Banking » Guides » PNC Bank Monthly Maintenance Fees: How to Avoid Them?
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PNC Bank Monthly Maintenance Fees: How to Avoid Them?

PNC Bank checking and savings accounts require monthly maintenance fees. How does it work and what are the best ways to avoid it?
Author: Baruch Mann (Silvermann)
Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Writer, Contributor

Experience

Baruch Silvermann is a financial expert, experienced analyst, and founder of The Smart Investor.  Silvermann has contributed to Yahoo Finance and cited as an authoritative source in financial outlets like Forbes, Business Insider, CNBC Select, CNET, Bankrate, Fox Business, The Street, and more.
Interest Rates Last Update: September 10, 2024
The banking product interest rates, including savings, CDs, and money market, are accurate as of this date.
Author: Baruch Mann (Silvermann)
Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Writer, Contributor

Experience

Baruch Silvermann is a financial expert, experienced analyst, and founder of The Smart Investor.  Silvermann has contributed to Yahoo Finance and cited as an authoritative source in financial outlets like Forbes, Business Insider, CNBC Select, CNET, Bankrate, Fox Business, The Street, and more.
Interest Rates Last Update: September 10, 2024

The banking product interest rates, including savings, CDs, and money market, are accurate as of this date.

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Table Of Content

What is a Monthly Service Fee?

Financial institutes usually charge a fee to their customers for benefiting from a savings or checking account. However, this is only done when they meet particular prerequisites.

Banks and other financial institutions usually take out the fee automatically from their customer’s accounts that qualify, every month. Banks can renounce monthly service fees when the customers meet the bank’s requirements.

These requirements include maintaining a minimum or average balance monthly. The balance in the bank can either be about receiving monthly payments or having several accounts at one institution. Banks also offer a fee waiver for senior citizens in some cases. For instance, you have to pay $5 per month if you don’t hold a daily balance of $500.

The monthly service charges vary with banks and the type of account a person holds. The more activities your account has, the more cost you bear. For instance, PNC bank charges a $7 monthly fee for a standard checking account and $5 for a standard savings account.

PNC Checking Accounts Fee

PNC allows you to open different checking accounts, and every account has a different monthly service fee. You can different types of PNC checking accounts.

The details of the monthly service charges and minimum deposit amount to open the account are mentioned below:

PNC Checking Account
Monthly Fee
Average Day Balance To Waive
Virtual Wallet Performance Select Checking
$25
$5,000
Virtual Wallet Performance Checking
$15
$2,000
Virtual Wallet Standard Checking
$7
$500
Foundation Checking
$5
Can't be waived

PNC Saving Accounts Fee

You can open two kinds of savings accounts in PNC bank. The details of the monthly service charges and minimum deposit amount to open these accounts are:

Savings Account Type
Monthly Service Charges
Standard Savings
$5.00
‘S’ is for Savings
$5.00

How to Avoid PNC Monthly Service Fee for Checking Accounts?

Since there are five checking accounts that you can open in PNC bank; every account has different requirements to evade monthly service charges.

Checking Account Type
Minimum Account Balance To Waive Fee
Virtual Wallet Performance Select Checking
$5,000
Virtual Wallet Performance Checking
$2,000
Foundation Checking
/
Virtual Wallet Standard Checking
$500

1. Performance Select Checking

You can get a monthly service fee waiver if you pass any of these:

  • The overall monthly balance should be $5,000.
  • Overall average monthly balance of $25,000 over PNC customer deposit or PNC investment accounts you have connected.
  • $5,000 if the account gets qualified monthly direct deposits (from an employer) within the statement duration
  • The account holder works at PNC.

