We have had three separate individual home loans with the ING group,Internationale Nederlanden Groep (English: International Netherlands Group). The first two where good, great service branch consultations, redraw a lovely black with a orange clear curved stripe through their bank cards and we paid these loans,out. We received a bottle of champagne at our first home from the ING bank not a mortgage broker, and a basket Of fruit with a welcome to your new home at our second apartment from ING. They also came as a representative to the solictors and were there and congratulated us on our purchases at the signings, of our new apartments. Plus this may sound silly but they sent Christmas cards every year, so these things brought us back for our third loan.
It was in march 2008 and the world was going financially to the toilet, the GFC, so we where convinced that settling for a fixed rate for five years at close to 9 % was the answer, everyone reminded us when the rates went up to 17 % so we did it, no personal service they used a third party company in the CBD where you go pick up the papers and we took them to the solicitors then onto the real estate where we signed and the papers they then were couriered back, no congratulations on your new home, no welcome pack, no gift sent to our new house, even no Christmas cards, this is the biggest investment you make and should be a relationship, a very big happy one would a little civil curteousy would be nice. ING are just smaller sharks in the larger shark pond. They have been stand off ish, and have not helped for enquiries to try and get a better deal, they are just taking advantage of the deal they have, not caring they have now destroyed a once good relationship and I WILL remortgage shortly at the end of the term to the very best deal and forget loyalty and ING. I feel so ashamed that I went into this based on two excellent relationships and then there has been a Huge shift in service and attitude, it's poor form and poor service.
SO THE SECOND I CAN, IM DTCHING ING the Dutch bank that leaves one cold.
Bankwest has guaranteed to beat any ING offer.

Approximate cost: $875,000

Great! Always easy to talk to over the phone. Got savings and mortgage with them and have been very happy. Can bank cheques at most post offices. No charge to get money out of any ATMs if withdrawing $200 or more.

Good service! Easy to contact! Excellent high interest given. Friendly and easy to use functions on the website. Everything is made straight forward with no hidden agenda.

ING is one of the easiest banking accounts I have ever used and I love that the money isn't instantly accessible as it means I have to think before I spend! Interest rates are great too!

I became an ING customer several years ago. I forget exactly how many, but it's at least five. Probably about seven or eight.

My relationship with them began when I opened up a Savings Maximiser account. My daily transaction account was with a credit union, and I was happy with it (and it still is and I still am). However, I wanted somewhere to park the money that I don't need to access in the short term, that would earn a higher interest rate. My credit union, much as I like them and feel loyal towards them, didn't have any such higher interest savings account, and its term deposit rates weren't all that competitive either. So I hunted around online, and found ING's Savings Maximiser. It offered an excellent interest rate for on-call savings, and no fees whatsoever. So I opened an account with them, and have never regretted it.

Later on I opened a couple of term deposits with them. I've always found their term deposit rates to be very competitive.

For a while there I also invested in one of the managed funds that was available via ING Direct. It's no longer available - they wound it up a few years ago. I was disappointed at the time because its performance had been very good, but in hindsight perhaps ING saw something I didn't, because it was wound up not long before the GFC hit. So I can't complain - I came out ahead. I invested in a different managed fund (not ING) around the time ING wound theirs up, and I still haven't broken even with that one yet.

I'm impressed with what I hear of their Orange Everyday account, although I haven't opened one because I remain perfectly happy with the transaction account at my credit union, with whom I've banked for over 20 years. If ever that were to change, I'd certainly make a beeline for ING's Orange account.

Apart from the excellent rates and no fees, other pluses are:

(1) their telephone service has always been exceptionally good. It's rare that I need to phone, but when I do, the time between dialing the number and speaking with a human being is mercifully short. It isn't instant - first one has to enter one's client number and PIN, and then select from a pair of options, and then from another pair - but as soon as I select the option to say I want to speak to a person, I'm put straight through. No getting trapped in endless looping robot menus, no waiting on hold listening to muzak. The person who answers then handles my query with courtesy and efficiency. Top marks for customer service. Every organisation that has a robotic voice banging on about your time being valuable to them before putting you on hold for ten minutes should take a leaf out of ING's book. ING really do treat you as though your time is valuable to them; they don't just drone on about it while doing everything they can to prove otherwise, as many large organisations do.

(2) their website is the best-designed website I have ever used. It uses plain English, its functions are arranged logically, it is intuitive, and it behaves exactly as it is supposed to. I have never found a clunky or irritating feature. That is a singularly remarkable achievement. Even WOMO's website - bless you all in every other way - has the odd clunky feature. It's hard to get the design of a website exactly right. It's hard to iron out all the bugs. But ING has managed to do it.

(3) their login screen has an excellent security feature, that I'm amazed hasn't been copied by other banks. Instead of entering your PIN into a field, ING presents you with a keypad on screen that you use by clicking the mouse. But the numbers on the keypad are arranged differently each time you log in. The purpose of this is to foil any keystroke-capturing trojan that may be lurking on your computer without your knowledge. It's beautifully simple and so clever. Does any other bank do this? If not, why not?

On the minus side:

Actually, I can't think of any minuses. None at all. And believe me, if I could - even trivial ones - I'd say so.

ING gets my highest rating because, so far, in every dealing I've ever had with them, they've done everything right.

I have a Visa debit card and a savings maximiser account. I have called ING Direct a couple of times and their staff are always extremelly helpful. Their interest rates are great. I do all my banking online - couldnt be easier.

Approximate cost: $00.00

I do all my banking on-line and whenever I've wanted to talk to a human being I've never had to wait very long in the queue. The staff on the phone have always been helpful and polite. To top it off the interest rate is pretty good and because it's a bank it's secure.

ING Direct and their 'orange everday' account are brilliant.
I haven't paid fees on any of my banking for several years now. They pay me good interest and cover my ATM fees regardless of what bank's machine I use so I never have to hunt for the right ATM -its always simply the nearest one! They also provide free bank cheques and have great call centre staff.
All my banking is done online so you don't need to live in Sydney to use them.

I hated banks for years and switched continually until a friend put me onto ING.

Approximate cost: $0.00

It's a bit annoying that they don't have many centres to go talk to but it is well compensated with it's interest rates. I do love the idea of it being an external account because you can set up automatic transfers so you don't see the money and forget about it and end up making a fair bit of interest each month

Approximate cost: $0

ING direct is an excellent bank. They are much better with their interest. I find I save more with them because I forget I have money in my savings account.