All ING Direct Tax-Free Investment Savings Accounts (TFSAs) are earning 3% interest as of January 1, the online bank said Thursday.

Interest on the accounts is calculated daily and paid monthly.

According to an Angus Reid Strategies poll commissioned by ING Direct last September, 49% of Canadians said they plan to open a 2010 TFSA, significantly up from a third of Canadians who opened a TFSA in 2009.

“In October last year, we offered our 2010 TFSA Kick Start Account as a way for Canadians to save even more by depositing their 2010 TFSA contribution three months earlier than the official Jan. 1, 2010 start date,” says Peter Aceto, President & CEO of ING Direct Canada.

Those accounts earned double the interest rate of ING Direct’s daily savings accounts to offset any taxes that may have been incurred in 2009 on the deposits, and were converted to 2010 TFSAs on January 1.

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Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning at CIBC Private Wealth Management, discusses his order of preference for investing in various registered vehicles and why Tax-Free Savings Accounts offer a potential of $20,000 in tax-free savings. Click here to watch.