topic Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet in Personal Finance

PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 04:15:01 GMT

I was trying to sign up for a regular checking account but the banker kept pushing me to get the virtual wallet checking instead so much that I just walked out.

is there some great benefit I am missing to the virtual wallet?

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

MrCreditInternational — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 06:34:53 GMT

I'm a college student so I have virtual wallet.

As far as I know you open 3 accounts: Spend, Reserve, and Growth (https://www.pnc.com/en/personal-banking/virtual-wallet-overview.html#)

Spend is your daily checking account, Growth is your regular savings account, and Reserve (not sure if savings or checking) is an account that should be in between that earns more than Spend but less than Growth. I think it's their way to help people budget and save money.

I only use Spend and have never used Reserve or Growth since I got my account 3 years ago

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 07:57:49 GMT

I actually held off from opening a PNC account because of the nonsense of the 3 account virtual wallet. Then about 6 months later I opened a Simple Bank account and found out after I opened it that they use a similar system, but with two accounts. It's annoying. Its just a marketing gimmick.

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

MrCreditInternational — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 08:12:25 GMT

I completely agree that it's unnecessary

That's why I only use the checking account and never use the other two

Free is free tho

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

bergrides — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 01:32:52 GMT

It all depends on what you are looking for, and what works for you. I actually was looking for at least 2 acounts, but the three works well for me. The Spend and the Reserve are checking accounts, and the Growth is higher yield savings account.

I have my pay deposited into my spend, then when I pay bills, I transfer money from spend to reserve as all bills are paid out of reserve. I also put money in the reserve to cover any credit card balance I have, so the money is already set aside when the billing month closes. I use the growth for long term savings. I have always had a seperate account for bills, so this arrangement works well for me.

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 18:09:36 GMT

Can you use mobile deposit through the virtual wallet app or do you have to do that through the regular pnc app?

The website isn’t clear on that.

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

MrCreditInternational — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 18:45:52 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Can you use mobile deposit through the virtual wallet app or do you have to do that through the regular pnc app?

The website isn’t clear on that.

I've never used the virtual wallet app. Only the regular PNC app

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

Guyatthebeach — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 20:19:25 GMT

I have the Virtual Wallet and only use the spend and growth account. I like the calendar feature but you can do the same thing with Outlook.

Guyatthebeach

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

blossom_rebuilding — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 18:11:09 GMT

I think this is a "to each their own" situation. I personally love virtual wallet; having the growth and reserve savings accounts really does help me manage my savings. Virtual Wallet is more presentation than anything else, so there's no great benefit and no real harm.

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 17:21:44 GMT

I have 2 regular checkings at PNC and also a Virtual Checking, and use all "3" account for different things.

This is a downsized version of what I used to have... I used to have 5 regular checkings at PNC, plus accounts at 2 other banks (another major bank plus my credit union).

Anyway - I have direct deposits from mine and hubby's employers going into the 2 "regular" checkings - one I treat as a "checks only" account, so the money goes in and I move it right back out except for outstanding physical checks, as those can sometimes go days and days (or weeks and weeks!) without being cashed. The other "regular" checking is our "Main" account, and we only swipe from this one. I pay bills from the Virtual Checking "Spend" account, and move money into it as bills are paid, and I keep a small buffer in the "Reserve" account, just in case. I also use "Reserve" for any short-term sinking funds. I use "Growth" for my long-term sinking funds, and keep my "emergency fund" in it as well. Keeps things clean, and I don't have to worry about "balancing", keeping a register, nor overdrawing. There's just too dang much activity going on to keep track of, and I already have a full-time job.

Re: PNC regular checking vs virtual wallet

bourgogne — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 04:56:39 GMT

you can back the virtual wallet with a business line of credit for overdraft and it brings the min transfer from $1K to $1. This in itself makes it the cats meow in my book. the bill pay is very simple and nice, electric pays are the next day. just got back from europe, ripping 200e out of an atm cost $220, they dont appear to make a dime on the exchange conversion and they credit back $ 5 for each foreign use, I think 2x monthly. its n/c if you are 62. teriffic customer service, chat from the portal, the growth fund had a nice % the last time I looked. pretty slick if you ask me