If you have ING Direct’s “Electric Orange” checking account with an overdraft line of credit, check your account if you haven’t done so recently. A number of readers commented today that their overdraft limit has been reduced or eliminated over the last few days.
Divine responded to an earlier post about ING Direct closing customer accounts for bad credit:
I have also had my overdraft changed from $250.00 to $.00. This happened today. I logged into my account yesterday and it was there. I was a little worried so I called up and was told they check my credit report periodically and that was the reason why. The agent did not say anything about my account was going to be closed.
ING Direct’s latest terms of service explain that credit reports are checked occasionally, and the bank may decide to limit overdraft lines of credit based on the latest data.
You shouldn’t rely on overdraft protection; rather, strive to write checks only for what you have in the bank, never beyond your real balance. But mistakes can happen, and if you’re used to having a line of credit that suddenly disappears, you could find yourself in a sticky situation.
Girlthree says:
I received an email today stating that my account was OD by $10.00. I went into my saving to transfer the funds and only then realized that my OD has gone from $1,000.00 to $25.00. Called and got the same response, they are trying to help me save money and letters went out last night. I told the agent that it would have been nice if I received the letter first.
Any changes to your account should come in writing, 30 days before the changes are put into effect. This process of makeing substantial changes without warning is not the way business should be done. This is a poor policy.
Check your account to make sure you’re aware of any changes.
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Interesting. I had pretty weak credit when I opened my account, only a couple of months ago, and my line has not changed- $165.
Have they been getting burned by people on the overdraft system? Seems a bit of an odd change.
I would think not, since it is tied to your savings account.
girlthree: I need to clarify — your ING savings account will NOT be used to cover any overdraft on your ING checking account. From the ING Direct FAQ:
Sorry — What I intended to say was that you could use the funds in you savings to transfer to the checking acount.
No change for me as of yet. Still at 165.00 not that I ever need it.
My ING line of credit has not dropped. A few months ago when they started to close accounts I got a letter saying my OD was being taken away. I called them and they said it was a mistake and they put it back on.
Since then I have not had any problems and as of 5 minutes ago my OD line is still high. I have never used it and I just pretend it is not there because I do not want to go into OD.
I have had my account for over a year and ING checked my credit initially when I first opened the account. My credit has not changed since that time and they opened my OD line of credit knowing full well what my credit was like. I have direct deposit and pay it off every 2 weeks and use it again. I made a payment by check to Countrywide that was never received. After 3 weeks, the payment still had not been received so I placed a stop payment. The representative from ING told me to reissue the payment. Based on the advice of the ING rep, I immediately called Countrywide and reissued the payment via ACH using my routing and account number. The next day, ING closed my overdraft line and then bounced my payment to Countrywide. Had they informed me beforehand that they were going to close my line, I would have made alternate payment arrangements for my house payment. Now I have to pay bounce check fees to Countrywide! It is extremely negligent of ING to have done this to their customers with no notice.
Just got the email this morning that my 1000 has been changed to 25.
Initially this was done in May and then I received an apology and encouraged to use this account again (see below):
On behalf of my colleagues at ING DIRECT, I wish to sincerely apologize for the email you received regarding the closure of your Electric Orange. Your checking account will not be closed as indicated in the email correspondence. Also, your overdraft line of credit will be active within 48 hours. You are a valued Customer and we encourage you to continue to use this account. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience this mistake may have caused you.
If you have any questions, give us a call at
1-888-464-0727.
Jim Kelly
Chief Operating Officer
ING DIRECT
No warning….just removed my “spending power” and thats that….I think I am going to close both my savings and checking with them as they are not a reliable company
Hmm…I have no change in mine. The OD is a convenience (with a fee), but I can’t see closing my account because they decide to revoke it. So long as they are not touching my money, they can do what they want with their open credit lines. I did not sign up with ING for a line of credit, I signed up for an interest bearing account.
If people are abusing the OD feature and they are losing money, I am happy with them reducing or eliminating it on ‘high risk’ customers, if that is what it takes to keep the interest high on all our checking accounts.
