PNC is bringing a mobile bank to Philadelphia

A 30-foot truck is coming to Philadelphia to provide banking services.

The truck is part of a fleet of mobile banks that Pittsburgh-based PNC has launched across the country. The units have ATMs and provide banking services typically available at brick-and-mortar banks, including opening an account and applying for a loan.

The decision to bring the mobile unit to Philadelphia is based on many factors, including “the potential for having the greatest impact in serving low- and moderate-income communities,” according to a PNC spokesperson.

In some homes across the country people don’t have a checking or saving account. In the Philadelphia, Camden, and Wilmington region, the rate of unbanked households dropped from 5.9% in 2017 to 2.8% in 2021, according to data from the FDIC.

The location and hours of Philly’s mobile unit have not yet been determined, according to PNC, but the truck is expected to launch before the end of the year and will operate Monday through Friday.

PNC is in conversation with several community organizations to plot the truck’s route.

Center in the Park, a nonprofit organization in Northwest Philadelphia focused on the needs of older residents, has agreed to partner with the bank, said Reneé C. Cunningham, executive director of the center. She saids she’s excited about the collaboration with PNC, which will allow the truck to park at the center’s lot at West Rittenhouse and McCallum Streets in Germantown. Although there is a PNC brick-and-mortar location nearby, she said that the mobile unit will add accessibility, and folks might be more inclined to stop by if they see the truck in the community.

The largest bank based in Pennsylvania, PNC has used temporary mobile units for over 15 years in times of natural disasters, offering services when a bank branch closes, or popping up at college campuses or outdoor events.

The dedicated mobile unit coming to Philly is part of a new initiative launched in Chicago in 2020, as part of a community engagement program aimed at reaching low-income people. The program later expanded to Detroit in 2021, and Baltimore and Dallas in 2022. This year, PNC launched mobile units in Atlanta and Houston and plans to have 10 locations active by the end of the year. The trucks have offered services in different languages, including Polish and Spanish.

“We want to help unbanked or underbanked residents who are in traditionally underserved communities take steps toward reaching their financial goals,” said Reymundo Ocañas, executive vice president and director of Community Development Banking at PNC, earlier this year about the national mobile unit program.

Lisa Gaffney, executive director of the Chester Economic Development Authority, told the Philadelphia Business Journal that PNC had been in touch with the city to potentially bring their mobile services to Chester.

PNC’s mobile unit efforts come as the bank has taken steps to shrink its brick-and-mortar footprint. Earlier this year, the bank said it would close branches in states across the country. In May, the Pittsburgh Business Journal noted the bank could “easily shed 300 branches” by the end of the year.

In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, the pace of all bank and credit union branch closures has increased almost 140% since the start of the pandemic, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Some banks have gotten creative about surviving. Tioga-Franklin Savings Bank, a 150-year-old Fishtown institution, has no branches and carries out over 90% of its customer transactions online.