Tangerine: Update On The Bank Formerly Known As ING Direct
When we last checked in with ING Direct CEO Peter Aceto he said the company had until May 2014 to shed the ING name and rebrand itself. The online bank was purchased by Scotiabank in November 2012 and recently announced its new name – Tangerine – which is ready to officially launch on April 8th, 2014.
ING customers have been on edge since the merger, worried that Scotia would slash the interest rates on deposits and introduce fees to their once beloved fee-free bank. Things will become clearer in the coming weeks as the transition to Tangerine takes shape.
Related: Free Chequing Account Comparison
For now, here’s what we know about Tangerine:
“Our core values will remain the same. We will continue to offer great interest rates, simple products, and award-winning customer service, without unfair fees (emphasis mine).” – Peter Aceto, President & CEO, Tangerine.
Thrive Chequing will become Tangerine Chequing in April and any new cheques and bank drafts will feature the new name (you can still use existing cheques for as long as you have them).
The ING unmortgage will become the Tangerine Mortgage in April but nothing will change with your mortgage terms. They say you should let your home insurance company and your municipal tax department know that the name of your bank is changing to Tangerine so they can update their records.
| Account name before: | Account names now: |
| Thrive Chequing Account | Tangerine Chequing Account |
| Investment Savings Account | Tangerine Savings Account |
| unmortgage | Tangerine Mortgage |
| ING Direct Streetwise Portfolios | Tangerine Investment Funds |
| Streetwise Balanced Income Portfolio | Tangerine Balanced Income Portfolio |
| Streetwise Balanced Portfolio | Tangerine Balanced Portfolio |
| Streetwise Balanced Growth Portfolio | Tangerine Balanced Growth Portfolio |
| Streetwise Equity Growth Portfolio | Tangerine Equity Growth Portfolio |
You get the idea.
Access to Scotia ABMs
Starting in early May you’ll get free access to your chequing account at nearly 4,000 Scotia ABMs across Canada, including those at Shell, 7-Eleven, Quickie convenience stores, Cineplex Theatres, and Couche-Tard.
You’ll get free withdrawals and deposits at Scotia ABMs and you’ll be able to change the PIN for your Tangerine card.
Scotia’s membership in the Global ATM Alliance means you’ll pay no surcharges or access fees when you take out cash from nearly 50,000 cash machines in over 40 countries around the world.
Related: Why More Banks Are Extending Hours, Open On Weekends
Unfortunately, that means no more free access to the Exchange network as of September 30th, 2014.
Watch for a new Tangerine debit card to arrive in the coming months. It will replace your existing ING Direct card and feature the same Client number and PIN. You will need to activate your new card before using it, either online or by phone, by September 30th, 2014.
New website and mobile app
On April 8th, 2014, visiting tangerine.ca will take you to the new online banking website. Visits to ingdirect.ca will be automatically redirected to the new site.
The new version of the Tangerine mobile banking app will be available to download April 8th. If you have the existing ING Direct app it will remind you to download the new app once it’s ready.
Final thoughts
It appears to be business as usual for Tangerine, the bank formerly known as ING Direct. Mr. Aceto says they will soon be adding new products and services that “you’ve been eager for us to offer for some time.”
The integration with Scotia ABMs was a given, and they’ve recently added the ability to deposit a cheque with your smart phone. I suspect one of the new products will be a cash back credit card where the rewards are somehow tied to your savings account.
I’m concerned about the new messaging around not charging “unfair fees”. What do you suppose that means?
I am a Tangerine / ING DIRECT customer. I was recently asked to do a survey which went quite in depth giving the impression that they want to allow the customer to customize which chequeing account features they want for free or what features they would be willing to pay a fee for.
Perhaps by “unfair fees”, it means that fees that are fair are ones that the customer “chose”?
Even if they do change this, I’m still unclear as to whether or not it will be flexible enough to be as good as what they have now.
@Lloyd – That’s interesting. I remember doing a survey for them a couple of years ago which led me to believe they would come out with a credit card (they were asking me to rank different types of rewards).
ING Direct responded to me on Twitter saying that they’ve used “unfair fees” in messaging before, mostly because some products do have fees beyond daily banking transactions.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see 🙂
I wonder how many people it took to come up with the name Tangerine? I do not care for it. It does not seem like a name that will stand the test of time and when I think banks I want to think longevity and not trendy.
@jane savers – According to their literature, “We reached out to over 10,000 Canadians (including Clients, non-Clients and employees) and found a name that is as unique, bold and innovative as we are.”
I agree that the name is unconventional. Obviously you were not one of the 10,000?
If only their Global ATM alliance applied to SE Asia…I would happily move some assets over to them.
Also, have a smallish RSP with ING Direct, but find a) underperforming and b) quite limiting in scope. I wonder if the Tangerine lineup will allow clients to access more of a SDRSP product. Ditto with their TFSA choices.
I also completed the survey that ING sent to clients recently. The kinds of questions they were asking made me suspicious that they were testing the waters to see where they could add fees for services that are currently free. When asked for comments at the end, I made it very clear that if the “new model” included charging fees for things that are currently free, I would start shopping for a new bank!
I’m not too worried… yet. I’ve had great experience with them over the past year. I do like the addition of the Scotia ABMs, but I’m hoping that it really does go as planned with the switchover to Tangerine.
I’m with Jane… I really dislike the name, but I like the referral program, and the Whoops protection, etc.
Well considering Scotia’s entire business model is based on charging fees (like all the major banks) I fear the demise of ING will not lead to a positive outcome. I once had a Scotia investment advisor offer me a “free” chequing account if I moved my mortgage over to them, which I understood the word “free” meant no fee in perpetuity. The next time I asked him about it he said “Normally we can only do six months but I can offer you one year free.” Moral of the story, trust no one.
Well at least this is a lot better than when RBC bought Ally Bank and forced customers to either transfer their funds RBC’s low rate savings account or close their accounts. Although the marketing message seems along the same lines as ING Direct, we’ll find out if it’s business as usual once the interest rates are revealed.
I was just about at the point of doing some business with ING when they announced the purchase by Scotiabank.
Will be on the lookout for Tangerine to see if still I want to do some business with them. Thanks!
That “no unfair fees” is striking fear into many of us. If they say $4.95 for a chequing account with unlimited transactions isn’t unfair…. well we will be moving our money elsewhere. We joined ING Direct in the late 90’s because of being able to work with our money for free, if that changes, bye bye.
They are in a way already costing some clients money everyday.
It is not through fees or service charges but from higher mortgage rates and lower GIC rates than the competition.
Depending on the amount of GIC’s, RRSP’s, TFSA’s etc. that one has, it could be costing almost $19 a month in lost interest or more.
$50,000 in all these accounts at 3.00% 5 year GIC’s, ICICI Bank of Canada versus 5 year GIC’s at 2.55%, Tangerine is costing $18.75 a month for 60 months.
This is $1,125 less interest over 5 years and this is on a annual simple interest calculation and not annually compounded interest.
Now tangerine charges $45 to transfer registered accounts such as rrsp and tax free savings accounts to other financial institutions.Due to tangerines poor interest rates now I need to move the accounts as they are no longer competitive.