EmigrantDirect.com

I've been an ING Direct customer for over a year. They've been a great online bank and I have no complaints with them. I've always felt that my money was secure and getting a lot better interest in that account than my Credit Union's account.

With that being said, I'm no dummy. When I see another online bank offering an interest 0.8% higher than ING I kind of take notice. My concern with these other online banks is if they offer the same features and is my money safe (obviously not in that order). After hearing about EmigrantDirect.com, first thing I did was google it. EmigrantDirect's interest rate is quite a bit higher than most online banks. Most places say that they have had no problems with EmigrantDirect. So that satisfies my money's security concern.

My second concern is if EmigrantDirect.com offers the same (or even better) features than ING. The main things that I was looking for were:

• Ease of getting money in and out
• Time to get at money after money has transferred into account
• Allow me to have multiple accounts tied to the same login (I use this for helping with budgeting)
• Automatic or recurring transfers

To try this out, I opened a single account with EmigrantDirect and funded it with $1 (the minimum for opening an account). Setting up the account was pretty painless (which included setting up my account to pull from my Credit Union's checking account). It took about two days for the $1 to show up in my new account. So getting money into the account was pretty easy (√ that one off). I haven't had a need to pull money out but I'm pretty sure that it is just as easy.

During my research, I found one site (can't remember where I found it) that said your money becomes available to transfer again five days after it arrives in your account (same as ING). So this one isn't a factor when comparing the two. √

My favorite feature of online banks (besides the higher interest rate of course) is that I can set up multiple accounts and tie them to the one login. This allows me to have several different savings buckets. So I have a savings account for my Christmas fund, my girls' weddings, etc. It works very well for helping the budget. At ING I had about 15 accounts. I only have 4 with EmigrantDirect right now (still in the process of moving everything over) but I see no sign of them limiting my accounts. So one more √.

And last of all, EmigrantDirect.com does allow you to setup recurring transfers to your accounts. It takes about two days after you create a new account for it to become available for any kind of transfers. So √ that one off too.

Overall I'm very pleased with EmigrantDirect.com. Their site does not seem as polished or styled as ING but it offers all the features that I want plus it gives me more money. I definitely recommend EmigrantDirect.com.