PNC Bank Review

Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us and terms apply to offers listed (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate banking products to write unbiased product reviews.

The information for the following product(s) has been collected independently by Business Insider: PNC Secured Visa Credit Card, PNC Core® Visa® Credit Card, PNC Points® Visa® Credit Card, PNC Cash Rewards® Visa® Credit Card, PNC Visa Business Credit Card. The details for these products have not been reviewed or provided by the issuer.

Business Insider's personal finance team compared PNC Bank to the best banks and found it to be a standard offering across all of its products.

PNC Bank's strongest products are its digital accounts, but your options will depend on where you live. The best online banks include features like high savings rates, early direct deposit, and no monthly fees nationally.

About PNC Bank

Your decision to bank with PNC could largely depend on whether you live near a branch. For example, you can only access the bank's high-yield savings option if you live in an eligible market. If you don't live in an eligible market for the high-yield savings account, you can open a Virtual Wallet bundle (includes growth savings account), the Premiere Money Market, or the Standard Savings account.

PNC has a feature for its Spend account to help avoid overdraft fees called Low Cash Mode. The perk, available through the bank's mobile app, gives you at least 24 hours to bring your account balance to $0 before you're charged overdraft penalties. You also have the option to pay or return individual checks and payments made using your checking account when your balance is negative.

PNC Bank does not have 24/7 customer service. To contact customer support, call Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, or on weekends from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. The bank also has a live chat function, but you'll have to check back later if all representatives are busy; there's no way to queue.

Your PNC accounts are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000, or $500,000 for joint accounts.

PNC Bank Pros and Cons

PNC Bank Pros

• High interest rate on your savings of up to 4.45% APY depending on market
• Variety of CD term options
• Strong mobile app
• May be eligible for a checking account bonus

PNC Bank Cons

• PNC High Yield Savings® Account is available in select locations but it can only be opened online
• Money market account does not come with paper checks
• CDs are only available if you live in a state where there are branches

Is PNC Bank Trustworthy?

The Better Business Bureau gives PNC Bank an A+ rating. A good BBB rating signifies a company responds effectively to customer complaints, has honest advertising practices, and is transparent in how it handles business.

PNC Bank does not have any recent controversies.

PNC Bank's Fees and Charges

PNC Bank's Monthly Maintenance Fees

Many of PNC Bank's bank accounts come with monthly service fees, although its PNC High Yield Savings® Account has no monthly service fee. If you can't waive PNC Bank's monthly service fees and you want to avoid bank fees, you might be better off going with another bank.

PNC Bank's Overdraft Fees

PNC Bank does charge overdraft fees; some of the best banks for avoiding overdraft don't charge overdraft fees at all. However, PNC Bank also gives you several ways to avoid overdraft fees.

The PNC Bank Virtual Wallet® has a low cash mode that will alert you when your balance is getting low and give you 24 hours to bring your balance into the positive before charging you a fee. And you can choose to connect another PNC account, credit card, or line of credit to cover any overdrafts.

PNC Bank's ATM Fees

PNC Bank has over 60,000 in-network ATMs across the country, and if you use one of those ATMs, you won't be charged any ATM fees. However, PNC Bank charges between $3.00 and $5.oo each time you use an out-of-network ATM. Not only do the best banks for avoiding ATM fees not charge you for using out-of-network ATMs, but they also reimburse you for fees that out-of-network ATMS might charge.

PNC Bank Digital and Mobile Banking

PNC Bank Mobile App Features

PNC Bank's mobile banking app is well-rated; it has at least a 4.5 rating in the Google Play store and 4.8 rating in the Apple store, indicating good PNC Bank customer reviews. If you prefer to bank on-the-go from your phone, PNC Bank might be a good choice for you.

PNC Bank Online Banking Tools

PNC Bank also has a website you can use to bank, although some products, like mortgages, might be hard to navigate. However, unlike many online-only banks, PNC Bank also has physical branches you can go to, depending on where you live. This gives you more banking options than many online banks and credit unions offer.

PNC Bank Customer Service and Support

PNC Bank does not offer 24/7 customer service. Its banking products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market accounts, have customer support options every day of the week. However, its mortgages, investments, and student loans only have customer service available Monday through Friday. If you're interested in one of those products and you know you'll need to access customer service over the weekends, you might want to try another bank.

PNC Bank Accounts

PNC High Yield Savings® Account

The PNC High Yield Savings Account is probably the bank's best product. According to our PNC savings account review, PNC's savings rates are good if you keep at least $1 in your account and it doesn't charge monthly maintenance fees.

This account is only available online, but not everyone is eligible to open an account. You may not eligible to open a PNC High Yield Savings Account if you live in one of the following states:

• Alabama
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Missouri
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Virginia
• Washington, DC
• Wisconsin

PNC does offer other savings accounts for in-person bankers, but rates are significantly lower, and there are monthly maintenance fees. If you can't qualify for PNC's high-yield savings account, you might want to consider one of our best high-yield savings account picks instead.

PNC Bank Virtual Wallet®

PNC has an online checking account called PNC Bank Virtual Wallet®. Even though it's a digital product, you can open a PNC Bank Virtual Wallet® if you live in a market with branches.

PNC calls its everyday checking features Spend. At no extra cost, you can also open a PNC Bank Virtual Wallet® package with two additional buckets: Reserve (interest checking) and Growth (long-term savings). Right now, you'll earn a high interest rate on your Growth balance. You can also earn a slightly higher interest rate on your Growth balance if you qualify for a relationship rate.

PNC Business Checking

PNC Bank also offers business checking accounts. Keep in mind, though, that each of its business checking accounts come with a monthly service fee, although there are ways to waive most of those fees. If you want to avoid monthly service fees for your business checking account, you might be better off with another bank.

