PNC Core Visa Card Review

Who is the PNC Core Visa Card for?

The PNC Core Visa Card is for those looking for low interests on their credit balances. With no annual fee and no formal rewards program, this simple card targets customers that seek a stable credit line to finance large purchases or transfer debt from other accounts. With an attractive intro APR for purchases and balance transfers, this card is a good option if you do not want to deal with point-based credit cards and redemption headaches. 

Surprisingly, this card offers a significant welcome bonus for new cardholders. Eliminating the point-system and cash back, the main selling points of this card are the low APRs, even after the intro APR period. If you want a card to finance your new car, buy furniture for your home or transfer your credit balance from high APR accounts, this card is a solid option. 

It's safe to say that if you are looking for rewards, this card is not for you. However, if you want a hassle-free and cheap way of borrowing money, the PNC Core Visa card is a good choice.

Welcome Offer

With this card, you can earn a $100 bonus after you make $1,000 or more in purchases during the first three billing cycles (three months) following account opening. This bonus will be directly credited to your card statement, which is helpful for people that do not want to deal with point redemption and complicated rewards schemes. Since this card has no rewards program, you are unable to redeem your welcome bonus elsewhere except receive it as a statement credit.

The card offers zero APR for the first 15 billing cycles (15 months) from account opening to help you save on interest every time you make a purchase with your card. This means that you can now be able to finance big purchases without having to worry about incurring interest. 15 months is above the industry average of 12 months, and therefore should be greatly taken advantage of. No more having to worry about interest and having the full cash on hand to purchase expensive items and services that you’ve always wanted to get. 

Aso, the card offers zero Intro APR on balance transfers for the first 15 billing cycles from account opening for balances transferred within the first 90 days following account opening. Therefore, those looking to benefit from the 0% intro APR for balance transfers should plan ahead of time of what debts they want to have transferred. With this great addition to this credit card, you will be able to enjoy interest-free payments on your existing debts, such as your student or auto loans. 

Annual Fee

Since this card comes with no rewards program, the $0 annual fee makes sense. The intro bonus and low interest rates that come with this card help you save money at no cost. 

Services and Protections

A PNC credit card can integrate seamlessly with PNC Online Banking and Virtual Wallet. You can view all of your spending and savings online from your desktop, tablet, or mobile device. This card gives you access to 24/7 dedicated US-based customer service. You can also pay your bills and manage transactions, balances and payments online. 

In terms of security and protections, you get access to PNC Easy Lock service, which you can use to lock your credit card at any time if you misplace it. You also get $0 fraud liability for credit or identity fraud. With zero fraud liability, you are able to rest at ease knowing that any unauthorized purchases on your card will not be your responsibility. All you have to do to take advantage of this protection is to inform customer care as soon as you notice an unauthorized charge on your account. Along with these protections, you get travel and emergency insurance. 

Cautions

While this might be a good card to finance your vacation, it is not necessarily a good option for international spending because it carries a 3% foreign transaction fee, which can add up since people spend more while traveling. 

In addition, with the low APRs that this card offers, it might put you at risk of overspending. Keep in mind that the penalty APR and late payment fee is very high and can put a serious dent in your wallet. Your first priority with this card should be to pay off balances in a timely manner while incurring low-interest rates. Therefore, even though this card offers 0% APR on both balance transfers and purchases, seek to take advantage of one over the other as you can easily end up defaulting on payments if you overload yourself with new purchases when you still have existing debts to pay off. 

Finally, since the APRs offered by this card are so low, you will need to have a high credit score to get approved for this card. This shows the bank that you carry a low risk as a customer, and they can afford to lend you more money at lower rates. With this in mind, you should always check your credit score before applying for a credit card as it can result in a hard inquiry. A hard inquiry lowers your credit score by a few points, which takes several months to recover. 

Conclusion

The PNC Core Visa Card is a pretty simple card for those looking to finance large purchases or pay lower interest on their credit balances. With no annual fee, this card offers a good deal to its target audience, however, if you are looking for benefits, you can explore the PNC Cash Rewards Card or the PNC points Visa card.