PNC Bank Review 2025: Checking, Savings and CDs
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Overall institution rating
4.3
PNC Bank is one of the ten largest banks in the country by assets. Its current size is partly due to a series of acquisitions in 2021 when PNC absorbed all former BBVA and Simple customers. PNC offers a combo checking, short-term planning and long-term savings account called Virtual Wallet. The trio of products — named Spend, Reserve and Growth, respectively — comes with a nice set of online financial management tools.
For customers in states where PNC doesn’t have branches, there’s a standalone high-yield savings account. It has a comparable rate to what you’d find at online banks as opposed to traditional banks, and there are no monthly fees.
Best for: Those who want a combination checking and account at a bank with an extensive branch network or live in regions where the bank offers its highest interest rates.
- No monthly fee on savings accounts.
- Large branch network.
- Large, free, nationwide ATM network.
- Overdraft grace period.
- Expensive overdraft fee.
- Low rates on some savings accounts and CDs.
- Monthly fees on checking accounts (though they are avoidable).
Full review
Full review
PNC Bank
Savings
PNC High Yield Savings®
4.8
/54.8
/5APY
3.95%
With $1 min. balance for APY
Bonus
N/A
APY
3.95%
With $1 min. balance for APY
Bonus
N/A
High rate but limited availability. PNC offers a competitive rate of 3.95% annual percentage yield on its High Yield Savings account. However, the account is only available online (or by phone) in states where the bank doesn’t have branches. Since this account is the better option for customers who can get it, this account is used for the Savings rating in this review.
No opening minimums or monthly fees. The savings account charges no monthly fees and no fees for online or paper statements, and there’s no minimum to open or maintain a balance.
Two things to note: You need at least $1 in the account to earn interest. And if you make more than six transfers from the savings account in a month, there’s a $3 transaction limit fee per excess transfer.
» COMPARE: Check out the best high-yield online savings accounts
Consumers can open the PNC High-Yield Savings account if they’re in the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, or Wyoming.
Savings
PNC Virtual Wallet - Growth
4.3
/54.3
/5APY
1.80%
With $2,500 min. balance for APY
Bonus
N/A
APY
1.80%
With $2,500 min. balance for APY
Bonus
N/A
Rate is decent but not competitive. The savings account attached to PNC’s Virtual Wallet checking and savings package has a decent rate of 1.80% for balances above $2,500 and 1.55% for balances below that. But you can get far higher rates at many online banks.
No monthly fees. The account doesn’t charge a monthly fee and has no minimum deposit to open.
Nationwide availability. Unlike the PNC High-Yield Savings, the Growth account is offered to U.S. customers nationwide.
Checking
PNC Virtual Wallet - Spend
4.6
/54.6
/5Monthly fee
$7.00
Waived with direct deposit or $500 minimum balance
Bonus
$100
Requirements to qualify
Monthly fee
$7.00
Waived with direct deposit or $500 minimum balance
Bonus
$100
Requirements to qualify
Monthly fee, but can be waived. PNC’s standard checking account is the Spend account within the Virtual Wallet package. It has a $7 monthly fee that can be waived either with $500 in direct deposits monthly or with $500 average monthly balance across Spend and Reserve accounts.
» Compare another checking and savings combo: See our SoFi review
Extensive ATM network. PNC customers have free access to about 60,000 ATMs from PNC and its partners.
No interest. The Spend account doesn’t earn any interest, which is fairly common for a checking account.
In addition to the Spend account, Virtual Wallet automatically includes a secondary checking account called Reserve. This account, which didn't factor into our ratings, is meant for setting aside money for upcoming expenses and earns minimal interest.
Certificates of deposit
PNC CD
1.4
/51.4
/51-year APY
0.02%
3-year APY
0.02%
1-year APY
0.02%
3-year APY
0.02%
5-year APY
0.02%
Minimum deposit
$1,000
Show details
Low rates on standard CDs. PNC's fixed-rate CD yields for popular terms are some of the lowest. The bank occasionally offers high promotional rates on atypical CD terms, but availability can vary by state. Other banks and credit unions have lower minimums and much higher yields on popular CD terms.
» SHOP AROUND: See the best CD rates this month
Customer experience
Solid support channels. Customer service representatives are available Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. Support is also available by live chat. PNC has about 2,200 branches across the northwest, northeast and some of southern U.S. PNC Bank earned fifth place in the 2024 J.D. Power National Banking Satisfaction Study.
High app ratings. The PNC mobile apps also earn good ratings from both Android device users and iOS device users. The apps allow transfers via Zelle, mobile check deposit, locking your debit card for security purposes and more.
» COMPARE: See how PNC stacks up against the best banks and credit unions for mobile banking
Overdraft fees
High overdraft fee, but multiple free overdraft programs. PNC Bank has high overdraft fees but it also offers some easy, free ways to avoid them. If a transaction causes your account to go more than $5 negative, the fee is $36 per item and can be charged a maximum of once per day. PNC offers a Low Cash Mode program, which is available with Virtual Wallet accounts. With the program, customers get a 24-hour grace period to bring negative balances to $0 or higher to avoid overdraft fees.
PNC doesn't charge for overdraft transfers from a linked account, such as the Growth account.
» MORE: Get more details on PNC Bank’s overdraft fees and policies
Methodology
NerdWallet’s overall ratings for banks and credit unions are weighted averages of several categories: checking, savings, certificates of deposit or credit union share certificates, banking experience and overdraft fees. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include rates and fees, ATM and branch access, account features and limits, user-facing technology, customer service and innovation. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star. How we rate banks, credit unions and other financial service providers.