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ShareBuilder Acquired by ING Direct

by Flexo on November 20, 2007

in Banking

I received this email last night, and it was news to me. I’ve had no problems dealing with ING Direct, nor have I had any problems dealing with ShareBuilder. I have accounts with both companies. For a while, ShareBuilder was offering significant bonuses to those who opened accounts, and ING Direct has always had their referral fees. Both companies offered these ways to make some money for a time.

ShareBuilder - Welcome page Many customers have had problems with ShareBuilder closing their accounts for receiving too many bonuses, and ING Direct has been through a spate of bad public relations during this past year as it closed many individuals’ accounts or removed access to overdraft protection without warning. Also, ING Direct is no longer the king of high-yield savings accounts, and hasn’t been for several years.

Even still, they are both solid companies, but I never expected them to join forces. Here is the full email.

ShareBuilder has some important news. As of November 15, ShareBuilder has been acquired by ING DIRECT, the nation’s largest direct bank with over 5.5 million customers and $75 billion in U.S. assets (part of Netherlands-based ING, NYSE: ING). ING DIRECT shares our vision of helping Americans increase their savings.

Rest assured there have been no changes made to your iplanlife ShareBuilder account. All of the easy account maintenance, trading tools and customer service functions you are accustomed to will remain the same. The only change you will find is an eventual logo and color change as ShareBuilder begins to adopt ING DIRECT’s signature Orange color. You can also continue to use the same account number, login and password, and can access your account anytime through the co-branded ShareBuilder website.

We look forward to sharing more information with you over the coming months. If you have any questions, we invite you to contact us at 800-365-6605.

Best regards,

Dan Greenshields
President
ShareBuilder Securities Corporation

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Tagged as: Banking, ING Direct, Investing, ShareBuilder



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Flexo, the owner and creator of Consumerism Commentary, has been blogging and writing for the internet since 1995 and has been building online communities since 1991. Find out more about him and follow him on Twitter.

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  • Yeah, I got this email as well. Very exciting news. I'm an ING Direct customer and interesting in ShareBuilder.
  • Zook
    Will ING keep the sharebuilder name? Sharebuilder must have been doing some things right if a monster like ING bought them and their must be some things ING would like to improve upon as well.

    I am one of the few that do not have an ING savings account, but I have some 457 money with them and have helped folks open up ING savings accounts and with their rates and ease of use, this is a good thing!
  • Chariot
    I was an account holder at NetBank and it was also taken over by ING. Since I previously had a savings account with ING and closed it in 2006, they would not honor the transfer of my NetBank account over to ING. Said they didn't want my business. I had to transfer all my funds over to another bank before ING stopped servicing the NETBANK accounts. Bad karma!! Bad PR for ING. I have nothing good to report from them.
  • I'm a Sharebuilder account holder & have been for quite a while. I, like Chariot, had a savings account with ING and it's closed (due to ING's practices).

    I'm seeing me having to do the same with my Sharebuilder account as Chariot had to do with the Netbank account. I agree with the bad karma and PR for ING. Also have nothing good to for them.

    They're po'ing too many people. After reading a story about them snubbing those with over $100K, it made me think ING has much too much to lose if it don't change it's practices.

    The story is found at http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2004/0524..., titled Where Money Doesn't Talk Matthew Swibel, 05.24.04

    Per the story, ING is more interested in keeping expenses down than treating its customers right. I can understand the logic of keeping expenses down. There's also a cost at keeping them down to less than half of what the rest of the banks do
    Tho story only listed what Bank of America paid. Still .... making money at the expense of everything else is not the way to go. Kuhlmann may scoff those who he considered need too much hand holding and banishes a former account holder for making daily balance inquiries by phone (hey! it's the account holders $$ .... their perogative; not ing's), there will come a time when Kuhlmann & ING will need and want that hand-holding & won't find it.

    Won't find any sympathy here that's for sure. Not likely to due to the many, many issues with other customers.
  • Shopgirl
    I have ING direct accounts - 2 years strong, their savings, checking, IRA, and now sharebuilder, and i have had no problems. Still have my checking account (thank goodness!) and no nasty letters.

    Sharebuilder is nice for setting up automatic investments to build stock/eft balences over time (Hello Dollar Cost Averaging Berkshire Hathaway B-Shares!). Good to get yourself started if you are new to investing or don't want to work for the knowledge but also don't want to pay for advice. This is not an account for active traders though, better off with scottrade for that.

    No word on when my sharebuilder account will show up on ING Direct's Website though, but any improvements to the investment page (where my IRA is) will be greatly appreciated!
  • Buddy Edmonds
    Just signed up with Share Builder Co and before I could get last bit of info the computer signed me off that program. What email do I use to transfer funds and purchase stock? I want to buy a 2500 dollar block of Bank of America. What now?
  • Buddy Edmonds
    I am a novice with the computer and know dip shit about dealing in the stock market. However, I m a pretty damn good typist for a 72 year old. But not all that great on patience.
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