why ING bank is a bad, bad idea.

Normally I would not post on here about things that make me want to scream, but this relates to my FPU journey, and what things work and what things don't ING BANK DOES NOT WORK. Not for me.

This post may contain many bad words, so if that offends you, please do not proceed. I am too infuriated to pretend.

I want to preface this by saying, any time I have called ING Bank, the people there have been unfailingly nice to me. Pleasant. Helpful. Even charming. Even today when I was so angry and upset I thought my head was going to explode. Even today when I was asked if there was anything she could do to explain the situation to me, and why they do what they do and how they do it (because obviously I cannot figure it all out on my own), and to persuade me to not give up on ING, and my voice was raised and I finally responded by yelling into the phone that

I have never in my life had a bank make me feel so stupid and inept with my money as ING Bank.

I am still so upset. I am shaking. I want to scream some more and throw things at them.

This was not just one incident. It was a series of things that I just kept putting up with, and ING's stance is always the same: It's not US it's YOU.

For example: ING advertises that you can have up to 25 savings accounts with them, for free. True.

However: They tell you "by law" (what law? I don't know) you cannot make more than 6 transfers from any savings account in a month. But you can make unlimited from a checking account.

Actually means: Unless you want to be making a series of transfers, by hand, to each and every savings account, manually, and then also waiting for the money to clear, you need to open a checking account. You cannot just open one main savings account and disperse funds into numerous sub-accounts, which is what I had been led to believe.

Then there was me opening an account and making my first deposit, and how I had to wait almost three weeks for the funds to be available to me. Not to withdraw, but just to open up my multiple sinking accounts and move money around. I couldn't withdraw it, use it, spend it, transfer it, nothing. For weeks.

And this time period was extended because I was opening up my accounts right before payday and talking to their representative on the phone, and he said I had to still go online and "finalize" my account. Which seems like a small thing, but it the first example of all the steps and hoops and fuckwittery you have to deal with. If I want something done with MY bank, I call them, and it's done. If it's a bit more elaborate, I actually go to one of their branches and they talk to me in person. And whatever time they tell me it will take? It always takes less. With ING - it always takes MORE.

I didn't even want a checking account. I just wanted savings. But I was pretty much forced into that choice if I wanted to do what I wanted to do. Then they said they would send me an ATM/Debit card. Ok fine. And they told me, if I used the darn thing just 3 times, I would get $50 in cash. Which sounded like a great deal to me! And how hard could it be to use a debit card 3 times?

Well there was the waiting for funds to clear. Always, always. Then last Thursday I had this bright idea. I knew I had to make a very early morning purchase on Tuesday. So I went to ING and I authorized a withdrawal/transfer from my regular bank (I heart them so very much) to cover it, to my ING checking.

See this was THURSDAY. And I was making my purchase TUESDAY. To me, that is pretty much a whole week there. And ING takes 2 days to transfer funds.

Except Monday was a bank holiday.

And there is also a time difference.

Which meant I walked into a jam packed bakery in Chicago before dawn on Tuesday (Paczki Day, it's a whole big Chicago Polish thing) to pick up my order, I handed over my ING card and... it was declined. In front of everyone. With a line of impatient people all trying to get their stuff and get going.

That's when I made my mistake. Because I was not planning on paying cash, so I didn't have it. I was flustered and embarrassed. I rarely swipe anything any more. So I took out my regular ATM card, from MY bank, and paid, and got out of there.

See here's the other thing: when I opened a checking account at ING, they ran a credit check, because, as they said, their overdraft protection is a line of credit. They "don't charge fees." No, you get a line of credit, so they just charge you interest on your overdraft amount, as it is a loan.

So I had to - unexpectedly - apply for credit, which I did not know and might have said "No thanks" to, if I'd been prepared. But I wasn't, so I applied, and I was "approved."

Now I am sure some ING minion could explain to me, in great detail, how this was all my own fault, How somehow I misunderstood their terms. How I misunderstood why I had to apply for and be approved for a line of credit with their bank in order to have a debit card on my own bank account.

Here's what I, the customer understood: I had over $300 in their bank, tied up in various savings accounts. And my card was declined for lack of funds. (That $300 does NOT include the transfer I authorized on Thursday prior.)

I had pre-planned and transferred money into ING on Thursday for a purchase on Tuesday. And my card was declined for lack of funds.

I had to apply for a line of credit for "overdraft protection" to open the checking account. My checking account had, I don't know, $15? in it? $20? The purchase was about $45. So basically a difference of maybe $25. They made me apply for a line of credit, which they assured me would cover overdrafts, and yet my card was declined for lack of funds. Over maybe $25.

