it difficult to see the available rates in CD's and other products.

Bottom Line: I probably will disable the online update feature on Quicken and keep the account open. Compared to ING great experience, I give it an acceptable rating.