Virtual Wallet: Everything You Need To Know

Banking used to be the recording of transactions and the balancing of accounts manually, however, human errors like mathematical miscalculations and forgetfulness created problems. Online banking has eliminated the possibility of human error, in addition to, offering features like bill pay, money transfers, and direct deposit. A virtual wallet, a service from PNC, helps manage your financial life and comes with features including reserve account, a calendar, wish lists, money bar, and a savings function aptly named Punch the Pig.

With the commercialization of the internet, brick and mortar banks decided to offer their clients limited online services to reduce their cost of operation and its success led them to increase their online presence with more features including the ability to process loan applications and open new accounts. With online banking becoming “the norm” for most basic banking transactions, the next step became direct or virtual banks.

These banks are internet only, meaning they don’t have branch offices. This enables the banks to pass savings to their clients like higher interest rates on deposit accounts, reduced service fees, and lower loan costs by eliminating labor and overhead costs. The first fully functioning direct bank insured by the FDIC was the Security First Network Bank, based in Atlanta and began operating on October 18th of 1995. While not highly profitable, it proved that the virtual banking concept was workable.

Advantages Of Online/Direct Banking

Online banking offers several perks including convenience, better rates, mobility, transfers, ease of use, monitoring, and a plethora of services. We will look into each in more detail.

Inconveniences And Drawbacks Of Online/Direct Banking

Now that we’ve looked at the advantages of online/direct banking, we must also look at some inconveniences and drawbacks including the customer/bank relationship, transaction issues, unavailable services, and security.

What Is A Virtual Wallet?

A virtual wallet is a program on your mobile device allowing you to pay for products using “plastic” at the checkout line eliminating the need to break out your actual wallet and digging through finding the right credit/debit card whereas with a virtual wallet you can issue payments at the register with a few taps on the screen. There are several wallet apps available including Android Pay, Apple Pay, Capital One Wallet, Google Wallet, Walmart Pay, and PNC Virtual Wallet.

Picking the correct wallet app for your needs requires knowing which services you need/use the most with your debit/credit cards. For this article, we will look into the PNC Virtual Wallet.

PNC Virtual Wallet Features And More

PNCs Virtual Wallet gives an overview of your finances, reminds customers of upcoming bills/expenses, helps you plan for the future, and alerts you to dangers if it appears you have more financial obligations than actual cash. The scheduling feature automatically makes payments, and the wallets are viewable on the internet, phone, tablet, or any device where you can access the internet.

The PNC Virtual Wallet is comprised of three accounts working together including a spending account, a reserve account, and a growth account. The Spend account is a non-interest checking account, the Reserve account is an interest-bearing checking account used to save short-term, and the Growth account is a savings account earning interest and used for long-term saving goals.

These three accounts are displayed on a money bar that shows you the amount in each account and the relative balance between them. Scheduled Out funds are those committed to bills and other expenses, free funds is the cash available for spending, and the Reserve account is for money put away for long-term planning. The slider tool allows the customer to move funds between categories.

The minimum deposit to open the Spend account is $ if opened online with zero deposit on the Reserve and Growth accounts. The monthly service charge for all accounts is as follows, $$ for the Spend account, $ for both Reserve and Growth accounts.
There is no monthly service charge under the following conditions:

Balances on the Growth account receive a standard variable savings rate and APY beginning the calendar month after enrollment of the virtual wallet. You can qualify for a higher variable rate in any month you meet any one of the following requirements:

PNC Virtual Wallet Fees

A PNC bank Visa debit card is issued when the Virtual Wallet is opened. You can also link the Virtual Wallet to an existing PNC debit card or university ID card at no charge. There is a $$/per year fee for specialty cards like the Affinity Visa debit cards including Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Steelers, WBS Penguins, Washington Nationals, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Reds, and the USA Flag cards. Regarding the USA Flag card, $ of the $$ fee is donated to the American Red Cross (annually).

Other card fees include:

$$/each for card replacement
$$$/each expedited card delivery

PNC Bank ATM transaction fees include $ at PNC ATMs, $ at non-PNC ATMs in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands, and $$ at non-PNC ATMs in all other countries. Debit card cash advance fees are $/each at PNC branches, $$/each at other institutions accepting Via, and 3% of the transaction amount when used internationally.

Overdraft services are when an item is paid and there aren’t sufficient funds to cover it whereas an NSF fee is charged when an item is returned unpaid and both charged are $$$/per item. Students receive a courtesy fee refund associated with the first overdraft even within the first 12 months after enrollment, however, if the account remains overdrawn the Continuous Overdraft Fee applies and the max number of overdraft and returned item fees is 4/day.

There is an overdraft balance threshold of $$, so if the account is overdrawn by $$ or less once all transactions have been posted for the day, any overdraft fees applied are automatically refunded. There is a $$/day continuous overdraft fee accessed if the account remains overdrawn for 5 or more consecutive calendar days up to a max of $$$ and is in addition to other overdraft fees.

If you overdraw your Spend account, money is transferred first from the Reserve account and then from the Growth account. You have the option to use a PNC credit card, PNC line of credit, or other PNC deposit account set up as an overdraft protection for your Spend account instead of the Growth account and there is no charge for this.

Charges relating to Online and PNC Voice banking is as follows, no charge for automated transfers, $/each for staff-assisted transfers, and no charge for online bill pay. There is no charge for online banking statements with a $/month fee for paper statements and they assess these fees to the Spend account. If you wish to receive check images on the paper statement there is a $/month fee and is available on the Spend account only.

Charges for domestic wire transfers are as follows, incoming wires are $/each and student accounts receive 1 free domestic wire per statement period if the school qualifies. Go to pnc.com/studentbanking to determine eligibility. For outgoing wire with no minimum amount the charge is $$/each, and wires started via phone are $ each.

Charges for international wire transfers are as follows, incoming wire are $/each and student accounts receive 1 free international wire per statement period and to determine if you are enrolled at a participating school visit pnc.comm/studentbanking. Outgoing wires with a $$$ minimum are $$/each and tracers are $/each.

Virtual Wallet Review: What Users Have To Say

Most user reviews of PNC’s Virtual Wallet cannot be happier with the only downside being PNC locations primarily on the eastern side of the lower 48 states meaning you must pay fees for some things like ATM usage from non-PNC ATMs.

Conclusion

In conclusion, PNCs Virtual Wallet is a great choice for those looking for more than just a checking account, but want to manage and save money. It’s important to understand the fees associated with online banking and although a lot of services offered are free of charge, some transactions do have fees and can be an unwelcome and costly surprise. Also, remember to access your account from a secure device and verify that your bank notifies you of any suspicious activity.