PNC Bank has an interesting online service called Virtual Wallet. See http://www.pncvirtualwallet.com/ It essentially ties 3 accounts together – a spending/checking account, a short-term savings/overdraft account and a long term savings accounts. It’s free and has no minimum balance requirements, but charges a fee if you write more than three checks per month. It seems more geared to those who use debit cards and other electronic payments for spending.
Tying the accounts together is very innovative and seems to encourage better money management and good savings habits. The free online accounts are just the start of what’s offered. PNC also provides their customers financial planning calendars, online bill payment, financial danger alerts, interactive charts, a pig to punch and much more. That’s right they have a virtual pig you can punch – but in a good way. The Punch the Pig feature is a creative way to encourage you to save by moving money from your spending account to your savings account.
I haven’t used the service or the bank myself. But it looks like it provides a great system to organize your money and stay disciplined. That’s a great thing for anybody and looks especially suited for Generation Y customers.
Great job! I just wrote a piece (linked here) about how to fund a savings account by finding the dollars here and there that you can or already are saving by getting coffee at home, using coupons, etc. I will mention this in a comment
Anybody can benefit from this account, not just Gen Y customers. I am 43 years old and I just started using Virtual Wallet. I am doing most of my banking online and I find this as a fun tool to use. I think it’s good for someone who wants to get out of debt and to self fund their overdraft protection. Trying to fund overdrafts with a loan is basically robbing Peter to pay Paul.
I have to agree…it’s trivial to change it on online transactions using a computer, but from a store POS I’m not sure the interface has the resolution to make the payment method obvious.