Extended through 01/02/2025
Extended through 10/31/2024
Update 7/2/24: Extended until 9/3/2024
Update 5/15/24: Extended again til 7/1/24
Update 1/4/24: Extended again until 02/29/2024
Update 11/1/23: extended until 01/02/2024
Update 9/12/23: extended through Oct 31
Update 7/4/23: Extended through 8/31
Update 4/1/23: Extended until 06/30/2023.
Update 1/3/23: Extended until 3/31/23
Terms state good through 01/02/2022. I assume it should be 01/02/2023.
Update 8/29/22: Deal is back and valid until 10/31/2022.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200 or $400
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: $2,000-$5,000 depending on bonus
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Codes as a cash advance
- Monthly fees: $15-$25, avoidable
- Early account termination fee:
$25 if closed within six monthsnone - Household Limit: None
- U.S. Citizenship Required: Yes, for online applications. Resident alien and non-resident aliens now allowed online.
- Expiration date:
10/31/20216/30/22
Contents
The Offer
- PNC is offering checking bonuses of up to $400. Both bonuses require the following direct deposits within 60 days of account opening:
- Open a Virtual Wallet Performance Spend and receive $200 with direct deposits totaling $2,000
- Open a Virtual Wallet Performance Select and receive $400 with direct deposits totaling $5,000
- To qualify for the reward, the new Virtual Wallet product must be opened online via the application links on this page and completed with a mobile device between 5/03/2022 to 6/30/2022
The Fine Print
- Offer is contingent on product availability and may vary based on where you open your account and the Zip code of your primary address. For online or phone origination, the Zip code of your primary address will be used to determine product availability. For origination through a PNC location, product availability will be based on the physical PNC location. You may earn a $400 reward if you open a new Virtual Wallet with Performance Select or a $250 reward if you open a new Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend. Changing your product type any time after account opening and prior to the payout of your earned reward, could result in different offer requirements and reward amount.
- To qualify for the reward, the new Virtual Wallet product must be opened online via the application links on this page between 9/21/2021 to 10/31/2021, and a qualifying Direct Deposit(s) must be received within the first 60 days. Your Virtual Wallet product must remain open in order for you to receive the reward, which will be credited to the eligible account within 60–90 days after all conditions have been met and will be identified as “Cash Trans Promo Reward” on your monthly statement.
- A qualifying Direct Deposit for this offer, is defined as a recurring Direct Deposit of a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited by an employer or an outside agency into the Spend account of a Virtual Wallet with Performance Select or Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend. The total amount of all qualifying Direct Deposits credited to your Spend account must be at least $5,000 for Virtual Wallet Performance Select or $2,000 for Virtual Wallet Performance Spend. Credit card cash advance transfers, wire transfers, person to person transfers, transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a physical PNC location or ATM do not qualify as qualifying Direct Deposits.
- New account will not be eligible for offer if any signer has signing authority on an existing PNC Bank consumer checking account or has closed an account within the past 90 days, or has been paid a promotional premium in the past 24 months. If multiple accounts are opened with the same signers, only one account will be eligible for the premium. Trust, Estate and other specialty titled accounts are excluded from this offer. For this offer, signing authority will be defined by the customer name(s) and Social Security number(s) registered on the account. Offer may be extended, modified or discontinued at any time and may vary by market. The value of the reward may be reported on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1099, and may be considered taxable income to you. Please consult your tax adviser regarding your specific situation.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Virtual Wallet Checking Pro with Spend ($200 Bonus)
$15 avoidable by 2K DD or 2K average monthly balance
Virtual Wallet With Performance Select $25 Monthly Fee ($400 Bonus)
You can get this fee waived if you meet any of the following:
- Average monthly balance of $5,000 or more
- Qualifying direct deposits of $5,000 or more
- $25,000 in linked eligible account
Early Account Termination Fee
There is an early account termination fee of $25. This is charged if you close your account within 180 days. There is some evidence to suggest that they don’t actually charge this fee, but YMMV.
Our Verdict
Seems similar to the previous PNC deal, but this time the $400 link should be showing for more people. Not sure if this deal is available nationwide or not, but the $400 bonus is as good as it gets from PNC so we will add this to our list of the best bank account bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Jackie
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
I opened account on 12/9 and today my DD from employer hit of 5.2k. Do I need another DD or is one enough? Also am I able to take money out even though I haven’t received bonus? Could I take out for example 5k? (sorry for all questions, it’s my first time)
I had 6k as a DD from employer today. Am i able to withdraw some of the money even though I haven’t gotten bonus?
If I deposit a check at the branch on the account opening day, is the check added to the daily ledger balance immediately or does it need to wait until the holding period is over?
Also how about doing an ACH pull from PNC, is it added to the daily ledger balance on the pulling day?
They give you credit from the day of deposit on a check, not when the hold is over. If you deposit after hours or on a weekend, probably not getting credit until the first biz day.
The 2nd question doesn’t make sense. I assume you mean pulling using PNC? Anyway, it’s credited whatever date it shows in online banking at whatever bank, not the hold period. The hold is just for (their) protection… so you cannot remove the funds. How about do a small pull to see when it’s credited?
Because they use Fiserv for their transfers, it’s probably not instant credit when pulling using PNC.
Wells Fargo didn’t work. Bonus never posted (Just hit 90 days since the deposit)
Did anyone not get the bonus by using fidelity?
Jay DID get the bonus recently using Fidelity: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/pnc-up-to-250-400-checking-bonus/#comment-1960318
ELI
I used Fidelity CMA, but it’s showing up labeled as Investment Income.
Will it still work?
Probably. What something is labeled as doesn’t necessarily mean it will or will not work. Those are budget helpers to classify your transactions.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/pnc-up-to-250-400-checking-bonus/#comment-1871055
I could not find a downgrade option. Opened more than 60 days
Maybe call or chat?
Vict
Did you try this: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/pnc-300-checking/#comment-594439
What qualifies as a linked account for the purposes of waiving the $25 fee?
I am assuming it means more than simply linking an external savings account (outside of PNC) that does have the $?
You’re funny. Not just any external account. PNC accounts… will count. It get’s complicated if joint ownership, etc.
FOOTNOTES: 1 PNC deposit accounts eligible to be linked may include consumer checking, savings, money market, certificates of deposit and retirement certificates of deposit.
There is more info in the fee schedule, but it won’t allow copy & paste.
https://www.pnc.com/content/dam/pnc-com/pdf/personal/Checking/fees-vw-performance-select-A.pdf
Let’s not forget they don’t charge the fee for the about the first three months. Unfortunately not in the terms, except on the biz accounts.
PNC refusing to pay bonus since I received a Business bonus (sole prop) w/in 24 months. Any advice?
I haven’t seen anyone complain about this before. They usually consider the business and personal separate at most banks. Have you tried to recite the terms of the offer to them which doesn’t say anything about business checking?
10/08/2024 – Account opened
10/16/2024 – $2,001 Chase push
11/27/2024 – $3,020 Chase push
12/06/2024 – $400 bonus posted
How you pushed the amount from chase. Is it external transfer from personal checking account? Can you give details on how the transaction is posted in your PNC statement.
Why are we pulling funds instead of pushing funds out of PNC after satisfying the bonus requirement? Does PNC not like to push?
Likely anorexic transfer limits & slow transfers. Why not pull? You can push or bill pay out if you want.
S
I tried to pull back into Chase and got a call from the fraud department. Timid and new churner here, so pulls now have gun shy. I was just curious if there was an important to not push from PNC.
That sounds like a normal day at Chase…
The Finance Buff: ACH Push or Pull: The Right Way to Transfer Money
S