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NerdWallet’s Introduction to the Affordable Care Act

Part 1. Don’t fear death panels – fear the adverse selection death spiral

Part 2. How to win friends (and arguments) by understanding expanded coverage

NerdWallet’s Budget Series

Part 1. Introduction to the Budget Series –

The Federal Budget, Budget Deficit, and National Debt

Part 2. Why Should We Care About the Deficit, Anyway?

Reynold Strossen is a strategy consultant and fiscal policy expert based in New York City. He served on the staff of the President’s bipartisan deficit-reduction commission, commonly referred to as Bowles-Simpson, in Washington. He was educated at the University of Chicago and Harvard.

Ashley

Does the $250 per month in gas mean that you can earn up to $250 a month (meaning you would be charging $6,250) or that you get 4% of the first $250 charged for gas, earning up to $10 per month?
- nerdwallet
  
  Hey Ashley, that's $250 in purchases each month. So yes that's equivalent to $10 in rewards each month. After that you earn the standard rewards rate (0.25% up to $10k, then 1% after that).
Mike

Do the purchases you make in the 4%, 3% and 2% categories accumulate to make up that $10,000 minimum on the 1% or do you need to spend $10,000 in non 2-4% categories before earning 1%?
Cole

Any idea how good they are about correctly categorizing food purchases? I've read a lot of cautionary tales on other cards (specifically Chase) incorrectly identifying transactions.
Mike

With the 4% reward on gas, would you recommend using this PNC card as a sort of “gas only” card? (then using a different card for all other purchases)
- NerdWallet
  
  Hey Mike, yeah I’d definitely recommend you use a card like this as a “gas only” card. That’s the best way to maximize bonus rewards.
  
  That said, there are other gas credit cards that pay up to 5% rewards on gas that may serve you better. Check them out here: http://www.nerdwallet.com/gas-credit-cards
John

Thank you for this info that you guys provide! Silly question time… if I use this as just a “gas” card, will I pay finance charges if I pay the balance off every month? If “yes”, then is there a way to avoid paying the finance charges? Thank you very much!
- NerdWallet
  
  You won’t incur any finance charges as long as you pay your balance on time every month.
Randy

You’ve mentioned getting a better deal than the 4% from here, which I assume is the Blue Cash from American Express. However, the 5% level only kicks in after the first $6500. This 4% starts at dollor one. Does your recommendation take this averaging issue into account. Thanks.
- NerdWallet
  
  Hi Randy, we recommend both the Blue Cash and the Costco TrueEarnings, because they offer higher rewards on all other purchases, plus the bonuses on gas.
  
  As you mention, the 5% on gas with Blue Cash only kicks in after $6,500, and the 4% with PNC starts immediately. But the 4% is also limited to $250/mo, capping total available rewards. We can’t say for certain which of these would be better for you personally, but our gas credit card recommendations at http://www.nerdwallet.com/gas-credit-cards take all of these features and limitations into account.
Mike

One important factor that I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere: points expire in 2 years.

So if you don’t accumulate $100 worth of points in 24 months, you will not receive a $100 check (as the points you earned in the first months with expire, month by month), and there is no option to redeem for less than $100.
Peter

Let me just say that this credit card, when used in combination with my Bank of America Accelerated Cash Rewards Card gives me the best cash back. Period. I do not want to carry around 15 credit cards, and I do not want the hassle of rotating rewards categories. I wanted simple, straight-forward cash back rewards. Carrying 2 cards is simple enough, and I can achieve great rewards. I use this card for gas, entertainment, and all food (4%, 3%, 2% cash back) ONLY, and everything else I use my BOA Amex (1.25% cash back on everything). Simple as that. I end up achieving well over 2% cash back averaged out. Since I spend less than $2500 a month, this worked out best for me (if I spent more than 2500, I would probably just use the Blue Cash Amex card). Those are my 2 cents!
Lonso

I buy a lot of electronic parts from overseas. Which card charges the least for foreign transactions? These 2% and 3% fees are beginning to hurt.
- NerdWallet
  
  You’re in luck! We’ve got a nice long list of cards that charge 0% on foreign transactions:
  http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2011/credit-card-no-foreign-transaction-fee/
  
  And here are some recent additions:
  http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2011/revisiting-foreign-transaction-fees-offerings-6-months/
Andrew

You state “Cash Rebate is limited to $125 per year” yet when I check the terms & conditions (as of Apr 15 2011) on the card’s website, there is no mention of such a cap.
https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Requester?resource=/wps/wcm/connect/7927f48045836655a12bf91756dc38f4/CB_Rewards_041511.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=7927f48045836655a12bf91756dc38f4

They also have a simplistic version of your cash back calculator, and no such $125 cap appears to be applied.
https://www.pnc.com/webapp/unsec/Solutions.do?siteArea=/pnccorp/PNC/Home/Personal/Credit+Cards/Cash+Back+Calculator

Can you explain where the $125/year limit information came from? The card looks great w/o the limit, and horrible with it, so it makes a huge difference!
- Tim
  
  Thanks for the note Andrew, that’s clearly a mistake on our part. You can see from our review that a $125 limit wouldn’t make much sense.
  
  A user spending $4,000 each month and earning 1.75% would hit that cap before the end of February!
  
  Working on getting that fixed now…
Guest

This is not available to people who live outside the PNC “footprint”, i.e., which is not nationwide.
Dcamp2006

The criteria listed for the checking accounts here is wrong, what is listed is the old information. Now the balance requirements are lower and there are actually other ways to have the performance accounts as well.
mcdoogles

With AMEX Blue Cash slashing my everything else rate to 1% as of FEB 2012, I’m shopping for another card and this PNC Visa looks pretty good – I’d be in the 1.75% bracket every month. I’m between this PNC Visa and the Fidelity Rewards AMEX which pays 2% on everything with no monthly minimums, but requires a deposit into a fidelity investments account. Any advice on choosing between the two?
- NerdWallet
  
  A 0.25% difference isn’t going to make or break you, but if you can get more, go for it. Plus, the Fidelity helps you to save a little bit more. That said, I’m generally a fan of Visa over American Express, in terms of acceptance, so if you end up with the Fidelity, be sure to have a Visa or MasterCard on hand in case the merchant doesn’t take Amex.
logiclife

how does this PNC cashbuilder compare to a discover card? I have a discover card and Iam wondering about swotching completely to this card since I already have a performance select checking account. thanks
logiclife

how does this card compare with discover cash back? I already have a pnc performance select checking acct and I will qualify for 1.75 % cash back on all the charges. So in this case do you think this card is better? Does this PNC card offer 5 % cash back on groceries , etc?
Sam

PNC Performance and Performance Select fees are also waived if you meet qualifying monthly direct deposit (i.e. employer deposits, etc.) amounts ($2000 for Performance, $5000 for performance select). I have this card along with PNC’s virtual wallet account (which can include performance or performance select), and it has been working well for me.
Bob Newman

Your opening verdict is puzzling. You propose cards that do better, but they have significant downsides such as annual fees, award payouts only annually, or rewards in miles. Depending on your buying patterns, get another card for gas, groceries, and restaurants, but stick with PNC for everything else. I think that’s a winning play.
Ashley

Can someone verify my assumption that one does not need to have a PNC bank account of any kind to open and earn rewards on this card?

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NerdWallet’s Introduction to the Affordable Care Act

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