2. Performance Checking

You can get a monthly service fee waiver if you pass any of these:

  • Have an average monthly balance of $2,000 in the account.
  • The account holder works at PNC.
  • Overall average monthly balance of $10,000 across all the PNC bank customer deposit accounts you have associated.
  • $2,000 if the account gets qualified monthly via direct deposits (from an employer) within the statement duration ($1,000 for Military or Workplace Banking consumers)
PNC offers and products
(Screenshot from PNC app)

3. Interest Checking

You need to pass any of the requirements given below if you don’t want to pay monthly service charges:

  • You work at PNC.
  • Average monthly balance of $2,000 in an interest checking account.
  • When you connect an interest checking account to performance, select checking or virtual wallet with performance and ‘select a benefits account’.

4. Foundation Checking

As a PNC employee, you won't have to pay monthly service charges for the foundation checking account.

5. Standard Checking

The requirements to waive the monthly service fee for a standard checking account are given as:

  • The average monthly amount of $500 in the account.
  • When you connect an interest checking account to performance, select a checking or virtual wallet with performance as a benefits account.
  • $2,000 if the account gets qualified monthly via direct deposits (from an employer) within the statement duration.
  • Your age is 62 or more.
  • You are a PNC employee.
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How to Avoid PNC Monthly Service Fees for Savings Accounts?

The savings accounts have certain monthly fees that can be avoided by fulfilling the requirements below:

Savings Account Type
Monthly Service Charges
Standard Savings
$300
‘S’ is for Savings
$300

1. Standard Savings

The requirements are stated as:

  • Your account should have an average monthly balance of $300.
  • You are under 18.
  • You have made at least one auto savings transfer of $25 or more from your PNC checking account during the existing statement period.
  • First-year foundation checking consumers.
  • When you associate standard savings account with performance checking, performance select checking, or a virtual wallet with performance selected.

2. ‘S’ is for Savings

You should meet any of the given prerequisites:

  • You are under the age of 18.
  • Your account must have an average monthly balance of $300.
  • You have made at least one auto savings transfer of $25 or more from your PNC checking account during the existing statement period.

How Are PNC Monthly Fees Compared to Brick And Mortar Banks?

The table below compares PNC's monthly fees for checking accounts to other banks. You can see that PNC has low monthly fee compared to other traditional banks, as mentioned below:

Bank/institution
Monthly Fee
bank of america bank logo
Bank of America Advantage Plus Checking
$12 can be waived by maintaining an account balance of $1,500, qualifying deposit of $250+ per month or enrol in Preferred Rewards
chase bank logo
Chase Total Checking®
$12 Can be waived if you maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance, making direct deposits or Associated SnapDeposits of $500 or more per statement cycle, or holding $5,000 in combined deposit accounts with the same statement cycle date or having a Health Savings Account or investment account

citi bank logo

Citi Checking Account
$12 Can be waived if you make one qualifying direct deposit and one qualifying bill payment per statement period, maintain a combined balance of $1,500 per month across your eligible accounts or if you’re aged 62
pnc bank logo
PNC Standard Checking
$7 – $25 per month can be waived if you maintain $500+/$2,000/$5,000 direct deposit per month, $500+/$2,000/$5,000 monthly balance in savings or age 62+/$10,000 in all PNC consumer deposit accounts/$25,000 in all PNC consumer deposit accounts/
us bank logo
U.S. Bank Checking
$6.95 Can be waived by maintaining an average account balance of $1,500, have $1,000+ in direct deposits per month or be aged 65+
Wells_Fargo-Logo
Wells Fargo Everyday Checking
$10 Related to Wells Fargo Everyday Checking. The fee can be waived if you maintain a minimum daily balance of $500 or receive at least $500 in qualifying direct deposits per month. The fee is also waived if you’re 17 to 24 and have a linked Wells Fargo Campus Debit Card or Campus ATM card linked to the checking account

Does PNC Offer an Account with No Monthly Fees?

No, PNC doesn’t offer an account with zero monthly service charges. You can open savings accounts online without any initial deposits.

However, you must pay a monthly fee for every kind of account unless you meet the prerequisites.

How to Avoid PNC Overdraft Fees?

An overdraft happens when you don’t have sufficient money to complete a transaction, but the bank covers your transaction.

