I grew up in on Long Island in New York and went to school in Pittsburgh for several years and would end up settling in Maryland. I’ve only ever lived in the Mid-Atlantic region, if Long Island counts, and for my adult life, PNC Bank has always had a location nearby.
When I went off to school in Pittsburgh, I opened a student checking account at a local PNC Bank.
One of my first bank accounts was at PNC Bank, opened at the branch on the corner of South Craig and 5th Avenue. I did it because they had ATMs in the University Center and I didn’t have a car. Back then, you had to do a lot in a branch. Nowadays, you can do most of it on a mobile app.
When I opened up my account, I think I got a t-shirt.
If you open up an account today, they’ll give you hundreds of dollars. 🙂
💵 U.S. Bank – up to $450
Earn up to $450 when you open a new U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account and complete qualifying activities. Subject to certain terms and limitations. Offer valid through December 31, 2024. Member FDIC.
Offer may not be available if you live outside of the U.S. Bank footprint or are not an existing client of U.S. Bank or State Farm.
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This content is not provided by the bank advertiser. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the bank advertiser.
How to get up to $400 from PNC Bank
PNC Bank is offering big bonuses if you open a checking account that includes their Virtual Wallet® Product. The offer you get will depend on whether you are inside or outside PNC Bank’s geographic footprint.
PNC Bank gives up to $400 cash bonus reward if you open up a new account.
These accounts qualify:
- Open a Virtual Wallet account and establish total qualifying direct deposits of $500+ and get $100.
- Open a Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend account and establish total qualifying direct deposits of $2,000+ and get $200.
- Open a Virtual Wallet with Performance Select account and establish total qualifying direct deposits of $5,000+ and get $400.
What’s nice is you can open this completely online, no need to visit a branch. If you do need to visit a branch, use this branch locator to find them.
This offer is available to residents of CA, TX, AZ, NM, CO, PA, FL, OH, WV, DE, NJ, SC, NC, GA, KY, IN, MI, IL, MD, DC, WV, and WI.
(Offer expires 1/2/2025)
Reader Experiences with the PNC Bank offer
Overall, reader experiences have been positive with this offer. Here’s a report from one:
I applied for the PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance Select on November 2, 2023, but was initially denied. This was because I had my credit bureau reports frozen. I am not sure which one they pull, or if they pull all three, but after thawing all my reports and trying again the next day I was approved with no further issues.
I decided to try qualifying for this one without using my direct deposit paycheck. I did transfers from my Chase, Capital One, Wells Fargo and Bank of America to my PNC account to hit the $5,000 threshold. I don’t know which banks in particular it counted as ACH deposits, but I did receive my bonus on Jan 3, 2024, which was precisely 61 days after opening the account, so they are pretty prompt about paying out the bonus.
That being said, I don’t plan to keep my PNC account for very long. There’s a few issues with it that don’t make PNC’s product very competitive.
1: The interest rate is pathetic. Even for the Performance Select tier, the highest interest rate I could possibly get as of writing this is just 1.30% APY, and even that only kicks in for balances above $100k.
2: The outgoing transfer limits are quite low. Only $2,000 per day and $5,000 per month. This can be quite a hassle to deal with especially when doing ACH transfers into the account to earn the signup bonus and then withdrawing the funds back out to my other bank accounts again.
3: The way they organize their account is a bit confusing to me. Rather just having two accounts called “checking” and “savings”, they have three accounts; “Spend” (i.e. checking), “Growth” (savings), and a third account called “Reserve”, which seems to act like a savings account but with the same interest rate as their checking account. This seems pointless to me, as I either want to set money aside in a savings account and earn interest, or put it into a checking account to move it around more easily. Their “Reserve” account just seems like it’s combining the drawbacks of both a checking and savings account without any positives.
4: Especially for the Performance Select tier, the minimum balance you have to keep in the account to waive the monthly fee is quite high at $5,000. Admittedly, the lower tiers of accounts have lower minimum balances required, but especially considering you’re also getting a smaller account opening bonus with those it’s just not very competitive to me. You could have a direct deposit paycheck going into your PNC account to waive the monthly fee (as long as it’s at least $5,000 a month for the Performance Select), but then you run into the issues with low transfer limits if you want to move those funds to your other main bank account.
I briefly considered keeping the PNC account to build my customer relationship with PNC in case I wanted to apply for their credit cards later on, but their credit cards aren’t very competitive either. My personal plan is to keep my PNC account for a few months to ensure I don’t have to give back the new account bonus, and then close my accounts with them.
