Just wanted to pass this along to other PNC Bankers or those in the PNC service area who may be interested.
PNC just introduced two new travel rewards cards - BOTH with EMV Chips for those who are looking for them.
I called into PNC to talk to them about something else and then asked about the cards. They state they pull EX and report to all 3 bureaus. Since I have a BK, I asked about their friendliness and was told that they take the whole picture into consideration and if I have been on time since the BK, it will not be a problem. Similar to Chase, they also like if you already have an account with them - particularly one of the Virtual Wallet accounts where you can get extra bonus rewards for having those accounts.
For the short version, titles for each card are direct links to the cc page on the PNC site.
PNC Premier TravelerSM Visa Signature Credit Card
Introductory Offer
Introductory 0% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on balance transfers for the first 12 billing cycles following account opening when the balance is transferred within the first 90 days following account opening.
Then a variable APR, currently 15.99%. This APR will vary with the market based on the prime rate.*
Annual Fee
- $0 Intro Annual Fee for the first year when your account is opened by December 8, 2013; $95 annual fee* each year after that.
Travel with rewards, not restrictions
- Earn 1 mile for every $1 you spend on your card in qualifying purchases.**
- There's no limit on miles earned and they don't expire.
- Eligible to purchase a discounted companion airline ticket once each year , as a thank you to you for your business1
- No foreign transaction fees on international purchases.
- Access to Visa Signature Concierge2 for assistance with your travel, dining and entertainment. And, other travel related benefits, including trip delay and lost luggage reimbursement.
- Global Acceptance with an EMV chip in your card that ensures it works seamlessly anywhere in the world.
BOOST YOUR EARNING POTENTIAL
With a PNC Premier Traveler Visa Signature credit card, if you have a qualifying PNC Bank checking account and meet minimum balance and/or direct deposit requirements in one billing cycle:
- Get a 50% bonus on base miles earned - the best level of reward - with a PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance Select or PNC Performance Select Checking Account
- Get a 25% bonus on base miles earned - with a PNC Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend or PNC Performance Checking Account
Redeeming your miles is flexible
- Redeem miles for airline tickets, rental cars, hotels or cruises - any date and destination - to receive a credit to your account up to the price of your travel
- For airline tickets - Redemption starts at 25,000 miles for a ticket valued up to $315.
- For rental cars, hotels or cruises - Get a $50 credit to your account for every 5,000 miles you redeem.
- Redeem for cash - Get a $40 credit to your account when you redeem, starting at 5,000 miles.
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PNC Premier Traveler ReserveSM Visa Signature Credit Card
- Annual Fee - $395
- Earn 2 miles per $1 you spend on your card in qualifying purchases
- Receive an anniversary bonus of 15,000 miles with $50,000 in annual qualifying purchases and balance transfers
- Eligible to purchase a discounted companion airline ticket twice each year3
- Access to Visa Signature® Concierge2 for assistance with your travel, dining and entertainment needs
Additional Travel Benefits
- Eligible to purchase a discounted companion airline ticket twice each year, as a thank you to you for your business1
- No foreign transaction fees on international purchases
- Access to Visa Signature® Concierge 2 for assistance with your travel, dining and entertainment needs. And, other travel related benefits, including trip delay and lost luggage reimbursement.
- Global Acceptance with an EMV chip in your card ensuring that it works seamlessly anywhere in the world
Redeeming your miles is flexible
- Redeem miles for airline tickets, rental cars, hotels or cruises- any date and destination - to receive a credit to your account up to the price of your travel
- For airline tickets - Redemption starts at 25,000 miles for a ticket valued up to $315.
- For rental cars, hotels or cruises - Get a $50 credit to your account for every 5,000 miles you redeem.
- Redeem for cash - Get a $40 credit to your account when you redeem, starting at 5,000 miles.
I bank with PNC and I noticed these two new cards a couple days ago when I logged in to check my balances. I like the idea of having a travel rewards card with the bank I maintain a relationship with, but these cards seem a little bit overpriced to me. $95 for a card whose base earning rate is 1% seems a little steep given that cards like Quicksilver from Capital One offer 1.5% cash back across the board with NO annual fee. Granted, they offer the opportunity to earn bonus points if you maintain accounts balances above a certain threshhold with them, or if you reach certain spending levels within a billing cycle. But if you need to tap into a savings account to cover an unexpcted expense (or use your card to cover the expense and then use your savings to pay the card down), you lose the ability to earn bonus points for that category until you build your savings back up. Although they do offer the opportunity to purchase a "discounted" companion ticket, there aren't any details about how this is done, and that leads me to believe it doesn't really offset the annual fee. I'm not at all opposed to an annual fee, but when there are alternatives that seem to provide as much or more AND cost less out of pocket, it makes me wonder what added value I would get out of this card vs its competitors.
And the one with a $395 annual fee??? Really PNC?
Am I the only one who doesn't see the value in these cards when compared to the likes of the Barclay Arrival, or the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Amex Blue Sky or others?
Everything about the $95 AF version just screams worse version of CSP. PNC isn't very good at offering attractive, competitive cards, IMO. I guess it's a decent EMV No FTF card but there are other cards I can find for that purpose as well but once EMV is more common, it goes back to being an unattractive card with little redeeming qualities.
... post was not put up properly... ugh!
I was going to state something about the EMV which I thought was interesting since its not common, but at the same time, my NFCU Flagship Visa Siggy give 2:1 when redeemed for travel for $49 AF and with enough points I can get that taken care of also. They aren't immediately attractive, but then not everyone can go out and get an AMEX right away either. PNC states with the right scores they are BK friendly, so they have to be hoping some will be interested in them.
I'm pretty sure I don't want to deal with any more AF cards regardless, AMEX included, if I can get similar cards that don't have them. That's where my turn off comes in.
Either way, it will be interesting to see how PNC will evolve over time, if at all.
