ING Direct vx. Emigrant Direct

It looks like Emigrant Direct's American Dream Savings Account (current APR 3.25%)is a better deal than ING Direct's Orange Savings Account (current APR 2.80%).
ING must be thinking that their current account holders won't leave them. I remember back when ING first started offering the Orange Savings Account. Back then the APR was something over 5.00% . Of course, rates were a lot higher back then. Anyway, they made a huge push into gathering assets and they did so by offering some of the highest rates around. They could do this because they were internet-based and had no bricks and mortar to deal with.

Now competition has entered into the picture. ING's closest competitor is probably Emigrant Direct. Emigrant has built a pretty good business by offering higher rates than the competition. I first heard about Emigrant through blogs. In fact, Emigrant probably has bloggers to thank for their booming business.

It will be interesting to see how ING responds to Emigrant's surging business. My guess is that if they start losing significant assets, ING will be forced to raise their payout. Time will tell.