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No, really.

ING Direct has some sort of useful promotion happening for their savings account. It earns 3% interest, and after they verify the checking account information you enter when you signup they deposit $50 into it for you, free to be withdrawn at any time.

Direct link with the promotional code entered.

I personally have not received my free $50 yet but I only signed up yesterday. Friends who signed up earlier in the week already received it, so there's definently a fast turnaround.

Now, if you need help deciding what to do with that free money...

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So What is ING Direct? Is it like Paypal? What kind of rep do they have? What's their angle in the marketplace?

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Very reputable. ING Direct is a subcompany of the ING Group. Real live bank with real live money, member of the FDIC, etc etc. To copy from their About ING page:

ING is one of the world's largest financial services companies, offering banking, insurance and asset management in over 50 countries.

I assume what they're doing is they're taking the money in the accounts and investing it in the stock market, kinda like what life insurance firms do. My uncle is an associate investor for MetLife (a similar company with similar services) and his job is to take the money that people pay on life insurance premiums and invest it into stocks and other market stuff. That's how they make their money -- over time they get more from the investment than they pay back for the insurance.

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That's quite a facility they have there. Looks like it's about to launch.

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That's gotta be a great building to work in though. "Where do you work?" "In a giant glass shoe-shuttle."

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Looks like the head of a putter. They should have put it on a golf course.