Though overdraft is helpful, it can cost you even more than the actual transaction amount. You need to pay $36 every time the bank pays an overdraft. Banks also offer some ways to protect your account from overdrafts.

You can protect your PNC checking accounts from overdraft fees if you connect two PNC accounts. Thereby, you can utilize funds from other PNC accounts to avoid overdrafts. For example, you can link a PNC savings account/money market deposit account, PNC line of credit, or a secondary PNC checking account.

When you need adequate balance in your checking account, the bank will transfer the amount from protective accounts to pay on your behalf. You can set up overdraft protection if you have a virtual wallet product with spend, reserve, and growth.

When you draw an extra amount with a virtual wallet, PNC transfers existing money from your growth or reserve accounts to pay for a transaction.

Activate PNC Bank Overdraft protection
Activate PNC Bank overdraft protection (Screenshot from PNC app)

How to Avoid PNC ATM Fees?

You don't have to pay ATM fees normally when performing transactions at PNC bank’s ATMs. However, you must pay a $3 ATM fee for all accounts except performance select checking if you perform a transaction at non-PNC banks within Canada, the United States, the US Virgin lands, and Puerto Rico.

Further, you must pay $5 for each transaction made to non-PNC banks in all other countries, except for performance-select checking accounts. You don't have to fulfil any requirements to avoid ATM fees, which count under the monthly service fee.

In addition, PNC repays ATM fees for the first two transactions made through a performance checking account within or outside the country at the end of the statement period.

Moreover, PNC is up to $10 per month for a performance-select checking account and $5 for a performance-checking account. PNC doesn't repay ATM fees to all other accounts.

How are PNC Monthly Fees Compared to Other Online Banks?

There are different online banks in the US, like Capital One 360, Salem Five Direct, iGObanking, Ally bank, nbkc bank, Axos bank, Quontic bank, discover bank, and Vio bank.

PNC has higher monthly charges as compared to online banks. For example, online banks charge a $0 monthly service fee, while PNC charges a $7 monthly fee for a standard checking account.

Which Checking Accounts Don't Charge Monthly Fees?

Checking accounts can be extremely expensive as most banks charge a monthly maintenance fee of up to $15. The monthly fee can add up to a huge number if not paid on time. You can avoid monthly fees by meeting certain criteria by banks.

Certain checking accounts don't charge any monthly fee. These include:

  • Capital One 360 Checking Account
  • Discover Cashback Debit Account
  • Ally Interest Checking Account
  • Chase College Checking Account
  • Alliant Credit Union High-Rate Checking Account

FAQs

PNC bank is the sixth-biggest bank in America by assets.

PNC has undergone many acquisitions, so it has all the previous simple and BBVA consumers. It offers a Virtual Wallet, a combination of checking, short-term planning, and long-term savings account. Short-term savings have a low-interest rate.

You need to put a great effort into evading monthly maintenance fees on checking accounts. It's a great option for checking accounts. However, you can get lower rates on savings and CDS compared to other banks.

When an employee or external agency makes frequent electronic deposits to your account, it's a qualifying deposit.

How's Daily and Combined Balances Work on PNC?

However, PNC doesn't consider transactions as qualifying deposits if made through ATM, branch, online transfer, mail, or mobile device and performed from one account to another.

Daily balance is the amount in your checking or other accounts for a day. While combined balances are average, daily balances are connected to savings and checking accounts for a particular period.

Yes, PNC offers a bonus for new customers. You can earn a welcome bonus when you open a new business or personal checking account and compete to pass the requirements.

You can earn up to $200 if you maintain a minimum balance of $5000 for the first three statement periods and perform at least 20 debit card transactions within the same period.

The customer can be the one who doesn't have an account at PNC bank and has yet to close a PNC account within the past 90 days.

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Picture of Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Baruch Silvermann is a financial expert, experienced analyst, and founder of The Smart Investor.  Silvermann has contributed to Yahoo Finance and cited as an authoritative source in financial outlets like Forbes, Business Insider, CNBC Select, CNET, Bankrate, Fox Business, The Street, and more.
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