PNC points® Visa® Credit Card review

Quick highlights

• Rewards Rate: 4 points for every $1 on qualifying purchases
• Welcome Offer: 50,000 bonus points for spending $750 within the first three billing cycles
• Annual Fee: None
• Purchase Intro APR: 0 percent APR for the first 12 billing cycles
• Balance Transfer Intro APR: 0 percent APR for the first 12 billing cycles, plus a fee of $5 or 3 percent of the balance if balances are transferred within 90 days of account opening
• Regular APR: 11.99 percent to 21.99 percent APR variable

Current welcome offer

If you’re approved for a new PNC points Visa Credit Card, you can earn an additional 50,000 points when you spend $750 within the first three billing cycles.

While not a spectacular bonus, it’s solid nevertheless, and there are thousands of options when it comes to redeeming. Since $750 isn’t a huge threshold to clear, this is something you may want to consider if you live in an area where PNC operates.

Rewards rate

Earning rewards points with the PNC Points Visa Credit Card is easy if you have an account with PNC (or open one) and meet the requirements to earn bonus points. You can always check the number of points available with your PNC credit card login credentials.

Earning rewards

You will earn four PNC rewards points for every $1 in qualified spending, which is almost everything except gift cards and other cash equivalent transactions. When this card is your daily go-to for spending, you can find yourself with a nice stash of points pretty quickly.

Let’s say you put $1,000 on your credit card each month. That gives you 4,000 points at the end of the month. Now, if you have a PNC account, this is where the point earnings really start to add up, as you’ll see below.

Redeeming rewards

With so many redemption choices, you’ll find earning them easier than spending them. Do you want to book an exciting travel getaway? Treat yourself to a spa experience? Donate to your favorite charity? Or use them on some new items for your home or wardrobe? The online rewards page is easy to navigate. Chose the category of reward you want to look at and browse through the offers.

Beware though: points expire 48 months after they are earned. To avoid losing them, after you open your account, set a reminder for 46 months from that date. That will give you a two-month buffer to decide how you’ll spend your points before they vanish from your account.

The benefits for this card, while not outstanding, are solid. Current PNC customers, or those who are open to banking with them, enjoy the most rewards.

Opportunity to earn bonus points every month

PNC gives you bonus points on the base points you earn with your card if you maintain specific accounts.

• Earn a 25 percent bonus when you maintain a Virtual Wallet, Virtual Wallet Performance Spend, Virtual Wallet Performance Select, Performance or Performance Select checking account.
• Earn a 50 percent bonus points when you maintain a Performance Checking account or Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend and meet the minimum balance or direct deposit requirements for this award level.
• Earn a whopping 75 percent bonus when you maintain a Performance Select Checking account or Virtual Wallet with Performance Select and meet the minimum balance or direct deposit requirements.

Seamless integration with PNC online banking and Virtual Wallet

Streamline your finances when you pair this card with other banking options from PNC. Access your account information in one location with your PNC visa login. You can easily check your balance and points available with your PNC Bank credit card login info anytime and anywhere.

These points are, sadly, not very valuable when you consider their cash equivalent. Many rewards programs have points or miles worth 1 cent each, but PNC points work out to less than a quarter of a cent each.

Here are three examples we compared:

• Round-trip flight from Chicago to New York City: $197 when you pay with cash, or 66,067 points, making each point worth $0.29.
• LG Stylo 6 phone: Best Buy sells the 64 GB model for $299.99, but you can get sans cash with 184,583 points. This works out to 0.16 cents per point.
• Walmart gift card: A $100 gift card costs 45,980 points, making each point worth $0.21.

This card offers an intro 0 percent APR for 12 billing cycles on new purchases and balance transfers made within the first 90 days of account opening. After that, the rate goes up to a lower-than-average among rewards credit cards rate of 11.99 percent to 21.99 percent variable, depending on creditworthiness.

Balances transferred within the first 90 days incur a fee of $5 or 3 percent of the total, whichever is greater. After the intro period, the fee increases to the greater of $5 or 4 percent of the total balance transferred.

You’ll also pay a 3 percent foreign transaction fee on international purchases. The late and returned payment fees can be up to $38. Cash advance fees are 10 percent of the total amount or $5, whichever is greater.

This $0 annual-fee card does come up short when it comes to the length of the 0 percent intro APR. However, it shines when it comes to the number of points it earns day in and day out. Additionally, it has one of the lower spending thresholds that need to be reached to get the welcome bonus.

A balance transfer request must be made within 120 days from account opening to qualify for the introductory APR. 

Best cards to pair with the PNC Points Visa Credit Card

With so many specialized rewards cards available, it’s helpful to have a few in your wallet to maximize your rewards-earning potential. The PNC Points Visa pairs well with cards that earn cash back or give extra rewards for travel spending and redemption, like the Citi Double Cash® Card or the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. That way, you can cover all of your bases when it comes to getting rewarded for your purchases.

We like the PNC Points Visa Credit Card overall, but unless you already are a PNC customer and can take advantage of the bonus earning opportunities, this isn’t one of the best credit cards on the market today.

All information about the PNC Points Visa Card and Wells Fargo Propel American Express® card has been collected independently by Bankrate and has not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.