PNC Fixed Rate CD

PNC offers more types of CDs than most banks, including regular term CDs, which doesn't charge a penalty if you withdraw funds before the CD matures.

However, PNC CDs are only available to residents of states where there are branches, so if you don't live an eligible state, you're out of luck.

PNC Premiere Money Market Account

The PNC Premiere Money Market Account might be a decent choice depending on where you live. In certain markets, you can earn up to 3.50% APY on account balances of $1 million or more depending where you live.

You'll want to be mindful of monthly service fees on the account, though. You may have to maintain a $5,000 balance or have a select PNC checking account to avoid the $12 monthly service charge.

PNC Bank Credit Cards

PNC Secured Visa Credit Card

PNC Core® Visa® Credit Card

PNC Points® Visa® Credit Card

PNC Cash Rewards® Visa® Credit Card

PNC Visa Business Credit Card

PNC Bank carries both personal and business credit cards, including a few that aren't listed above, although none of them made our best credit cards guide. If you already have accounts with PNC Bank and want to keep all of your financial needs with one bank, these credit cards might be interesting to you.

PNC Bank Loan and Mortgages

PNC Bank Personal Loan

PNC offers several different types of loans for both consumers and small businesses. While PNC Bank's personal loans didn't make our best personal loans guide, you might still be interested if you're hoping to take out a small loan.

PNC Bank Mortgage

PNC Bank also offers PNC Bank mortgages and mortgage refinancing. PNC offers many different types of home loans with low average rates and fees, but its J.D. Power customer satisfaction rating is low, its website is difficult to navigate, and you might not be able to bank in-person depending on where you live.

If you're interested in taking out a mortgage, we have a list of the best mortgage lenders divided by your potential needs.

PNC Bank Alternatives

PNC Bank vs. Capital One 360

We've compared PNC with Capital One, another bank with physical and digital banking capabilities.

You may like PNC Bank if you're able to get the accounts you want in the state that you live in. For instance, if you live in a state that offers the bank's high-yield savings account it may be a worthwhile option for you to explore.

Otherwise, the Capital One 360 Performance Savings may be a better option if you don't live in a state that offers the PNC High Yield Savings® Account. Capital One 360 Performance Savings pays 3.80% (rate as of 12/06/24) APY and doesn't charge monthly maintenance fees.

If you want to get money market account, PNC Bank will have to be your default option. Capital One 360 doesn't offer one.

Capital One Bank Review

PNC Bank vs. Wells Fargo

We've also compared PNC to Well Fargo because both banks have branches in many of the the same parts of the U.S.

You also may prefer PNC if you want to get money market account. The PNC Premiere Money Market Account may not be its strongest product, but Wells Fargo doesn't have a money market account at all.

Wells Fargo is a brick-and-mortar bank. Although it has online banking capabilities, there aren't any online-specific accounts. Wells Fargo has branches in more states than PNC, so if you prefer in-person banking and live near a Wells Fargo branch, you may prefer it to PNC.

Wells Fargo Bank Review

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed PNC Bank

At Business Insider, we use our bank account rating methodology to rate all of our banking products, including banks. When reviewing banks, we first review each product the bank offers, including savings accounts, checking accounts, and CDs.

Each bank account is rated on a scale from one to five stars. We review them across several categories, including interest rates, customer service, and monthly service fees, and give each of those categories a score from zero to five. Then, we calculate the weighted average of these categories to get the overall rating for that specific product. Once we have ratings for each product, we average the products' ratings together, along with a bank's ethics score, to get a bank's overall rating.

Overall PNC Bank Rating

PNC Bank FAQs

Kit Pulliam

Banking reporter

Kit Pulliam (they/them) is a banking expert who specializes in certificates of deposit, savings accounts, and checking accounts. They’ve been reporting, editing, and fact-checking personal finance stories for more than four years. ExperienceIn college, Kit worked as an undergraduate research assistant in a psychology lab. While there, they found that they were passionate about writing and helping others write about topics that matter.Before Business Insider, Kit was an editorial specialist for Tax Analysts, diving into the tax code to help readers get the best information about a confusing but necessary subject.They find banking similar to taxes in that way: There are some things everyone needs to know because just about everyone needs to work with a bank — and you don’t want to end up with an account that doesn’t serve your needs.As interest rates change, they enjoy the fast pace of reviewing rates for products like CDs and high-yield savings, which can change daily and have a direct impact on readers’ money.Their work has been featured in Business Insider and MSN. They were part of the My Financial Life series with Business Insider.ExpertiseTheir expertise includes:

• Certificates of deposit
• Savings accounts
• Checking accounts
• CD rates
• Bank reviews

EducationKit is an alumnus of Vanderbilt University, where they studied English and psychology and received the Jum C. Nunnally Honors Research Award for their senior thesis.Outside personal finance, Kit enjoys reading, film, video games, and cross stitching. They are based in the DC area.

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Evelyn He

Compliance and Operations Associate

Evelyn He is a compliance and operations associate for Business Insider’s Personal Finance team. Evelyn ensures content accuracy and editorial independence so readers get the most up-to-date and objective financial advice, enabling them to make informed financial decisions.ExperienceAs part of the compliance team, Evelyn helps fact check Personal Finance stories and works to make sure that the language is clear, precise, and compliant with government regulations and partner guidelines. Previously, Evelyn worked as a compliance specialist for Apellis Pharmaceuticals and a legal assistant at the law firm Morrison Mahoney.ExpertiseEvelyn is an expert in the following areas:

• Compliance
• Quality assurance
• Affiliate marketing
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Content strategy

EducationEvelyn earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UMass Amherst and a master’s in marketing from Boston University.Evelyn has two dogs, Money and Tibber.

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