PNC Bank Personal Loans: 2024 Review

PNC Bank offers unsecured personal loans with flexible terms and affordable rates. These personal loans may be ideal for existing customers looking to consolidate debt or finance a midsized home improvement project.

The bank only offers personal loans in about half of the United States, and loan details may vary by state or ZIP code. Enter your ZIP code on the lender’s website to find out what’s available in your area.

This lender doesn’t offer pre-qualification, so borrowers can’t check their potential rate with a soft credit pull.

Table of Contents

PNC personal loans at a glance

Where PNC personal loans stand out and fall short

How to use PNC Bank personal loans

PNC Bank personal loan customer reviews

Do you qualify for a PNC personal loan?

How to apply for a PNC personal loan

Compare PNC Bank to other lenders

How we rate PNC personal loans

PNC personal loans at a glance

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Where PNC Bank personal loans stand out

Autopay discount: Borrowers who set up automatic payments from a PNC checking account can qualify for a rate discount of 0.25 percentage points. This is a somewhat common discount for personal loans, but many online lenders offer it for setting up autopay from any checking account.

Joint loans: The lender allows co-borrowers, so you can add another person to your loan application. Adding someone with a higher credit score than you could increase your chances of getting approved for a larger loan or lower rate.

Direct payment to creditors: If you want to use a PNC personal loan to consolidate debts, the bank will send loan funds directly to creditors instead of depositing them in your account. Though this isn’t a must-have for a debt consolidation loan, it’s a nice perk and saves you the step of sending the funds yourself.

» COMPARE: Best debt consolidation loans

Flexible terms: Borrowers at PNC can choose from a variety of repayment terms ranging from six months to five years. A longer term may mean more affordable monthly payments, while a shorter term means you'll pay less interest on the loan. Borrowers can also choose their payment due date when they sign a loan agreement and change it once every 12 months during repayment, with some restrictions.

Where PNC personal loans fall short

No pre-qualification with a soft credit pull: Unlike most other personal loan lenders, PNC doesn’t allow borrowers to pre-qualify. Instead, the lender sends pre-selected offers to existing customers and allows non-customers to submit a formal application online.

Pre-qualification is a fast way to determine what potential loan amount, rate, repayment term and monthly payment a lender could offer you, without undergoing a soft credit check.

Funding for non-customers: In some instances, current online banking customers can receive funds in their account the same day they sign the loan documents. However, applicants who aren't customers may need to visit a branch to close the loan, and funding time can take longer, so it’s not a good option if you're a non-customer who needs money fast.

» MORE: Best loans for quick cash

No large loan amounts: PNC has you covered if you want a small- or medium-sized personal loan. But if you’re looking to cover an especially large purchase, or to fund an expensive project like a major home repair, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Available in a limited number of states: PNC Bank personal loans are only available in 26 states and Washington, D.C. Many other lenders provide loans to customers in all 50 states.

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How to use PNC Bank personal loans

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PNC Bank personal loan customer reviews

As of September 2024, PNC Bank has 1.3 stars on Trustpilot, a website that collects consumer reviews. The rating includes customer reviews of many products the bank offers, including bank accounts and home equity lines of credit. Customer service is a focus of many negative reviews on the site.

The lender’s mobile app received 4.5 stars across 263,000 reviews on Google Play and 4.8 stars across 1.6 million reviews on the Apple App Store.

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Do you qualify for a PNC personal loan?

PNC doesn't publicly disclose many of its borrower requirements, including its minimum credit score. But according to the lender, it serves borrowers with good and excellent credit (scores of 690 or higher). PNC says it considers factors such as length of employment, citizenship and credit history on a personal loan application.

To apply for a PNC personal loan, you need:

• A Social Security number.

• A photo ID.

• Proof of income. PNC accepts income from employment, alimony, retirement, child support, Social Security payments, investments, rental income and inheritance.

If you’re applying for a debt consolidation loan, you’ll also need to supply the names of your creditors, current balances and monthly payment amounts.

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How to apply for a PNC personal loan

Because PNC doesn't offer pre-qualification, you can pre-qualify with other lenders before formally applying with PNC to determine whether the bank's offer is competitive.

Here are the steps to apply for a PNC loan.

1. Apply on PNC's website. Borrowers must submit a formal personal loan application to determine whether they qualify and what their loan offer will be. You can apply on the bank's website. The lender will do a hard credit pull at this stage, which may cause your credit score to temporarily dip.

2. Get approved and receive funds. PNC says existing customers who apply online and meet its borrowing criteria may receive funds in one day. Some customers may be required to sign the loan documents at a PNC Bank branch. The lender says it can typically fund a loan within a week.

3. Make a plan to repay the loan. PNC reports repayments to all three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion), so on-time payments will help build your credit score, but missed payments will hurt it. Setting up automatic payments and keeping an eye on your budget are two ways to manage your loan payments.

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Compare PNC to other lenders

Personal loan lenders offer different rates, loan amounts and special features, so it pays to weigh other options. The best personal loan is usually the one with the lowest APR.

Like PNC, SoFi and Discover offer a wide range of repayment terms and accept borrowers with good to excellent credit.

SoFi

» MORE: Read our review of SoFi

Discover

» MORE: Read our review of Discover

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How we rate PNC personal loans

NerdWallet writers rate lenders against a rubric that changes each year based on how personal loan products evolve. Here’s what we prioritized this year:

• Category definitions

  Affordability (30%)

  An affordable loan has low rates and fees compared to other similar loans and may offer rate discounts.

  Underwriting and eligibility (25%)

  The lender reviews borrowers credit reports and credit history, and tries to understand their ability to repay a loan, before making a final application decision.

  Loan flexibility (20%)

  A flexible loan is one that lets users customize terms and payments. That means offering a wide range of repayment term options, allowing the borrower to change their payment date, offering loans in most states and funding it quickly.

  Customer experience (15%)

  A good customer experience can include a fully online application process, financial education on the lender’s website and a customer service team that’s available most of the time and can be reached multiple ways.

  Transparency (10%)

  A transparent lender makes information about the loan easy to find on its website, including rates, terms and loan amounts. Transparency also means allowing users to pre-qualify online to preview potential loan offers and reporting payment information with the major credit bureaus.

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