Only thing I would add of direct relevance is phone up an ING (normally free phone number) and ask them. When they've finished the verbal ask them for the specific para in the terms and conditions.

Jalexa, I thought it was only me that wouldn't touch the often uncompetitive ING with that thing because of the non membership of the UK compensation scheme. By the way do you happen to remember the launch of ING when they boasted that their USP was that they were simple and straightforward, you know no er... special offer bonus' etc...

I feel an allegation coming on... Yup I allege that the financial sector bears a startling similarity to the stereotypical picture of the Used Car Industry but it's better regulated, thank goodness... not well just better.

slicendice:

The answer to your question is very easy and very hard at one and the same time. The easy bit is that only by reading each offer terms & conditions will you get the answer. The hard bit is understanding the terms & conditions.

I haven't bothered studying the ING offer because I'm not interested due to ING not subscribing to the UK deposit protection scheme. Only you can decide whether you trust the Dutch/EU scheme enough.

"gotchas" to look out for in general are (1) the time limitation on the bonus (2) the bonus not applicable to existing (or former) customers (a previous ING "gotcha"), a time frame for and minimum (sometimes maximum) funding.

Perhaps most important, withdrawal or withdrawal(s) causing the bonus eligibility to fail. In particular look out for bonus being lost completely due to a withdrawal.

Try to understand the small print. Post again if you have specific issues.

Hi everyone

I currently have my savings in an ING Direct account, which used to have a very good interest rate. Obviously, like just about everywhere else, their rates have plummeted recently (for existing customers at least) so I'm looking to see what better offers there are out there.

Please forgive my ignorance on these things, but I've seen a number of banks offering a "bonus rate" - for example, bonus rate of 3.2% for 12 months then reverting to variable rate of 1%. What exactly does this mean? Say I opened a new savings account with an offer like this, and the establishment paid their interest monthly - does it simply mean that I will get 3.2% interest for the first 12 months? Or does it mean I won't get the 3.2% bonus until I've had the account for 12 months? And if that is the case, if I have to withdraw my money after, say, 8 months will I lose all of the bonus interest? Or will it get prorated so that I'll get 8 months of 3.2% interest?

Thanks very much