Of course, the mistake was mine. That I paid with my regular debit card. As I've mentioned before, I don't carry a huge cushion in there, and this was a few days before payday so it was tight.

I paid the bill with my regular ATM card. A few hours later, ING finally showed up and transferred the money out that I had authorized the week before. I never saw it happen because my bank saw that I had $1000 in my savings, and seamlessly transferred money out to cover the transaction. And charged me a fee of course.

Then the next day I went and paid for parking using my Parkmobile app, which is attached to my regular checking account. A mere $1.85, and it came out of my savings, With another fee. And when some other small small transactions came in (that were scheduled and I knew about them), well at that point I was in the hole, so more money came out of my savings.

If my bank had just covered all the small transactions as overdrafts, they would have charged me $32 per transaction in overdraft fees, which is perfectly legal and even normal in bank-world. Instead they rolled everything into one transaction of about $100, transferred it over from my savings, and charged me the transfer fee ONCE. They could have really gouged me and they didn't. I heart them.

And then when I bought parking the next day. I never got an alert from them I was overdrawn, because... I wasn't. They had transferred money over. So I was at $0. And then I made a $1.85 parking purchase via Parkmobile. A DOLLAR AND EIGHTY FIVE CENTS. And they transferred it over,. And charged me the transfer fee. Which is much less than the overdraft fee, and I really appreciate that.

Of course, this is all ultimately my responsibility. Not ING's.

• It's my responsibility to stalk my ING account daily to see if funds are in there, and more importantly, can they be used. Because with ING, they frequently could not.
• It was my responsibility to check their website before I tried making a purchase. See, I am used to my bank, where having $300 in that bank (in any form) means I can use those funds.
• I believed ING when they told me I was getting a line of "credit" to cover "overdrafts."
• I listened when they explained in great detail why transfers take 2 solid business days. It was my fault that I did not think about a Bank Holiday on Monday (a regular work day for me), and the time difference.
• It's my responsibility to check my own regular bank account to keep up, and generally I do so daily. This time I waited 48 hours between checks. That's on me.
• No one forced me to use my regular ATM card. And if I had thought about it (which I didn't because I don't usually get up before dawn, so I was woozy), I could have checked my regular bank on my mobile app, seen the situation, and manual;ly transferred money to cover me - no fee. I did not.

None of that matters. What matters is that I sweated and slaved and skipped going to the dentist for 4 months and sold stuff I loved and said no and ate peanut butter sandwiches to save that Emergency Fund. And when I looked, today, instead a glow of pride and contentment, I got a huge kick in the gut because someone was fucking around with my Emergency Fund. Ut was not immediately apparent what the hell had happened. All I saw was that money was gone. I kind of figured the $1.85 was parking, but why was it in my savings account with big fee attached to it? And why was money transferred out on Tuesday? I never transferred money on Tuesday. And I looked at my checking account and saw that ING had transferred money out, and I had not dealt with or authorized ING to do anything on TUESDAY.

The fact that they fucked with my Emergency Fund the very same day that my ING card was declined for lack of funds? I don't care how you want to spin it, I don't care what logic you want to use, I don't care how you want to point out it is, actually, all my own fault.

I AM GOING TO KICK. YOUR. ASS.

From a customer standpoint all I can see is that with ING, I feel stupid and inept with my money. I make stupid mistakes based on things like not knowing it's a bank holiday and not accounting for time zones. And yet, I know that I am not stupid OR inept with my money. I am not irresponsible with my money. I don't swipe mindlessly and wonder why I am getting so many fees.

I used to have situations like thins, earlier in my banking life. Before I found my local bank. After dealing with them for 5 years, I know I not stupid or inept. Maybe I was a little confused about money before, and occasionally that created some issues I had to deal with. But in general, I had very few problems.

And after FPU and all these months I know that I am on my money like white on rice. Pretty much every day. All the time.

that's how I know, I know where it counts that when it comes to ING... it's not me, it's them.

Yeah so I gritted my teeth and told that ING lady I wanted to close all my accounts and I wanted all my money back. Every cent. And the "auto withdrawal" I had set up for the day after payday (tomorrow)? Better not go through. I do not want ING Bank touching one red cent of my money, not now, not ever.

So this happened Thursday afternoon. Guess when I am getting my money deposited BACK into my account?

Maybe next Monday.

Probably Tuesday.

Possibly Wednesday. Of next week.

Oh, grrrrrrrrrr...!