Ing DiBa free online banking

Anyone have experience of this 'free' bank account? Looks good to me...

I wonder how many "Visa ATMs" there are? (As you can only draw cash for free at those ATMs)

Have a look at details of bank accounts in Germany below.

https://www.1822direkt.com/1822central/cms/...9_06_Direkt.pdf

Anyone have any recent information/reviews on ING? I'm thinking of opening 'Das extra-konto'

Thanks!

I've got one, it works really well. No restrictions on withdrawing, all you need is an ordinary account for them to send the money to, doesn't have to be with ING and it takes a couple of days to appear on your account. The interest is only added at the end of the year though, so you don't get interest on your interest!

Sure you do. Leave it in and the interest on the interest goes on at the end of the following year.

Check DKB as well.

Well yes, but if it was paid every month you would get more over the year.

Sure, but wouldn't the banks know this and set the base interest rate lower, meaning you end up more or less with the same amount?

Probably.

Is there a savings account that offers monthly or even daily compound interest? Been around for years in Canada, but not seen it here.

From the infos that i had gathered a few months ago, if i remember correctly, ING allows free withdrawal in ATM's only in Europe whereas DKB has world wide free withdrawals in ATM. Hence, i chose DKB.

Surely you're talking about a giro konto. The ING extra konto is purely a savings account and the only way to get money out is to have a reference konto that the money can be transfered to, but it doesn't have to be with ING, mine's with Deutsche Bank.

I have a giro account and the Extra Konto with Ing DiBa.
I am very satisfied.
You can get money at every ATM.
I think free withdrawl is woldwide?
Last time I used it in Thailand. Didn't noticed that I had to pay a charge.
If I have to transfer money I do it by telephone. I do not use the internet.
For me it works fine.

I just found that the charge is 1.25% outside the EU.
These limits are ok for you?
"Sie können maximal 750 Euro pro Tag und 2.500 Euro innerhalb von 7 Tagen abheben. "

I myself am not looking for much outside of it being a free savings account with a decent rate. Like Allershausen, my current account is with DB and I'm happy with that since they have a good ATM network (esp. stateside with free Bank of America withdrawals). I just want a little interest on the money that I want to have short term access to.

I have heard good things about ING in the states, but always am a little wary of German banking when I don't always understand the terms and conditions 100%.

The ING website says...

That's exactly my reasoning as well, DB savings rates and conditions were crap and INGs work really well, plus they give you a voucher for petrol and IIRR also for someone who recommends it to you, hint, hint! Or they did when I opened mine, they may not do that anymore, what with the price of petrol these days!

You could try Noris bank too (http://www.norisbank.de/). They have a pretty high interest rate. Recently a friend of mine mentioned that CommerzBAnk gives 5% interest. So worth checking that out too.

Thanks everyone for the input.

Sorry Allershausen, I filled the form in and sent it already!!

Most of the banks that pay higher interest rates either expect you to save regularly or they restrict the amount you can withdraw immediately, i.e. you have to give written notice when you want to withdraw a big amount, which is pretty crap.

Damn!

Actually I just checked and they don't seem to be doing that anymore anyway!

My 2 cents:

I have both an ING-DiBa account (the works: Extra-Konto aka savings account, Girokonto aka checking account, Depot aka investment account and a credit line) as well as a DKB checking account. I'm very happy with both banks, especially with the fact that I can withdraw money at any ATM for free.

If you're wondering why I have two bank accounts: I got the DKB checking account automatically when I applied for the GermanWings credit card (see link below). I'm using this credit card as a second savings account: it actually offers a higher interest rate on positive balances than ING's Extra-Konto does (3.8% instead of 3.25%). One can also withdraw money at any ATM world-wide without paying any extra fees, including cash advance fees, provided one pays the credit card balance in full every month. It's one of a very limited number of credit cards in Germany that offer collision damage waiver for free when you rent a car (valid world-wide).

With the ING account, one can also very easily send money to any account within the Eurozone (for free). Haven't tried it with DKB. For sending money to/from North America, I use Xetrade (link below)

http://www.germanwings.com/de/My-Germanwin...KB-Cash-AGB.htm
http://www.xe.com/fx/

Lufthansa and BMW Bank also offer Vollkaskoversicherung for rental cars. I think Lufthansa also covers Haftpflichtversicherung.

I checked Luftansa's Miles and More card a few weeks ago. Indeed, they do offer the Vollkaskoversicherung (CDW) but only as part of the "business package". From what I understood, you can only get this through your company.

not true. you just have to pay for it, like you do for the German wings insurance package, or you can use your Lufthansa miles to pay for it.

I stand corrected. Indeed, the business package of Lufthansa's Miles & More card is not limited to business clients. I had misunderstood the following footnote on their website.
6) Optionales Zusatzpaket für Kunden, die ihre Karte überwiegend im geschäftlichen Rahmen einsetzen.


I noticed that the underlying insurer for the CDW insurance is the same for both cards, so if one is specifically interested in saving money on car rentals, one is probably better off with the much cheaper German Wings card (38 Euros / year as opposed to 95 Euros / year for the Lufthansa card). For all my other purchases, I use my Citibank Cashback card and pocket 1.5% of what I charge on it (1% right away and 0.5% at the end of the year).

I think the German wings card is €19 for the card plus €38 for the business package making it €57, isn't it? If you are LH frequent traveller you get the Frequent traveller card which includes the Gold card services for only €62 or 17,500 miles. Plus you earn miles as you spend, so you usually pay for the card from the miles you've earned over the year.

I just got my Germanwings card: they charged me €19 for the first year, and will be charging me €38 thereafter. I chose to have the extra insurance package included, which adds €19/year (for a total of €38, not €38 on top of the first €19). Without the insurance package, the card is free for the first year and costs €19/year thereafter.

I know that a lot of people swear by their miles program, but personally, I'm not a big fan of miles, as they are not easy to manage, exchange, cash in etc. Plus, they eventually expire. In fact, around the world there are billions of dollars' worth of unused miles. That's why I opted for Citibank's cash-back card as my primary credit card. It only costs €25/year, which it handsomely covers with the 1.5% (hard) cash that I get on every purchase. A dream for lazy people like me...

I have unlimited validity on my miles and miles and more couldn't be easier to manage. I've saved a fortune using miles for flights when I've wanted to travel at short notice. Last year, for example, I wanted to fly to Birmingham, the flights were €900 flying friday coming back monday, so i booked using miles and paid only €60 for the surcharges. I also pay nothing for the Frequent flyer credit card with gold card benefits by paying for miles, so another €62 saved. I don't think you'll be able to save that with your cash back deal.

I admit, though, that unless you fly a few long haul trips a year, it probably isn't worth it but you'd be surprised how easy it is to get enough miles together to pay for the credit card.