PNC Personal Loans Review
What we like:
Numerous ways to apply
| Rates (APR) | 7.99% – 20.49% |
| Loan Terms | Up to 5 years |
| Loan Amounts | $1,000 – $25,000 |
| Fees | Origination fee: None Prepayment penalty: None Late fee: Greater of $40 or 10% of amount due, after 15-day grace period |
PNC Financial Services, founded in 1845, offers a range of financial services including personal loans and lines of credit, checking and savings accounts, CDs, home mortgages, and even a mobile payment system. PNC also offers investments through its Wealth Management program.
The bank is the result of a merger between Pittsburgh National Corporation and Provident National Corporation. Over the past 150 years, PNC has become the fifth largest bank in the U.S. in terms of number branch offices, and sixth largest by assets. It operates in 19 states, primarily on the East Coast.
In this review:
- How to Get a PNC Bank Loan
- Rates, Fees, & Other Basic Info
- The Benefits of PNC Personal Loans
- The Downsides of PNC Personal Loans
Getting a PNC Bank Loan
PNC personal loans are available to both current and new customers. Whether you are looking to finance a large purchase, pay off a credit card or medical bills, or take a family vacation, there’s a personal loan product from PNC that will probably meet your needs.
PNC offers two main types of personal loans: secured and unsecured. As you’d expect, a secured personal loan requires some form of collateral. An unsecured loan does not. Secured personal loans are typically used for recreational vehicles, boats, motorcycles, and other personal use vehicles. The bank also has an unsecured personal line of credit that is subject to many of the same approval criteria.
You can apply for a loan with PNC Bank by walking into any one of its branches or calling the toll-free number, but you can also submit an online application if you’re pursuing an unsecured loan. You’ll need information on your current and previous address, Social Security Number, annual income, employment, and your cosigner’s information if you plan to apply with one.
Your credit report will be evaluated, and you’ll be offered your loan terms if you’re approved. If you have poor credit, don’t expect to be approved. PNC tends to issue loans only to customers with very good to excellent credit scores — generally 700 and above.
>> Read More: What credit score do you need for a personal loan?
PNC’s products aren’t available in all regions, so you’ll need to check that your zip code is in one of its serviced areas. All secured loans need to be held with non-real estate collateral, and PNC may not lend you 100% of the value of that collateral.
PNC Loan Rates, Fees, & Loan Terms
With the unsecured personal loan, you can get between $1,000 and $35,000. If you are borrowing with collateral, the loan amount can go up to $100,000 with a minimum deposit of $2,000. Rates are dependent upon your credit score, the loan amount, and the loan term. For a $10,000 unsecured loan, you can expect to pay between 5.74% APR and 7.74% APR with a monthly payment of about $315 and a term of 36 months.
If you have a PNC checking account and have your payments automatically deducted, you can also get a rate discount of 0.25 percentage points There are other discounts available for various situations as well. All rates are fixed for the life of the loan, and terms are highly flexible. You could get a loan for between six months to five years. The highest rate you’ll pay is 12.44%.
PNC has no origination fees or prepayment penalties on their secured and unsecured loans, so you’ll save money when getting a loan there.
Its personal line of credit, however, comes with a $50 annual fee and a flat, fixed rate of 11.0% APR, regardless of the credit amount. The credit line also has an ongoing draft period, so you can borrow and repay as many times as you like during that period, just like a credit card.
To withdraw money from your personal credit line of credit, you only need to visit an ATM or write a check on the line to your checking account. Funds will be transferred and begin to accrue interest as soon as you withdraw them.
The Benefits of PNC Personal Loans
One of the biggest benefits of PNC’s personal loans is its lack of origination fees or prepayment penalties. PNC’s automatic payment discount is another benefit that many other lenders have moved away from. Even a 0.25% reduction in an APR can save you a significant amount of money in accrued interest over the life of the loan.
PNC’s website also offers a wealth of educational articles, resources, and tools to help you manage your finances, as well as understand the loan process, their loan products, and other financial services.
Having a fully-online loan application process for unsecured loans puts PNC on the same level as some of the more convenient online lenders, such as LendingClub, and other brick-and-mortar institutions that have moved to online applications, such as Citizens Bank and Wells Fargo. With so many online lenders now offering highly convenient lending processes, PNC’s online application encourages its customers to stay with them.
The Downsides of PNC Personal Loans
Not everything about PNC Bank is convenient, however. In over 120 reviews on ConsumerAffairs.com in the last year, 110 of them were only two stars or lower, with many customers complaining about checking fees, poor resolution of issues, and an online interface that is not user-friendly.
Also, If the PNC checking account that your monthly payments come from should overdraw, the bank may charge up to four overdraft fees per day — to the tune of $36 each. That means you could be charged up to $144 per day for overdrafts, whereas other banks typically charge no more than one or two fees per day. Of course, this can be avoided by monitoring your checking account balance.
Some customers also find PNC’s savings account rates to be noncompetitive. Currently, its regular savings account only earns 0.01% APY, and it increases to 0.05% APY if you also have a checking account. Even PNC’s Premier Money Market account will earn less than 1.5% APY with a balance of $25,000, meaning you’d earn only a $375 profit. Those rates don’t get any better whether you have a loan with PNC or not.
While PNC’s loan rates are good for a brick-and-mortar bank, they don’t really compare to the rates someone can get at another institution, especially one that is geared to a 100% online experience. Prosper, for instance, offers loans with an APR as low as 4.99% — almost a full percentage point lower than PNC.
The Bottom Line
PNC might not have the best personal loan rates, but it does have a wider variety of financial products than most online lenders, and it is a well-established company. If you’re looking for debt consolidation solutions or you want to make home improvements or a big purchase, PNC is a viable option.
Before signing the dotted line with any lender, however, you should make sure to do the following:
- Understand the type of loan you need.
- Know your credit history and what kind of interest rate you can expect.
- Know your budget, and how much of a monthly payment you can afford.
If you have a handle on your own financial situation, you’ll be better prepared to get the right kind of personal loan from the right lender.
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