PNC Virtual Wallet Online Banking Review

PNC Virtual Wallet is an online tool for managing the money you hold in savings, checking, and some other types of accounts at PNC Bank. There are also apps for iPhone and Android that sync with the online tools.

While PNC doesn't offer interest rates as high as SmartyPig or other online banks, PNC Virtual Wallet has more features to help with budgeting, getting an overview of your finances, and saving money. Here's a breakdown of the features:

The Money Bar

Virtual Wallet's Money Bar is a bar graph that shows you at a glance how much money you have available for general spending. The Scheduled setting shows how much money you have set aside to pay upcoming bills. Free is how much you have available to spend. Reserve shows your money held in savings. 

Calendar and Online Bill Pay

The Calendar shows bills, income, and spending in a color-coded daily, weekly or monthly view. The Calendar also shows Danger Days in red if the account you use to make payments could be overdrawn in the future. If you see Danger Days, you can move funds from your Reserve stash or change the date you pay a bill.

You can use Online Bill Pay to make one time or recurring payments, and you'll get reminders of the bill due dates so you don't have to visit Virtual Wallet every day to stay on top of paying bills.

Spending Tools

The Spending Zone tool is for setting up a budget and getting budget reports. To set up a budget, assign amounts to budget categories. View totals for budgeted categories and a list of recent transactions. You can even see your spending over the past year with a graphical report.

Savings Tools

Virtual Wallet has several ways to help you get into saving money:

• The Reserve Account is for short-term savings.
• The Wish List allocates the total amount you have set aside in Reserve savings toward specific goals, such as a big vacation or replacing your tires.
• The Growth Account is used for long-term savings. It pays interest.
• The Savings Engine automatically transfers money from spending to savings based on the rules you set.

Funds Transfers

Transferring money is free with Virtual Wallet and can be done in three ways: You can easily move money between PNC bank accounts, use Zelle to send or receive money using an email address or mobile phone number, or set up your non-PNC accounts to send and receive transfers.

Mobile Banking Tools

There's a Virtual Wallet app for Android and iOS, and you can access the mobile web site through your phone, too. You can also use your phone to snap photos of checks to deposit them into your account.

If you don't have a smartphone, you can still send text messages to get account information such as balances, due dates, or recent transactions. Mobile messaging and data rates may apply.

Virtual Wallet Student

Virtual Wallet Student is an account for college students and their parents or guardians. This type of account makes it easy for parents to transfer funds to the student's account. PNC Alliance colleges—schools with a relationship with the PNC brand—can offer customized accounts and cards, financial education, branches near campus, and other benefits.

Virtual Wallet Signup and Fees

To open a Virtual Wallet account requires a minimum deposit of $25, but you can waive that if you open the account online. Also, there is a monthly service charge of $7 that you can waive by keeping a balance of $500 in your Spend or Reserve accounts, or making $500 in qualifying deposits in a specified time period. The fee is also waived for people age 62 or older.

Other fees include $3 for withdrawals at non-PNC ATMs; $36 for overdrafts; $2 for paper statements; and $10 for cashier's checks. Other fees may apply; the Virtual Wallet fee table will show you every fee or cost associated with the account.