ING Direct

ING Direct is one of the leading online banks with high yield savings accounts (as well as other money management solutions). The current interest on ING Direct's Orange Savings Account is an exceptional 4.5% APY. You can open an ING savings account with any amount of money as there are no minimum requirements, open it with no fees, and no monthly maintenance or service charges. Your individual account is FDIC insured for up to $100,000 and if you also have a joint account, it's separately insured for up to $100,000.

You can get an account set up in about 5 minutes! Once your account is set up, you can call ING Direct for transferring funds, or use your online account manager. As an added bonus, you can set up an automatic savings plan, and determine how much each week or month you would like to have automatically transferred from your bank account into your savings account. Paying yourself first is the fastest way to get into the habit of saving money and before long, you won't even realize you're missing that money.

The interest rate on ING Direct's Orange Savings Account is variable- and will change based on market conditions, but basd on it's history, you can rest assured that you will receive a much higher interest rate on your savings with ING than a traditional bank!

In addition to the high yield savings account, ING Direct offers certificates of deposit, home mortgage and home equity loans, a brokerage account you can use to start investing, and a variety of useful budgeting and financial calculators to help you determine the best way to save your money.

ING Direct- Orange CD's

Saving money in a certificate of deposit is a great way to earn a guaranteed higher interest rate- as long as you plan to leave your money in for a set period of time.  With ING Direct's Orange CD product, you can earn 5.10% APY in a 12 month certificate of deposit.  Certificates of deposit are outstanding investment tools as you are gauranteed a return and it offers the security of FDIC insurance.

Home Loans from ING

In addition to high interest savings accounts and certificates of deposits, ING Direct also offers options for home loans with the Orange Mortgage and the Orange Home Equity Loan.

Orange Mortgage- Offers a single, low closing cost and a great rate of 6.1%.  Different mortgage options include the 5/1 and the 7/1 mortgages.  ING makes it easy to see which mortgage saves you the most money with online calculators.

Orange Home Equity-  Offers a loan up to $250,000 and rates as low as 8.25% variable APR.  When you apply for a home equity loan through ING, you don't have to pay application fees. Once you have the loan there is no annual fee and you can make prepayments without penalty.  If you aren't a fan of variable rate interest, you can lock your rate in at any time to make your home equity loan a fixed rate.

Securities

ING Direct also offers the ability to invest in mutual accounts or set up a retirement plan, with your choice of a ROTH IRA, traditional IRA, as well as the ability to roll over your existing 401K or IRA into a new product through ING.

For more information, visit www.ingdirect.com.