PNC Financial Services Group review: hsa account 5

I too have been displeased with PNC's HSA account. I had been a National City customer and was therefore transferred to PNC. I loved the way National City treated HSA accounts and have not been pleased with the PNC's handling of the same account.

First, I am not able to go into the PNC (former National City) branch, located across the street from my house, to manage my account.

Second, online bill pay is not available to PNC HSA account holders.

Third, the interest rate / fee structure isn't as attractive as what I previously had with National City.

I have been shopping for other banks with HSA accounts and will be moving soon.

I have a HSA with PNC and I cannot complain. So far I have referenced my debit card number on the back of billing statements I've received from my doctor's office and I've used the card at the pharmacy about 5 times now. If for some reason I am forced to pay for something where I need to be reimbursed (which seems to be a VERY RARE situation), I can wait a few days for a check. To some degree I can see where these complaints are coming from - it does sound ridiculous that PNC is trying to oversee how money is withdrawn from the account when ultimately "you", the taxpayer, are responsible for proper use of the tax-free money. I wonder if they have some accountability to the government. But the use of the funds still seems reasonable to me. What I think IS a valid arguement is the monthly "service" fee that my employer currently pays. If that becomes my burden in the future I can say for certain that I will be shopping around for another bank to manage my HSA account for me.

One final comment: PNC did take "bailout money" but it was not because they were failing. In fact, it was quite the opposite... They took bailout money to buy up National City who was a much more reckless lender than PNC. I don't think the government should have bailed anyone out or given money to any bank so I'm not agreeing with the move but the earlier comment made was that they were failing and they would have gone out of business without bailout money and that is incorrect.

3taxfreenething's above statement is correct, PNC was not failing. The fact that the person who wrote the original statement actually thinks that the banks merged says a lot for his/her intelligence. It is very obvious and clear to anyone, employee or not that PNC bought National City because they were failing and about to go under. The writer of this complaint is obviously a disgruntled and uneducated employee of the former National City. Additionally, to build upon how uneducated they are, when you sign up for the account it clearly lays out the rules/restrictions. They obviously did not read them...

I have an HSA with PNC through my employer using a debit card and have never had a problem using it at any doctors office or pharmacy. I have also had no trouble transferring money from the account to a linked bank account that I can withdraw from immediately for items paid for in cash as my card is not a flex pay and there is a $2000 deductible. My experience as a first time user has been more than satisfactory. Keeping receipts in case questions are asked or for tax reasons should be common practice and is definitely not asking too much.

There is actually a quick solution to this problem. It has an additional step (rather than just going to the ATM). You need to link your bank account to your PNC HSA on the online service.

Go to the Update Profile tab. Click the "Link Bank Account" tab header under Update Profile. Add your bank account to your PNC HSA. Do not check "Remove Bank Account". This is if you would like to unlink the account at a later time.

Once your account has been successfully linked, you can go to the "Manage Funds" tab and click Withdraw. You should be able to allocate the funds to be electronically transferred to the bank account you linked, rather than getting a paper check.

It takes about a day for the funds to be transferred into your bank account. But you can then withdraw them. Just be sure to keep account of what you were reimbursed for.

Hope this helps!