I was able to add 500 dollars to my savings, for a new total of 800 dollars. You can check out my new chart over at the NCN Network. See the link on the right hand side.
Savings money is very, very hard for me, and I don’t really know why. I guess with the burden of the debt removed, I feel less “pressure” to manage my money wisely. I have to force myself to hit the transfer button at INGDirect. Strange.
Oh yeah, for those of you who like the ins and out of “how” the transactions go down, or for those who want to know how INGDirect works, here’s the scoop.
I deposit my check into my local branch bank. I use Wachovia. They have a free checking account, with no minimum balance requirements and no monthly fees. Also, they offer free checking.
When I opened my ING account, I gave them permission to access my Wachovia checking account, via Wachovia’s routing information. This set-up is easy, and takes just a few minutes. (The actual time for the ING account to be completely up and running may vary, and I opened my ING account over 4 years ago, and the application time may have changed a bit since then.)
So, once my check has been deposited at Wachovia, I access my ING account via my web browser by logging into my account. I then schedule a transfer from Wachovia to ING. Most transfers take between 1 and 3 business days to go through. Bam, my money, which was at Wachovia, is now at ING, earning over 3% interest. Now, if I want my money to come out of my ING account, I simply login to ING and initiate a transfer from ING to Wachovia. Please note, whether I want to put money into ING, or take money out of ING, I must use the ING site to initiate either type of transaction. (Push or Pull, so to speak.) It really is very very simple.
(If you have 250 bucks, and would like to sign up with INGDirect, and would like a 25 dollar bonus deposit, send me an email and I will hook you up with a referral. I’ll also get 10 dollars for referring you.)
Oh yeah, it usually takes 1-5 business days for money to be transferred from ING to my Wachovia account. Also, while ING will “have” your money very soon after you send it to them, there will be a 3-6 day waiting period before you can withdraw that same money. So, a pull then push round-trip transaction could take up to 2 weeks, depending on how fast they process both transactions.