best online banking in Pittsburgh?

[khyron]

Greets again Steel City, this is that intrepid n00b again who's getting ready to move up there. I read carefully through all the previously tagged banking posts and got a lot of useful feedback but I have one outstanding specific question to ask you - between PNC, Citizens, and National City who has the best online banking interface

Comments

[uglybracelets]

I have used both National City and PNC, and I like PNC better, but also I just like them over all as a bank. Their customer service is very helpful, and sometimes will even refund an overdraft or other charges depending on the circumstances. Where as with National city, they just say.. sorry not our problem in so many words.

I don't know that they have "secured messaging", but they have everything else you are looking for.

[ls56]

they do, but it's faster to call the 800 number.

[khyron]

Sometimes it's nice to have both. For example, in a use case where you want to ask a detailed question that might take them some checking around and you don't want to deal with hold or waiting and don't care whether you find out the answer right now or tomorrow - you can just drop a secured message and not "have" to use a phone.

It's especially nice when you spend all day in an office and don't want to make a personal call in cube land.

;)

[_orz]

Have you considered using an online-only bank?

I personally use INGdirect (www.ingdirect.com). Very user friendly website, works in Opera and Firefox, multi-factor authentication, and friendly customer service. The interest rates beat anything you can find at brick and mortar banks (I'm also quite fond of their "no minimum balances" policy). I have used them for years and have been very satisfied. Have never experienced any problems, either.

You can also find several online banks at www.bankrate.com. I'm only mentioning INGdirect because I have personal experience with them.

Concerning banks in the area, I keep a checking account open at PNC. Their online banking meets your needs--multi-factor authentication, non-clunky or eyesore-inducing interace, works in different browsers. The only reason I don't use them for more is because I can get better deals at ING.

[khyron]

I have considered it, and I probably should have mentioned that but my post already felt sort of obnoxiously long and I didn't want to cut it and have nobody read it, so...oops.

Basically for all my geekery, when it comes to money matters I just really like going to talk to meatware. I know it seems silly, but it's just how I am. The one thing a web site can't do well is parse out a multi-variable inquiry you have about various services or financial vehicles, and I seem to have a lot of those.

Even a place that gives great phone kind of underwhelms me. It's a silly personal preference.

If we were to go online, however, ING or USAA (military in-laws) would be top choices I think.

[bojojohn]

I use Charles Schwab (which rocks in that they reimburse you for ATM fees and pay you a high APY rate) for checking. Our brick and mortar bank is a Federal Credit Union that needs major help in their online interface.

[khyron]

Do you happen to know which credit union UPMC employees use? I imagine that's the one we'll be using.

[deadinplastic]

PNC has really awful setup that is desingned to make you fail. They hold checks longer than any bank I have dealt with and fees are quite excessive when compared to smaller banks or credit unions. I used it very carefully, but it is really no fun when you have to be afraid of your bank.

[khyron]

When you say hold checks, what exactly do you mean - checks you deposited from someone else like a paycheck, or checks you wrote to another party?

[deadinplastic]

It will take an average of 3 days for ANY check to clear. It gets faster if it is a constant deposit and they build history on it. When a check is deposited,It somewhat deceptively transitions into a status where they give you a higher available balance after 2 days, but it is not complete. If anything is wrong with that check they will yank it all and subsequently impose fees. I never had that happen to me but I overheard students complaining on the bus.

[unixd0rk]

i would agree that if you are a student to stay away from PNC. i had an ex who used them and they eventually screwed up her whole paycheck deposit (even though they issued the check) and PNC was more worried about collecting a bunch of fees than finalizing the deposit of her paycheck.

PNC

[dharmagrrrl]

I just moved to town and needed to find a local bank quickly, so I signed up at PNC after grilling them about their online access. I was living in Alaska before here, so I need to be able to transfer funds to myself online. They failed to mention that though there is online banking that met my needs, I would not actually be able to activate my online account until I received the debit card in the mail in a week or so. Very frustrating

Re: PNC

[khyron]

Thanks, that's good advice about the out-of-state stuff.

If we go PNC, I already figured out that we have a really easy option for switching things around (that I'm sure wouldn't have been as easy in Alaska). It just so happens that there are a small handful of PNC branches right here in Virginia on the way between our place and my brother-in-law's. So if we decide to go to PNC, we can go to a BoA branch up there when we visit soon and then just walk some bank (not personal) checks down the street to PNC in person and get everything switched on the spot between the two without even waiting for wires.

I'm sure mailing debit/credit cards takes several days no matter what, but we'll just have some cash on hand for the transition week and make sure nothing automated (like EZ Pass or Netflix) that hits our cards is forgotten.

Re: PNC

[dharmagrrrl]

Having a local branch will make it much simpler, you could even deposit your personal check since you are in the same state.

I do understand that the debit cards take time, but at other banks I have been able to set my online access in the bank when I set up the account rather than by using the debit card. That threw me a bit.

If you can avoid out of state checks and have a transitional period with two local banks when you don't need the online account, everything else at PNC has been very positive.

Re: PNC

[svisconti]

I am a former PNC employee. Just wanted to let you know that they only hold out of state checks for 4 business days for the first month. When you are new it is 2 business days for a local check, 4 for non local. After the first couple of weeks it is down to the standard 1 business day for local and 2 business days for non local

[erimaria]

Other people have mentioned Citizens, but I wanted to add that my credit card through them is NOT on the same site as my checking and savings. It drives me crazy, not to be able to check everything all at once.

And UI is okay, but I do find myself clicking on "view" checking account and going to my monthly history. I have to click on "checking account" to see my statement. I'm sure the site clarifies this, but if it's not written into the hyperlink, I generally don't pay much attention. It's a really small issue, not enough to bug me, but I thought I'd let you know.

[khyron]

Wow, thanks! That's a huge deal for me, I mean I hear all the voices touting their customer service and that's awesome, but I've dealt before with a bank that has someone else (not a division of their own company) do their credit cards and it was totally a hassle (single web site integration or not).

If that's the case for all of Citizens card products, I'm afraid it takes them off the shelf for us.

[erimaria]

Yeah, I actually have to bill pay from my Citizens checking to my Citizens credit card, or pay on the credit card site, like you do with any other bill. I assumed that I would be able to transfer funds, like you can with other banks. I incurred some serious late charges (that were reversed) because of this.

Glad I could help!