Updates:

• 27 November 2018 – Made it clear that the referral program is currently unavailable. Updated the review.
• 9 January 2018 – fixed a broken link and amended some wording. Added a reference to Macquarie Transaction account.

Disclaimer: This post contains a referral. I will earn $100 cash for each person that registers and follows the steps below. However, you will also earn $100 for this which you otherwise would not earn if signing up directly.

ING – The “Orange Everyday” Account

When I first made this post on Nov 13, 2017 (about a year ago), this is what I wrote:

A few years back, ING had a fantastic product. Admittedly, their product is less attractive now, due to a combination of other competitors offering better products, and their own products offering less.

However, $100 cash is $100 cash. Before I was eligible to sign up for bonus points offered by Credit Cards, these were the kinds of promotions I’d look out for. Thus, to be clear, this post is more about the $100 cash that you can get rather than their ongoing banking product.

What is still valid? The ING Orange Everyday and Savings Maximiser product, I would say, is now probably the most complete/comprehensive bank account in the Australian market, primarily due to the international ATM fee waiver in addition to all their other features which I will cover in the review below.

Referral – Currently Not Available

As at 27 November 2018, there is currently no promotion with ING to earn any cash bonus on opening a bank account. I don’t have a crystal ball to be able to advise whether or not it’s worth waiting for a future promotion..!

~~Here are the steps to get $100:

1. Go to https://ing.com.au/summer100.
   • Promo Code: CXH048
2. Deposit $1000+ into this Orange Everday account within a calendar month (a transfer from another bank account will do)
   • That means a deposit of $300 in December followed by $700 in January would not qualify
3. Open and make a deposit into a new Savings Maximiser
   • Opening a Savings Maximiser account is relatively easy from their Internet Banking. A Savings Maximiser is simply their “High Interest Savings” account which is linked to your Orange Everyday account.
4. Use your Orange Everyday debit card to make 5+ purchases
   • Easiest way to do this? Make 5x payments towards your Electricity/Gas, Internet, Private Health Insurance, Phone, Water Bills with the lowest amount possible
   • Alternatively, 5x $0.01 transactions (using the “split payment” option) at Coles/Woolworths would suffice!

This must all be completed by 28 February 2018~~

~~Important information:

• If you have held an Orange Everyday Account at any point in time since 1 July 2014, you are ineligible for the $100 cash
• This offer is limited to the first 10,000 eligible participants
  • It will probably be difficult for you to know with certainty whether you’re one of the first 10k eligible participants, and I do not believe this is published anywhere. I would simply recommend you get in quick!
• The purchases which count towards the 5+ purchases include anything that involve a card, including Android Pay and Apple Pay. This excludes BPay and bank transfers (as these do not involve a card)~~

ING as an Everyday Transaction Account – Orange Everyday – Review

The ING banking products are a very good, comprehensive banking product that will probably cater to most individuals needs in the Australian banking market.

Here’s what’s good..

• Fee-free for pretty much everything, including no monthly fee, no dishonour fee.
• A great, user friendly mobile app and Internet Banking interface
• A $0.50 rebate when you get $200+ cashout (i.e. you’re “paying” $199.50 to take out $200)
  • This is an ongoing benefit which has existed as part of the account for at least a few years
• 24/7 Australian-based Telephone Customer Service
  • Have personally used them a few times over the years and they have been very helpful
• Compatibility with both Android Pay and Apple Pay
• Not a single ATM withdrawal fee worldwide, provided you meet the eligibility criteria outlined below.
  • This benefit is only provided if $1000+ (cumulative) is credited to your account in the previous calendar month
    • This money can simply be transferred from another account in your name, and subsequently transferred back out. It does not need to remain in your ING account.
  • You must make 5+ card purchases in the previous calendar month – the easiest “free” way to do this is probably to use the Beem It app and send money to a trusted friend (5x transactions) who can send the money back
  • The waiver of international transaction surcharges is good, but is no better than Credit Cards that waive international transaction fees. See “Best Cards for Travelling” post
  • The waiver of international ATM withdrawals, on the other hand, is quite special. At the time of writing, I don’t believe there’s any other Australian bank account that offers this. The Citibank Plus, Macquarie Transaction Accounts and Ubank are close, but aren’t quite as good because it does not waive ATM fees charged by the ATM. This means whilst Citibank, Macquarie and UBank don’t charge you for the withdrawal, you may be charged an ATM operator fee (which should be communicated to you prior to making the withdrawal). This ING feature specifically rebates you for any fees charged by the ATM in addition to not charging you from the ING side.
  • Foreign exchange rates are determined by Visa as at when the transaction is posted (when the transaction is “settled”, or “cleared”), which is typically 1-2 working days after the transaction is iniatiated (when the withdrawal is made). This can work either for or against you and is impossible to predict – unless you know how foreign currencies move… in which case you would not be reading a website like The Bulging Wallet
• Eligible to be linked to a Savings Maximiser, which has a fairly high rate of 2.8% (at the time of writing), upon meeting the same qualifying criteria above to get worldwide free ATMs.

And what’s not so good?

• At the time of writing, there is one physical branch nationwide – 60 Margaret Street, Sydney
• The $1000+/mth deposit requirement to activate the nationwide free ATM benefit. These benefits are available with (Macquarie, MEBank without this requirement
  • This benefit has also been slightly eroded by the recent announcement by the big four banks to no longer charge cardholders of other bank cards ATM fees
• No easy way to physically deposit cash into an ING account, as they have no “Smart ATMs” which allow notes/coin deposits.
• The “most comprehensive bank account in Australia” description I give the ING Accounts is very dependent on you being willing to make ING your primary bank account.
  • This is because three of the key selling points (free ATMs worldwide, no foreign exchange fees, higher interest rates) are only “activated” by activities that are typically made anyway by those who use this as their primary bank account, being the $1000 cumulative credit, and 5+ settled card transactions in the calendar month prior.

Considering the ability for this ING Card to cover multiple use-cases, namely:

• Domestic ATM withdrawals
• International ATM withdrawals
• Waiver of International Transaction Fees and Foreign Exchange fees
• A high interest rate of 2.80% p.a.
• Fee-free banking

It is hard not to recommend this. If for whatever reason, you are Credit Card-averse, this is an amazing option which covers the majority of most people’s requirements. If you can wait for a referral program, you might even be able to earn some cash – but I can’t predict when their referral program will be available again.

A reminder that this is not a Credit Card. This is good because you can only have a finite number (albeit, a reasonably generous number of approximately 5-8) of Credit Cards, whilst if there is a limit for Debit Accounts, I am not aware of one. That means there is “no harm having an account” because it doesn’t cost you anything and doesn’t contribute to a “quota” of Debit Cards, even if it’s inactive/dormant.

The only reason to not open an ING Bank Account would therefore be if you’d like to hold off for any promotional periods to open an account, as there is currently no promotion. Promotions are typically for users without an existing account, so feel free to hold off if you really feel no need for an ING account just yet!

Any questions, comments? Feel free to leave a comment!