$25 sounds like a pretty reasonable overdraft amount anyway. If someone is using $1,000 in overdraft protection, they should probably reexamine their planning strategy. The OD, in my opinion, is something for that “oops!” miscalculation moment, not a “Well, I haven’t got enough money to pay this bill till Friday, so I’ll just use this line of credit to do it anyway” moment.
Just my opinion.
Chris: I agree. Unfortunately, from some emails I’ve been getting, it sounds like account holders who never used their OD protection are seeing reductions or eliminations of their credit line, due only to a credit report check. I think this is fine, but there should be fair warning (30 days)… not an email after the fact.
Flexo: It might not even just be their credit report. ING probably just has a program that identifies risk customers based on a wide range of variables. It could be that they dipped their balances too close to zero so-many times, or have a certain number of transactions that correlate to others who abuse the system. That would explain in my mind why other commenters say they have called ING and had it corrected because it was a “mistake”…the computer program just picked them for whatever reason.
Mine was closed as well, without notice. My main complaints were one- I didn’t ask for the Line of Credit, it was given to me. I have used it, and I have always replinished the money within 5 days of using it. My credit has not changed- so I’m not understanding why the change all of a sudden. I think it’s backwards for them to open the LOC at the time of opening the checking account, then close it months later, especially if someone was using it wisely and repaying it on time. And my second complaint was just the lack of notice. I found out by suprise when I went to check the available LOC and saw it $0′d out. I should have known BEFORE hand, not after the fact.
I recently received the same notice about having my overdraft limit reduced to 0. I am going to take my banking needs elsewhere.
My OD was closed today as well. Based on my conversation with an ING rep this morning, it had nothing to do with my credit score or balance (774 and 85k respectfully). Apparently ING has lost too much money to people who treated the overdraft feature like spendable money and their corporate office made the decision to revoke almost everyone’s access to the feature this week.
The rep said they didn’t run any credit checks and that the corporate office told them they would reconsider reauthorizing the featuer in about 90 days to those that are willing to submit to a credit check and a minimum balance.
Lovely.
Ryan – It sounds like most people who had it revoked, actually used it. I have it with my ING checking account and my OD balance hasn’t changed, but I don’t think my credit is all that great. It’s at 696 last I checked.
ING Direct recently acquired many of the assets of NetBank.com, the latter having gone under due to their “subprime lending” practices. An ING Direct customer service (haha!) rep with whom I spoke today confirmed that, in the takeover process, ING cancelled all NetBank customers’ lines of credit WITH NO ADVANCE NOTICE. (Yes, she confirmed the “no notice” part of the preceding sentence, saying that “notice was not required by law”… or, apparently, simple “customer relations”.) As a consequence, I’m sure that I’m not alone in having had several payments “bounced”, as well as incurring NSF fees at $30 a pop, plus charges from the merchants who didn’t receive payment. To me, whether notice is required or not, this constitutes outright fraud on the part of ING Direct for the sole purpose of imposing unwarranted fees, and I will soon be taking my business elsewhere.
I urge everyone who had transactions that were initiated before closure of their accounts to contact the Better Business Bureau. Wether they are required to give notice or not, it is still morally and ethically wrong that they did this without notification hence taking our credibility with merchants and destroying it by making it look like we wrote checks with non sufficient funds and costing us fees along with our reputations. The information is below:
Fax: 302-230-0116
Email: asmulski@delaware.bbb.org
http://www.bbb.org
BBB of Delaware
60 Reads Way
New Castle, DE 19720
Dorothy’s advice is certainly good. After I posted my earlier message, it occurred to me that the Delaware Attorney General’s office might be able to provide some assistance on behalf of those of us who have been shafted by ING.
You can obtain a complaint form and instructions at: link
I had the same thing happen to me too. I had a measly $165.00 overdraft limit on my checking – and yes, I did use it on occasion, and it really helped me at times knowing it was there. I am a single mom, living from paycheck to paycheck – who happen to ONLY get paid every other week. This small overdraft amount was a HUGE piece of mind for me. And I loved my ING checking account, used them all the time to write my checks, and I told everyone how awesome they were.
And then I got the email telling me they were taking my overdraft protection away!
This broke my heart – and now I just do not know what I did wrong. Besides having bad credit which I am trying to repair. This was just not fair. Is there anyone I can complain to about this?
