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ING Direct Canada Thrive Chequing Account Review

With the way things are going in the world at the moment, I felt it appropriate to investigate the unconventionally awesome ING Thrive Chequing account. Boasting virtually no fees, and a shiny orange debit card, the ING account is not short on bells and whistles. On first glance what impressed me is the lack of fees, which is of course what they advertise, but there really are no fees on normal day-to-day transactions — and no monthly fee. Of course there are fees on slightly unusual things like stop payments, and international withdrawals, but even those are more reasonable than most of the big banks.

Anyway, see my pros and cons list below, and if you’re convinced sign up for the Thrive Chequing account using my Orange Key 36150846S1 to receive $25 in your new chequing account. I know that’s a bit blatant, but ING really does have a good bonus offer, and I write this blog for free, so it’s a small way of contributing to the cause. You really can’t go wrong. After all, it’s free!

Pros

  • No fees for chequing, interac payments, deposits, etc.
  • $2 for international cash withdrawals
  • Extensive network of ATMs through the Exchange Network
  • Automatic $250 overdraft without interest until after 30 days
  • Decent iPhone app
  • No monthly fees
Cons
  • No traditional branch support
  • Free ING email transfers take several days. Interac e-mail transfers have a $1 fee and are relatively instant
  • Deposits are held for 5 days until you have had a minimum of 9 successful deposits over $100. Then you get a $500 automatic exemption, and sometime after that $1000. Because it is an entirely web and machine based system, there is no way around this, and no teller discretion. Basically you can’t have a relationship with a website.
  • I’m struggling with this…
While I still maintain a bank account at my big bank, this has allowed me to virtually eliminate any fees from my account as I do so few transactions with them now. If ING had a business chequing account I would likely move away from the traditional system altogether. Also, for travelling this card has been invaluable in saving me a ton of international withdrawal fees, and is likely the best travel debit card for Canadians.
ING is a large Dutch bank and therefore has an extensive ATM network throughout Europe and the world. I like the non-traditional approach as I don’t often bank at the branch. All-in-all I feel like the savings from eliminating the expensive bricks and mortar setup are passed down to the little guys like me. I’d recommend this product.
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