November 19th, 2007 
NCN
I just received an email from ShareBuilder, informing me that ShareBuilder has been acquired by ING Direct.
I have been an ING Direct customer for more than four years. (I have my emergency fund in the ING DIRECT – High Yield Savings Account and I also have a Electric Orange Interest Bearing Checking Account. [affiliate links] I also have an investment account through ShareBuilder.
If you want to read more about the acquisition, read this article from Reuters or this article from the ShareBuilder homepage.
I really like the ING Direct interface and I am excited to see what they are able to do with ShareBuilder. Hopefully, they’ll integrate ShareBuilder into their main interface and I’ll be able to easily move money between my savings, checking AND investment account.
One of the main reasons I keep my Emergency Fund in my ING Direct account is the fact that I can move, seamlessly, between my savings and checking accounts. If an “emergency” happens, I initiate a transfer, and send a check, or, I can initiate a transfer and withdraw money from my checking account, using my debit card. Either way, I have “almost-instant” access to my emergency savings.
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I just received that notice too. I also have accounts with ING and Sharebuilder, though I have stopped using the Sharebuilder account because I just don’t have enough money to invest to overcome the transaction fees.
It will be interesting to see what develops. I’m not sold yet on where I want to do my banking, I have accounts with ING, Schwab, and WellsFargo right now.
Are you using the Orange account as your primary checking account?
@FinanceAndFat – I’ve been using the Orange account as a “secondary account” for a few months. I’m thinking about using it as my “primary account” b/c of the interest I earn, the ease-of-use, etc. The ONLY reason I haven’t made a total “shift” to my Orange account is the fact that they don’t have local branches…
NCN
I got that notice as well. I also have both SB and ING accounts, but I’m actually hoping they continue to keep them operating separate (at least on the consumers end). I happen to really like both interfaces – INGs is simple for a simple product (savings). SB naturally must be more involved as generally speaking its a more complex product (many different stocks and funds, purchase price vs. current price, etc.) and there is also some necessity to provide some level of research and data.