Comments on: Investigating The Electric Orange Credit Check Situation

By: Arby

Arby — Tue, 29 May 2007 00:13:07 +0000

I have my paycheck deposited to a Fidelity account, but HSBC or Emigrant Direct are good alternatives. All three options are approx 5% interest.

Most of my monthly bills are automatically charged to my Chase credit card. I get cash back on these payments and approx 6 weeks of free interest. I pay the minimum balance electronically early in the payment cycle so as not to get hit with any late fees If I foregt which I never have. Near the end of the cycle I pay the entire balance.

I have a no fee, no minimum balance checking account with an ATM card at my local brick and mortar. I can move funds from Fidelity in two days. From this account I take cash, pay my credit card bill online, and write out my rent check.

By: HappyRock

HappyRock — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:44:05 +0000

It benefits the financially responsible for ING to do a credit pull. It allows them to lower their risk, which will keep them providing lower cost innovative services to their targeted clients.

One thing that really disappointed me was when I tried to open two Electric Orange accounts(personal and business), and was told that it is one account per person at this time. A joint account counts as one account for both people. Hopefully they change that soon.

By: J

Fri, 18 May 2007 13:36:59 +0000

Unless I am not fully understanding this entire entry (fees or whatever), I think I can swing by -5 credit points in my credit score. Yeah, it’s going to stink a little bit but only for 6 months. My credit is not perfect but pretty close to spare -5 points and get some of that high interest.

You can get those points back by making a big purchase with a credit card and paying it full right away (I recommend having the money FIRST before using the credit card). This strategy has worked wonders for me to pull up my credit score.

I guess “there’s no free lunch”.

By: chris g

chris g — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:45:28 +0000

I only have the HSBC online account, I love the savings, but have been thinking of opening ING to move the interest I make from HSBC to ING, kind of like a forced savings, but with interest only moving. Sound like maybe ING may not be the right choice?

What does it matter if your credit gets “pulled” what does this mean and why is it so bad to have it pulled often, finally, does it really matter if you have good credit?

By: Brad

Brad — Thu, 17 May 2007 22:12:57 +0000

@ Anne: I completely agree. It irritates me that they make it more difficult to see your actual balance by putting the “spending power” in bold. Sure seems like they want people to use the overdraft line of credit. That small gripe aside, Electric Orange is a great account. I am glad to be moving away from my monolithic brick & mortar establishment where I’m slammed with fees left and right. Go go ING.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:41:26 +0000

I just switched banks due to their overdraft policy.

I still think it was a bank error, but money went in and out of my account the same day, and somewhere in there, they claimed I overdrew the account by $40. (the deposit was 1000+). I eventually got the ‘overdraft fee’ refunded, but they still screwed up.

In the few days were I wasn’t sure if I was going to get my $5 back, I found a local bank that combines checking and savings and gives 6% interest on that account. Even though my old bank got the stolen ‘fees’ refunded, they still lost a customer.

http://www.firstbankonline.com It is a local bank (West Tennessee) and it even has a brick and mortar branch

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:05:04 +0000

I opened an Orange checking account to put away my $20/day. :) I didn’t care about overdraft protection, but it looks like I have $250 of it. Here’s the thing: When I log into my account, at the top of the summary page I see this:

Balance – Pending = Available Balance + Overdraft Line = Spending Power

My “Available Balance” and “Spending Power” are in bold. So I think it’s disingenuous of ING to now claim that overdraft protection is only for occasional use because they’re sure pushing it for access for spending.

By: ongrowthtrack

ongrowthtrack — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:34:16 +0000

Well, ING got it wrong first of all to come up with a creative service without doing the due diligence. So they have to pick up their share of bad publicity. It also might make them look selective with good service which can be a plus for them. Delaying gratification reduces risk.

By: Trent

Trent — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:28:54 +0000

You’re spot on. I think it’s a good business decision by ING and it doesn’t really matter to people with good credit, but it is undoubtedly bad publicity for them.

By: ongrowthtrack

ongrowthtrack — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:22:25 +0000

Without the hard credit pull, Electric orange would be a great deal for many. However ING could not have continued with too much of risk in this way. They would have just revised the policy and given it minimum publicity necessary.

By: Mama Money

Mama Money — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:08:38 +0000

Very interesting. I’ve thought about opening this, but I am trying very hard not to have any more hard pulls on my credit report through 2007, so this is very good to know.