One of the more popular bank bonus offers currently available is the  $400 PNC bank bonus. If you have $5,000 to float and you can manage $5k in direct deposit and a bill payment, you were able to walk away with four crisp $100 bills.
Updated Terms
They have now changed the terms and the $400 offer only applies to existing PNC customers and only those who live in select areas. This is what it looks like now:
Via Google cache, we are able to get a look at the old offer:
There are three key differences in the terms.
- The offer is now only to someone with an existing PNC relationship, “Add a checking account to your existing banking relationship with PNC!”. And here is from the fine print: “At least one signer on the new checking account must have a pre-existing consumer banking relationship other than a checking account with PNC. Such a relationship exists when the customer is a signer on any open and active PNC Savings or Money Market account, certificate of deposit, investment account OR any consumer loan, line of credit, credit card or mortgage.”
- Again from the fine print: “Offer only available to residents of AL, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, VA, WI, and WV.” Previously, this was available nationwide.
- From the fine print (bolding mine): “To qualify for the reward, the new checking account must be opened at a branch using the appropriate coupon between 06/01/15 and 12/31/15″. Oddly, the top of the page makes it sound as if the bonus can be had by opening an account online, but the fine print seems to say that it’s only available in-branch. The old offer clearly said that it can be opened online: “This bonus offer is valid for new accounts opened through this web page only.”
Workaround
Those who live in the above-mentioned states can still get this offer is they have a PNC relationship. An easy workaround would be to first open a savings account with PNC and then go a week later and do the $400 checking bonus. You would still have to do the checking bonus in-branch, apparently.
Final Thoughts
This PNC bonus was high on my to-do list, but since it was slated to expire on 12/31/15 I didn’t get to it yet. Judging from the 282 comments on the original post, many others were able to take advantage of this offer. Hopefully, I’ll still be able to do this one in-branch as I’m in the qualifying area.
First Discover, now PNC…oh, my! The lesson for the future is to treat bank bonuses like any other time-sensitive deal and do it right away. In both cases of the Discover and the PNC bonuses, those who did it before the terms changed should be good.
