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. 🙂
About PNC Bank
PNC Bank has a huge presence in the northeast, south, and parts of the midwest. They are FDIC insured #6384 as a National Bank. With almost 2,300 locations, they're one of the top ten largest banks in the United States.
One of the fun parts about research banks is that the FDIC keeps track of the names behind FDIC certificates throughout the years. With this certificate, it started in 2804 as “The National Newark and Essex Banking Company of Newark.” That bank would have several name changes and then settling on Midlantic Bank in 1994. PNC Bank Corporation would acquire Midlantic Corporation in 1996 and then take over the certificate.
A few years later, PNC Bank would acquire National City to become the bank with the locations you know today.
It's a fun look at how these certificates move around through acquisitions!
(I believe the original PNC Bank FDIC certificate would be #32271)
How to get $200 – $300 from PNC Bank
Banks are competing heavily for your deposits and PNC Bank is no different.
Here is what they are offering:
PNC Bank — $200 to $300
PNC Bank will give you a $200 reward if you open up a new Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend or Performance Checking. It increases to $300 if you open a new Virtual Wallet with Performance Select or Performance Select Checking.
You need to open an account and do the following within 60 days:
- Receive a qualifying direct deposit
- 10 qualifying purchases made with the PNC Bank Visa Debit card associated with the new account
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.
Learn more
(Offer expires 3/31/2020)
PNC Bank — $500
I recently received a mailer promoting a $500 offer to open a PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance Select. The “Virtual Wallet” consists of three accounts – a checking account (“Spend”), an interest-bearing checking (“Reserve”), and a long-term savings account (“Growth”).
To get the $500, you need to open an account and establish total qualifying deposits of $5,000 or more into the Spend account within the first 60 days. The front of the mailer says the “Offer available to intended addressee only” but there's no special code to enter. The mailer doesn't even instruct you to bring the mailer with you. It feels like anyone can qualify if you go to the right url – pnc.com/myreward
There is a $25 monthly service charge that is waived if you do one of the following:
- $5,000+ in total qualifying direct deposits to the Spend account
- $5,000 combined average monthly balance in Spend, Reserve, or other checking accounts
- $25,000 combined average monthly balance in PNC consumer deposits and/or investments
Here are the pages of the mailer:
Offer expires March 31st, 2020.
PNC Bank ABA Routing Numbers
Need to know PNC Bank's routing number?
PNC is tricky because they acquired local banks in various markets so you'll have different routing numbers within states (Pennsylvania has six!). The safest way is to contact your local branch or look on your personal checks. Otherwise, you run the risk of thinking you opened it in Central North when you opened it in Central South (or perhaps you were on the border). Even their instructions don't even list all their numbers!
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.
Wells Fargo has the highest dollar amount bonus currently available at $400 but it requires you to have a cumulative direct deposit of $4,000 in the first 90 days. The minimum deposit is trivial ($25) and reaching a cumulative total of $4,000 in three months is often quite doable.
Alternatively, Discover Bank has an offer on their Online Savings Account but you need to deposit at least $15,000. If you open an account and deposit $15,000 then you get $150. If you can deposit $25,000 or more, then you can get $200 for your trouble. What's nice is that it's a savings account so you earn a pretty solid interest rate of 1.60% APY.
So the PNC Bank promotion is a slightly lower bonus but has much easier bonus requirements to get the money.
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