I bank at PNC. I
like it a lot. It is a huge multi-state
banking operation based in Pittsburgh that swallowed National City Bank, my
bank, after the financial crisis in 2008-9.
I liked National City because they tried very hard to keep the non-local
bank local. I thought PNC would not be
able to replicate it. I was wrong. PNC had made a herculean effort to localize
the banks. The staff is helpful,
friendly, and knowledgeable. They know
their customers by name. It is one of
the few places I actually enjoy doing business…and I do business at three of
their local branches.
PNC also offers an online service which I also use. Its online bill pay is a bargain at no
charge. If it has a relationship with a
business, there are direct deposit payments into the payee’s account. If they don’t, PNC actually mails a check at
no charge . The cost of printing checks
and postage make this a steal. And for a
fee, you can tie in your Quick Books program to your bank account for the
convenience of single entry. Can you
spell “sync”?
I have come to rely on this service in a major way. It’s fast and easy. I can pay all of my bills in a flash. If I miss a deadline I don’t have to worry
about the check is in the mail. A few
quick keystrokes and my problems go away.
Well…not quite.
The flip side to the PNC warm and fuzzy is glitches. You see…you have to be able to access the
website. Several times over the past few
years that wasn’t happening. The latest
was over Christmas. Not only could I not
access my account or bill pay, I could not even reach their general website,
and I am still having problems today. Through
trial and error I was finally able to reach my accounts through a multi-step
back door process involving clicking and re-clicking on bad links in proper
order. In addition, my tablet app…nice
but cumbersome or anything other than information…worked outside of the online
system.
Couple that not only to hacking that took place to PNC
and other major banks in the United States earlier in 2013, last week PNC
announced that some of its teller deposits were improperly credited to accounts,
and today it announced that mistaken multiple withdrawals were made to numerous
accounts. The good news is that it wasn’t
terrorism. The bad news is it the bank’s
own software. And all of those nice
clerks I mentioned earlier, were clueless there was a problem. They were able to log onto the PNC site on
their internal computers just fine.
Really?
I got in the habit last year after the hacking issue with
the major banks of keeping two sets of books, one online and one offline. That means I am doing double entries, which
is inconvenient. At least I know how
much money (or lack thereof) I have in the bank. Stopping your snail mail statements in favor
of online receipt is problematic. The
businesses you patron will not allow you to do both. I opt to still receive paper statements simply
because I can’t trust the banks website.
How do I know I owe money if I can’t reache the site to which my bills
are being sent?
These problems are the problems of all of the major
banks, not just PNC which a great bank.
But, one can only conclude that if we had a serious hacker attack from
let’s say China, Iran, North Korea or any other miscreant we would be in deep
doo-doo. Technology is wonderful and
convenient and I love using it for all sorts of things. Given
the headstrong race into this not so new but still brave new world, are there
any contingency plans if for some reason things just stop working?
Just sayin’!!!
