PNC Bank Review

Pros Explained

• Sign-up bonuses for deposit accounts: While sign-up bonuses are more common among credit cards and business accounts, PNC offers a sign-up bonus when you open a Virtual Wallet. Depending on the type of account, you can earn either $50, $200, or $400 when you sync your account with a qualifying direct deposit.
• ATM fee reimbursement: Depending on which type of deposit account you sign up for, you could either get non-network ATM fees reimbursed or have them dropped altogether. This might include being reimbursed for several specific ATM fees per statement cycle or receiving up to a certain amount in ATM fees back. 
• Wide range of products and services: Beyond deposit accounts, PNC offers everything from student loans to auto loans to wealth management to life insurance and much more.

Cons Explained

• Harder to open a stand-alone account: PNC takes a slight departure from standard banking products in how it packages its deposit accounts. Its Virtual Wallet offers three accounts rolled into one: “Spend,” which is a primary checking account; “Reserve,” which is an interest-earning checking account; and “Growth,” which is a savings account. PNC’s unique ecosystem for its deposit accounts can be befuddling. You’ll need to sit down and commit to learning the details and getting your head around how it works. Stand-alone checking and savings accounts are offered, but per PNC Bank’s website, its Virtual Wallet seems to be the de facto type of account.

Who Is PNC Bank Best for?

PNC should appeal to customers who want a full range of services under a single financial institution. It could be a particularly strong fit for those who want: 

• To open both a savings and checking account with a single bank 
• A one-stop shop for banking and financial services
• To step into a brick-and-mortar location and talk to a human (located in 28 states and the District of Columbia)
• To bank with a long-standing, established institution

What Does PNC Bank Offer?

As you might expect from one of the largest financial institutions in the U.S., PNC Bank boasts a wide swath of financial products and services:

• Savings account
• Checking accounts
• Virtual wallets (which are savings and checking accounts rolled into one)
• Certificates of Deposits (CDs)
• Credit cards

Interestingly enough, PNC's online-only offerings in states where it doesn't have branches are actually better than in the states where it does have brick-and-mortar locations.

Virtual Wallet

As PNC’s basic account with a handful of features, the Virtual Wallet includes three accounts that are packaged together. Just as Starbucks uses different words for its beverage sizes, PNC uses different lingo to brand its deposit accounts.

• Spend: This is a regular checking account that might earn interest, depending on the Virtual Wallet account. It has a minimum amount to open an account of $25. However, the minimum requirement is $0 if you open the account online.
• Reserve: An interest-bearing checking account, it’s designed for short-term savings goals. You need at least a $1 in your account for it to earn interest, but there is no minimum amount to open.
• Growth: This is a savings account for longer-term savings also with no minimum amount to open.

The Virtual Wallet has a $7 monthly maintenance fee. You can drop the fee if you meet one of the following criteria:

• Maintain a $500 combined monthly average balance in your Spend and or/Reserve accounts
• Make $500 in monthly direct deposits to your Spend account
• Are 62 or older

If you open and use a Virtual Wallet account, you can be rewarded with a $50 bonus.

Your Reserve account earns an APY of 0.01%. And to snag the slightly higher relationship rate of 0.02% on your Growth account, you’ll need to either use your debit card or Visa credit card to make at least five purchases or set up a monthly direct deposit of at least $500.

As a PNC account holder, you have access to 9,000 ATMs that are free to use. As far as non-network ATM fees go, fees are as follows: $3 per ATM visit in the U.S. and $5 for international ATM transactions. There’s also an overdraft fee of $36 per item, with a cap at four transactions per day.

Virtual Wallet With Performance Spend

Like the basic Virtual Wallet, PNC’s Virtual Wallet With Performance Spend only requires $25 in your Spend account to open it, or $0 if you open online. There’s a $15 monthly maintenance fee, which could be dropped if you meet any of the following criteria:

• $2,000 monthly average balance on your Spend and/or Reserve accounts
• $10,000 combined average monthly balance across any PNC consumer accounts
• $2,000 in monthly direct deposits to your Spend account

And like PNC’s other virtual wallets, you can get a bump in the APY rate if you check one or both of the following boxes:

• You make a combination of at least five or more debit card purchases or credit card transactions during the prior month
• You have at least $2,000 in direct deposits per month.

You can receive a bonus of $200 if you open and use a Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend account.

If you're using a non-PNC ATM, you can get a refund for up to two transactions per statement period. When it comes to ATM surcharges from other financial institutions, you can get up to $5 reimbursed per statement period.

