Whenever a college “encourages” you to use a service like PNC Bank, I am leery. That being said, we will not be using PNC Bank Services for the following reasons:
- You cannot find information for contacting the on campus branch office through the PNC web site. I had to find it through the Google and it turned out the contact number is buried on the CMU site. FYI, the number is 412-683-7200.
- They do not, unlike my credit union, tell you what networks their ATMs are on. Some of the PNC ATMs are on a network with my credit union where no ATM fees are charged. But the ATMs on campus are NOT.
- The "interest" they offer on the savings components is a a joke (.01%).
- They say on the phone that there are no fees for student accounts, but if you print out the link to fees for ATM transactions on the PNC CMU student account information page , they are obscene.
I will stay with my credit union as they offer a no-fee campus checking account and will reimburse up to $10 in ATM fees a month.
I suggest shopping around before signing up for this “deal” as I do not think it is worth it just to have an account linked to a student ID.
Obviously I can’t speak for the situation with your credit union, and I’ve never had need to contact the on-campus branch. PNC was started in Pittsburgh, so it’s not just CMU that encourages you to use it, schools like UPitt and Duquesne do, too.
That said, I’ve been with PNC for two years now (before I was admitted to CMU) and have never had any issues. Yes, the interest rate is low, but interest rates in general are low and I think it’s safe to assume that most students (myself included) don’t have the money in their savings account to make much interest in ANY account. I didn’t make any more interest in my old BB&T account. I’ve also never been charged any fees by PNC. Since there are so many PNC ATMs in Pittsburgh, it’s rare to have to use any other ATM, but whenever I have, I got the ATM fee reimbursed. Plus there are no annual fees and, as far as I know, no minimum balance fees.
I won’t have my PNC account linked to my student ID for practical reasons. If my ID is lost/stolen, I want to still be able to access my money.
Obviously it’s a personal choice and PNC is not perfect, but make sure that whatever bank/credit union you use is practical for Pittsburgh. My friend at the summer program had a situation where her debit card stopped working and her bank had no branches in the entire city, so she wasn’t able to get it resolved quickly and could only use the $30 in cash that she had until her new card came 4 days later. The PNC student account isn’t a scam by any stretch, although it has its weak points.
I agree with all the points Knittergirrl has made. Let me just add that very few students at CMU have any quarrel with PNC, and I don’t know anyone who hasn’t opened a PNC account because PNC has such a monopoly in Pittsburgh that you’ll be hard-pressed to find any ATMs from other bank accounts. I think it could get frustrating after awhile.
Tons of kids use PNC without trouble or hassle. For my D, she just uses her student advantage checking account from our local bank at home. No fees, and I can easily transfer money in and out if need be.