Mine was reduced to $25. Frankly it is a bit inconvenient to me as well, as I only use that account for any unexpected medical payments I may have to make POS. I had my cash in there, plus 250 overdraft, and felt very comfortable leaving my credit card at home when going to the dentist, eye doctor, or doctor. I just withdrew the necessary money from my short term emergency fund and was done with it, no credit card involved.
Not too happy with ING these days. I’ve already moved my long term savings to E Trade with no problems so far. I will most definitely not be using their services as they become more and more like a brick and mortar bank, which they originally sought to provide an alternative to.
My thoughts exactly. I got a “Newsletter” just the other day with the Ceo’s email addy. I suggest we all write to let them know just how we feel. I told him that I thought they WERE becoming just another bank.
ceocorner@ingdirect.com
I don’t understand why everyone is so attached to their tiny lines of credit.
I always wished they would offer an account without overdraft protection.
if you need credit, why not use a credit card, instead of trying to combining checking account and line of credit.
What people are not realizing is that the line of credit is not necessarily the issue. This is a copy of the response that I sent to the Ombudsman regarding the closure of my OD line of credit:
What you are failing to realize is the intensity of the problem that your company has caused not just to myself but to many, many others. You closed the line of credit with no notice while people had existing transactions drawn from them. You made it appear that people wrote checks or initiated payments with non sufficient funds. This could very well be considered a type of fraud! This not only damages ones reputation with a creditor, vendor, etc. but also causes other problems such as non sufficient funds charges and inability to write checks or use ACH with those certain creditors, vendors, etc. While this does no longer affect me because my line of credit is paid off, it still did affect me the day that you did it. I had 1 transaction pending on my account. Fortunately for me it worked out that the ACH did not immediately clear; however, it could very well have gone the other way. That check was for my HELOC to Countrywide and they would have charged me a return check fee and not allowed me to issue payment via ACH for an entire year. What you did cannot be legal! I am positive that I am not the only one that had pending transactions. I have been reading all of the consumer comments and blogs on several sites and have been corresponding with them. It has nothing to do with my credit being up to your standards or not or with me having an overdraft line of credit or not. It has everything to do with the fact that your negligence has cost your customers overdraft fees and penalties that otherwise would never have existed. You made it appear that numerous people had initiated payments with non sufficient funds. How completely humiliating! You must be held accountable and I am going to do everything I can to see that you are. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and have received information from another gentleman on how to file a complaint with the attorney general. My opinion my not count to you as I am only one individual, but I will make sure that I am heard and that the numerous other customers who have had their reputations scarred due to your negligence are heard! Perhaps then you will understand the message I am trying to convey and not simply believe that I am just some sap that had her line of credit revoked and is angry because of it. This message will be posted on the web.
Disappointed yet again,
Dorothy
Well, for ME – it’s called “protection.” Considering I get paid every other week, I enjoyed the fact that I had a small piece of mind – in case anything went wrong. I do not like credit cards nor do I use them. I got into trouble a long time ago with them.
So I never took on any others. My credit is not so perfect either, so I would have to pay a huge charge on using them.
ING was perfect for me. Simple as that.
Excellent letter Dorothy. I agree with it all too. I too had some pending transactions out there also.
Is there any chance of a class action lawsuit? Does anyone know how a class action lawsuit can be initiated? I am ready to fight out against ING’s discriminstion.
I don’t know if there is – but if someone decides to start one – I am in!
I am sending all my business to ETrade. I just opened up an account with them.
ING Direct is way to go: No
Dear Wellsfargo, ING Direct bank has never charged any Overdraft fee, and Wellsfargo shoudl also not charge it, otherwise I will need make ING Direct my primary checking account and close this Wellsfargo acct, and also let my friends know on facebook that INGDirect charges no overdraft fees.
Hello, for recent $10 overdraft fee , can you please refund that ? there was a bank error with dates which led to overdraft. I have paid back all the money checking acct to VISA card. Thanks, Avinash
Country home loans took out mortage payment when they said they would not causing me around $300.00 in over limit fees i even have a
comfirmation #.any ideas?
Does overdraft matter at all? ING does not assess fees for overdrafts, just charges a nominal interest rate. This is true even if you set your overdraft protection to $0.
What's the significance of the overdraft protection?