Virtual Wallet With Performance Select

While PNC’s Virtual Wallet With Performance Select also only requires $25 in the Spend account to get started ($0 if you open online), the amounts to nix the monthly service charge are higher. You’ll be charged $25 a month unless you have one of the following:

• A combined total of $5,000 in your Spend account and up to seven other PNC consumer accounts
• A $25,000 combined monthly average across all your PNC or PNCI investment accounts
• $5,000 in monthly direct deposits to your Spend account during each statement period

The variable interest rate you can earn on money parked in your Reserve account can get a bump if you either make a combo of five debit card purchases or credit card transactions or have $5,000 in qualifying direct deposits to your Spend account in a given month.

If you open a Virtual Wallet with Performance Select account, you can receive a $400 bonus.

If you're using an out-of-network ATM, there is no fee. When it comes to ATM surcharges from other financial institutions, you can get up to $10 reimbursed per statement period. There’s also an overdraft fee of $36 per item, with a cap at four transactions per day.

Virtual Wallet Student

PNC’s Virtual Wallet Student comes with a handful of attractive features. You can earn a bit of interest in some of the accounts. There is no monthly maintenance fee, and you get reimbursed for the first two fees from non-network ATMs in a given monthly statement period. You also get one courtesy refund on fees the first time you overdraft for a returned item.

Virtual Wallet Student account holders also get one free wire transfer per statement period on their Spend account. As far as surcharges go, you get reimbursed for $5 for non-network fees. Unlike the other Virtual Wallet products, there is no sign-up bonus.

To be eligible for a Virtual Wallet Student account, you’ll need to show proof that you’re currently enrolled in a qualified educational institution. After six years your student account will automatically kick over to a regular Virtual Wallet, at which point standard fees and eligibility rules apply.

Fixed Rate CDs

Depending on where you live, PNC might offer Certificates of Deposits (CDs). By committing to leaving your money in a CD for a period of time, you could earn a higher interest rate than in a savings or money market account. Usually, how it works is that the longer you park your money in a CD, the higher the rate. There are also different minimum amounts required to open a CD.

The terms range anywhere from 7 days to 10 years. PNC's Fixed Rate CD minimum is $1,000.

PNC's standard early withdrawal penalties are as follows:

• If you withdrawal less than three months in, you'll get dinged the amount of interest that you would've earned if you left your money for the full term of the CD;
• If you make an early withdrawal from three months to a year, the penalty will be three months of interest earned on the amount you take out;
• And if you make a withdrawal after a year or more, you'll be charged six months' interest on the amount withdrawn.

Ready Access CDs

If you're on the fence about locking in your money with a CD, you might want to consider PNC's Ready Access CD. You're only required to commit for 7 days; after that, you're free to access your funds. Standard terms are 3 and 12 months. Once your CD matures, it'll be automatically renewed.

Credit Cards

PNC Bank offers a small handful of credit cards, including a cashback card and a traveler’s card:

• PNC Cash Rewards Visa Credit Card
• PNC Core Visa Credit Card
• PNC Points Visa Credit Card 
• PNC Premier Traveler Visa Signature Credit Card
• PNC Secured Visa Credit Card

Other Financial Products Offered by PNC Bank

PNC also has a robust range of other offerings:

• Purchase mortgages
• Refinance mortgages
• Home Equity Loans and Lines of Credit
• Auto loans 
• Personal loans and Lines of Credit
• Student loans 
• Student loan refinancing 
• Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)
• Self-directed trading
• Managed investment portfolios
• 529 Plans 
• Custodial accounts 
• Life insurance 
• Financial planning 
• Small business banking 
• Small business loans
• Small business retirement accounts 
• Military banking 
• Workplace banking 
• Private banking

PNC Customer Service

There are a number of ways you can get support from PNC. You can visit one of its brick-and-mortar locations, check out its FAQ page, or send customer service a tweet at @PNCBank_Help. Representatives are available by telephone seven days a week. You can reach a representative at 1-888-762-2265 weekdays, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, and weekends, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

PNC has a handful of mobile banking apps available on both iOS and Android devices. With the apps, you can check your account balances, pay bills, transfer money and deposit checks directly from your mobile device. The apps have outstanding ratings, and the PNC Mobile Banking app is currently ranked #55 for all Finance apps on iOS, with a 4.8-star rating.

How to Bank With PNC

To open a virtual account, you can apply online. You can also call PNC and open an account over the phone.

Methodology

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