Orange50 ShareBuilder Promotion Follow-up

Despite my assumption that nobody took action on this nice little promotion from ING's ShareBuilder, I'm going to clear up some possible confusion regarding the promotion. After signing up and depositing my $50, I received an email from ShareBuilder saying

To receive your $50 Account Bonus, all you need to do is purchase a stock or ETF in either your Automatic Investment Plan or through a real-time trade by 11/25/2009. If you have not set up your investment plan or real-time trade yet, get started today.

I was a bit miffed because I had read the small print back to front and it mentioned nothing about purchasing securities to get the bonus. I emailed Customer Service and got this very quick, pleasing response:

Hi Michael,
I would be happy to clear up the confusion about your promotion. You will receive the $50 promotion 4-6 weeks after making your first deposit of at least $50. The deposit must be posted to your account before 10/1/09. You must enter the promotion code when opening your account.

Typically, most ShareBuilder promotions require a trade. The ORANGE50 promotion was a special one time offer.

So there you have it, folks. Confirmation. There's still time left to get a guaranteed 100% return on your cash (actually slightly more given the massive 0.03% return the ShareBuilder money market fund is currently sporting!)

$50 Signup Bonus at ShareBuilder

ShareBuilder, the online brokerage arm of ING, is offering a $50 bonus to match a new account funded by at least $50. The only restriction appears to be time - the bonus will post after 4-6 weeks and cannot be withdrawn for 90 days.

I just opened up an account. I haven't used ShareBuilder yet so I cannot speak to it as a discount broker, but I do use ING Direct and love it. From my limited research it seems that ShareBuilder offers a competitive commission for purchases ($4 for orders placed on Tuesdays) although sales command a fairly high $9.95 rate. They appear to offer a wide array of ETFs, mutual funds, etc.

At any rate this bonus is a no-brainer. Take advantage!