Earn Up to $100 in PNC Bank's Checking Account Promotion - Update
Mar 3, 2008 - 2:33 PM by Ken Tumin
5% rebate will be credited on a monthly basis to your checking account and will appear on your statement as Check Card Rebate. Rebate is paid at the account level, regardless of cardholder making the purchase. 5% rebate is only paid for Qualifying Purchases posting to the account through 7/31/2008 and is capped at $100 in total rebates. A Qualifying Purchase is any signature based purchase, Internet purchase, phone or mail-order purchase, bill payment, or small dollar purchase for which you are not required to sign, made with an enrolled PNC Bank Visa Check Card, which is processed or submitted through the Visa U.S.A. Inc. payment system. A Qualifying Purchase does not include a purchase made using a Personal Identification Number (PIN) or purchase you initiate through identification technology that substitutes for a PIN. Offer not available for Foundation Checking.
I just called PNC and the CSR said that people from any state can apply. The CSR also said there's no hard credit pull. They just do a ChexSystem verification.
The $100 cap hurts this deal, but it's not too bad compared to other checking promotions. Also, it's better than the last $100 PNC check card promotion that I posted on in July 2007 in which you only earned $1 for each purchase. Debit and credit card cash back rebates are rarely higher than 1% to 2% for non-grocery and non-gas purchases. To earn the full $100, you'll have to spend $2,000 before July 31st. If you use the card for things like insurance and phone bills, it shouldn't be too difficult.
Free Checking qualifies for this promo. This requires a minimum $25 initial deposit. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Bill Pay is free.
Branches are located in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Virginia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The bank is FDIC insured (FDIC Certificate # 6384).
Thanks to the reader who mentioned this promotion in the finding the best deals post.
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Anonymous - #1, Monday, March 3, 2008 - 5:43 PM
seem as though the $2,000 is for reimbursement of non-PNC ATM fees, not for the bonus
am I not reading the fine print correctly?
Banking Guy (anonymous) - #2, Monday, March 3, 2008 - 6:17 PM
That $2,000 is the minimum balance required in your checking account to have ATM fees waived. Otherwise, you're charged fees by both PNC and by other banks when you use non-PNC ATMs.
The $2,000 that I referred to above would be the required amount of purchases in which the 5% rebates would reach the $100 cap.
Anonymous - #3, Monday, March 3, 2008 - 6:33 PM
Is this for new customers or can existing customers also get this bonus?
Banking Guy (anonymous) - #4, Monday, March 3, 2008 - 6:42 PM
Looks like you have to open a checking account, but I don't see anything that says it's only for new customers. I forgot to ask this when I spoke with the CSR.
Anonymous - #5, Monday, March 3, 2008 - 8:26 PM
I clicked on "Apply Now" and the Free Checking Application appeared. I filled out the first page and when I clicked "continue" the following message came up: "You cannout have overdraft protection without opening a savings account." Although I did not request overdraft protection, it would not continue until I checked a box requesting either "Statement Savings" or "Premium Money Market" in addition to Free Checking. Do you have to open a savings account in addition to the free checking?
Anonymous - #6, Monday, March 3, 2008 - 11:03 PM
It does not make sense to use debit card to get 5% when you can get the rebates using credit cards.
Anonymous - #7, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - 3:33 AM
Anybody find out whether this is on existing accounts? because I just opened one a couple of weeks ago before the $100 Signup Promo expired
Banking Guy (anonymous) - #8, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - 7:29 AM
About having to add a savings account, I was able to de-select the option "Use this new savings account for Overdraft Protection." After I selected "No Additional account", it let me continue to the next application page.
About using credit cards for the rebates, most cash back credit cards that I'm aware of only give between 1% and 2% on non-grocery/non-gas purchases. So this debit card could give you 3% to 4% more on things like insurance payments, phone bills and other costly things.
Anonymous - #9, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - 12:49 PM
I wonder if the 5% cash back rebate is reportable income that the bank will send on a 1099
Anonymous - #10, Tuesday, March 4, 2008 - 2:58 PM
Since it's a rebate, it's probably not reported as taxable income - the bank is just giving you back part of the money you spent, just like a price reduction - not income.
Anonymous - #11, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 8:00 PM
Does it mean I have to choose "credit" instead of "debit" when i use it to purchase something?
Banking Guy (anonymous) - #12, Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 7:21 AM
Yes, selecting credit rather than debit will allow the purchase to be treated like a credit card purchase with no PIN being needed. The banks make more money on these than PIN-based debit purchases so that's probably why PNC requires this.
Anonymous - #13, Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - 9:57 AM
CS jerked me around faxing ID. In the end CSR rep (Regina-worthless) said she couldn't read the fax. Didn't approve. My reaction is that this is a scam
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