PNC Virtual Wallet Checking Pro – $200
If you don’t qualify for the above offer, and you live in AR, CT, ID, IA, KS, LA, ME, MA, MN, MS, MT, NE, NV, NH, ND, OK, OR, RI, TN, UT, VT, WA, or WY, then you should consider PNC Virtual Wallet® Checking Pro and it’s welcome bonus of $200.
To earn this bonus, just open an account and then receive total qualifying direct deposit(s) of $2,000 or more to the new Virtual Wallet Checking Pro.
The account has no minimum deposit to open and no monthly fees. If you open for the Virtual Wallet Checking Pro with Spend, Reserve & Growth then you also get a savings account that earns interest. The Virtual Wallet Checking Pro with Spend product is just a checking account.
(Offer expires 4/30/2024)
PNC Business Checking Account – $200 to $1000
PNC Bank has a $200, $500 and $1000 offer for a business checking account when you open a qualifying business account. The bonus is $200 for both Business Checking or Business Checking Plus account. It’s $500 or $1000 for a Treasury Enterprise Plan or Analysis Business Checking. You can do this in person or online.
Then, for the $200 bonus:
1. Maintain a minimum average ledger balance of $5,000 for the first three statement cycles,
2. Make at least 20 total qualifying PNC Bank Visa Debit card transactions within the first three statement cycles,
For the $500 offers, maintain a minimum average ledger balance of $30,000 for each of the first three statement cycles.
For the $1000 offers, maintain a minimum average ledger balance of $100,000 for each of the first three statement cycles
No debit card transaction requirement for the higher bonus amount but keep an eye out on the fees for all these accounts.
(Offer expires 9/30/2024)
How to Avoid Account Fees
There are account fees associated with each of the three accounts but they are easy to avoid. In fact, if you meet the bonus requirements and maintain that direct deposit, you avoid the monthly fee.
Otherwise, there are other ways to avoid them if you remove the deposit.
For the Virtual Wallet (no bonus), you can avoid the $7 monthly fee if you do one of the following:
- $500+ in qualifying direct deposits each statement period,
- $500 average monthly balance in Spend and Reserve accounts,
- Be age 62 or older.
For the Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend, you can avoid the $15 monthly fee if you do one of the following:
- $2,000+ in qualifying direct deposits each statement period,
- $2,000 average monthly balance in Spend and Reserve accounts,
- $10,000 combined average monthly balance in PNC consumer deposits.
For the Virtual Wallet with Performance Select, you can avoid the $25 monthly fee if you do one of the following:
- $5,000+ in qualifying direct deposits each statement period,
- $5,000 average monthly balance in Spend and Reserve accounts,
- $25,000 combined average monthly balance in PNC consumer deposits.
Oh, to set up the direct deposit, you may need to lookup your PNC Bank routing number.
Is This A Good Bank Offer?
There are offers with high dollar amounts but they often have deposit minimums or higher direct deposit requirements. This offer, of $200 to just open an account and receive a qualifying direct deposit (and make 10 purchases), is very easy to achieve.
U.S. Bank – up to $450
Earn up to $450 when you open a new U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account and complete qualifying activities. Subject to certain terms and limitations. Offer valid through December 31, 2024. Member FDIC.
Offer may not be available if you live outside of the U.S. Bank footprint or are not an existing client of U.S. Bank or State Farm.
BMO Checking – $300
BMO is offering a $300 bonus* when you open a BMO Checking account and have $4,000 in direct deposits within 90 days of opening. It is a very straightforward offer that is available nationwide.
*Conditions apply
Bank of America – $300 Bonus Offer
Bank of America offers a $300 Bonus Offer cash bonus if you open a new account and Set up and receive Qualifying Direct Deposits* totaling $2,000 or more into that new eligible account within 90 days of account opening. Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking® for Family Banking accounts are not eligible for this offer. It has a monthly fee that is easy to have waived.
Chase Total Checking® – $300
Chase Bank will give you $300 when you open a Total Checking account and set up and receive direct deposits totaling $500 or more within 90 days. There is a $12 monthly fee that is waivable with a monthly direct deposit of just $500, so no gotchas on this deal!
So the PNC Bank promotion is a slightly lower bonus but has much easier bonus requirements to get the money.
I was not able to find the Performance Select option. I called PNC, and they were aware of a $300 offer for Virtual Wallet with Performance Select, but the website only gives me two options: Virtual Wallet Checking Pro with Spend, Reserve & Growth, or Virtual Wallet Checking Pro with Spend. The website prompted me to enter my zip code, so I wonder if that is what is limiting my options.
Hmmm that’s interesting, the page doesn’t seem to imply there’s a geographic limit but it’s possible they’re doing it.