PNC Mobile Banking

Even though I live near many PNC branches, I try to use this a lot. But over the past week I had a major problem with it. Every time I would try to sign in, using the fingerprint reader, it gave me a very strange error message, something like, “This mobile service is not available at this time.” With such wording, the first time I shrugged my shoulders and tried again in a few hours. Got the same message, so tried again the next day. Got the same message so tried the following day. This went on for like a week at which point I thought maybe PNC had had a major security problem and shut down all access from the app. So a couple days later, I went into the local branch to ask if there was a company-wide problem. The kind woman suggested I try to sign in with my password instead of the fingerprint reader. To my surprise, it worked! Immediately I closed the app, started it up again and then tried the fingerprint reader. It worked. In summary, I hope the developers consider displaying a more pertinent and informative error message when, for some reason, the app does not trust the fingerprint reader.

I could give 5 stars for convenience and general reliability. But the last update, while making the app more snazzy, also made it less convenient. Cool new graphics and slick transitions were added. Looks cool guys. But takes longer to load each page. I don’t need to be entertained by my banking app - just need to make an online deposit or pay a bill. Here’s an example of inconvenient: making a mobile deposit. Lots of sliding around of graphics with every selection I make. I finally get the deposit made and then there’s the confirmation screen. The top 1/3 of the screen contains a blue bar with a giant “+” sign in it. Below that is the deposit information. Where’s the confirm button? Took me a while to figure out I have to scroll down to see it. Maybe a little smaller graphic on top would allow me to see the whole thing on one screen. And maybe instead of all the flashy graphics after every selection (deposit, account, amount...) all that could be on one screen and then the flashy stuff could come after, and just once. Bill pay is much the same. Looks cool but is a waste of time. Functionally, convenience-wise, reliability-wise — I love having the app and it serves me well. I could just do without all the fru-fru.

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Every time you make a selection, there is a unnecessary explosion of moving and confusing graphics. If you select "Deposit", the selection flies out of the screen and your screen goes totally black...what happened I think? Is this a bug, did my phone just shut down? Then a totally new screen shows up that doesn't really show you bread crumbs from where you just were, so it's like you are launched into a new app. Then it launches you into a photo mode which fortunately I'm familiar with mobile banking, but would be another launch-like graphic action that feels like another totally new experience. Then suddenly after taking the photo of front and back of check, it launches you to a totally new graphical experience that's totally unexplained and weird. There is a full blue screen with a plus sign that is drawn in front of you - does this mean I'm supposed to add another deposit I wonder, then the plus sign morphs into a strange eclipse like thing and the two unexplained symbols graphically interchange for awhile without any words or understanding of whether the simple act of depositing a check was actually even done. Ridiculous. A bank needs to demonstrate stability and steady trustworthiness Not flashy, not introducing weird confusing flashy things, and very clear regarding what's happening with the money I am entrusting them to keep. Get over yourself. Simple and fast and clear is best.

Well, it works somewhat, but the app is clumsy. For example, there is no log out button on each page. So if you’re a few pages in you have to back all the way out to get to the log out button. This is inconvenient in certain situations, such as having a phone call come through when you are using the app. I want to be able to answer the phone call, but I need to log out of my banking app before answering the call because most of the time data is not available while on a phone call, and I prefer not to have my bank account open when I’m not actually using it. Sometimes I can get all the way back to the homepage in time, and other times I cannot. There also does not seem to be any way to set up an automatic payment from my checking account to my credit card. So far I’ve been using the transfer option to pay the bill, but the transfer takes time, which you would not think would happen between two accounts under the same person. There’s also no way to set up a date if you want it to pay in the future, and there does not seem to be any way to access pending payments either. Like I said, it kind of works, but it’s far behind other banking apps like USAA where everything is connected and streamlined.

I love this app in that I can bank on the go. However, because I can bank in the go, it’s a bit frustrating when I can’t do everything on the app that I can do at my desktop. Transferring funds from my business acct to my main acct is not available via the app. And the limit for mobile deposits is a great idea, but the process is long and the limit is ridiculous for any thriving business. I can only deposit for the first couple of weeks and sometimes that’s split where I have to mobile deposit some checks and then run the others down to the bank. Also, when doing a mobile deposit PNC should consider asking if I want express vs standard deposits at the beginning of use instead of asking every time I deposit a check in that session. Or maybe have a deposit “slip” where I can enter in multiple check numbers and amounts and then take pictures of the checks in that order. All in all, I use it, as it is of great convenience, but only up to a point. I’m still running down to the bank for the majority of the month for deposits. There is a lot of work to be done before receiving 5 stars.....mainly because of the deposit limit.