Here is the email I just received

The ING DIRECT Winter Save Up Sale is here!

We'd like to say thanks for being an ING DIRECT Customer by helping you save MORE money. Between January 19, 2006 and April 15, 2006, new deposits into your Orange Savings Account can earn 4.75% APY!

Check under your sofa cushions, empty that change jar - just don't miss out on this great opportunity to save like you've never saved before! Login and use the Transfer Money tab to deposit more from your linked checking account.

Of course with any sale, there are a few rules. Just visit ingdirect.com/sale to learn everything you need to know about the Winter Save Up Sale.

Deposit more cold cash, and you'll get a hot new rate.

That's correct. The special rate also only applies to NEW deposits into the account, not on existing funds. In addition, the higher interest rate will be paid only on the balance of all new deposits MINUS any withdrawals.

So I don't expect to make out like a bandit on this promotion, but like the fact that ING offered it.

Guess that shoots out the idea of pulling everything out, and putting it back in....LOL

The "bonus savings" amounts to $2.50 per $1,000 deposited if you have it in the entire 3 months.
Excellent marketing on ING's part

well we lucked out and had pulled 95% of our money out of ING en route to HSBC. HSBC was slow...the money was sitting in our CU...and now has been sent back to ING @ 4.75% until it is transfered to HSBC on April 16th.

It’s an interesting offer I assume that ING saw an exodus in deposits when they were no longer the leader in this market.
Glad I pulled my money out before.

Unfortunately I don’t have a direct link to ING from the right account so I will loose 3-4 days of interest at 4% to accomplish the transfer but I suppose I could get that corrected before it’s time to bail out so figure 5 days total round trip.

Doing some back of the envelope math it would work out like this for each $10,000 transferred from a 4% APY account to ING.

4.00% $1.095 Per Diem
4.75% $1.301 Per Diem
5 day net loss $5.75
Net gain over 85 days per $10,000 deposited $17.51 less 5 day loss gives you a net gain of $11.76.

For those in HSBC the margins are even slimmer unless you have the account linked with ING.

Any suggestions on how to cut the no interest transfer float time down short of mailing ING another linked checking account info ?

Damn! WIsh this was for current monies in an ing account too

Didn't even know about the 4.75% for new deposits. Just transferred 50k that will post tomorrow!

nice math.
for me would be about $11.94 gain minus another 5 days of 4% interest loss when on April 15th I'll most likely have to move the funds back to ED (don't think ING will have a higher APR by that time than ED)

so...total net gain of about $6.94 ...not worth the hassle I thing...try again ING. how about a flat out better rate than ED? that'll do it. Love ING over ED but...money talks.

Wow, same here! I pulled 95% of my money from ING about a week before the sale. It was sitting in my checking account at NavyFCU, because I couldn't find my password for HSBC to transfer. Heard about the winter sale, and transferred it back to ING on the 19th.

Just my luck ... I transferred $1500 over on the 18th. Grr. As someone else pointed out, it's not all that much money, but as I was going to transfer anyway the $3.75 would have bought me lunch ...