PNC Financial Services earned $2.1 billion in the third quarter, and its deposits stood at $466.4 billion on September 30, up $16.6 billion from the end of June. One line in the results carries more weight for borrowers than the profit does. PNC moved its entire $1.4 billion education loan portfolio onto its list of loans held for sale.
The earnings release names no buyer and gives no date. Net income was $2,097 million, or $4.97 a share, up from $1,822 million in the third quarter of 2025. Total revenue fell 5% from the second quarter, to $6.56 billion.
What PNC did with $1.4 billion in education loans
The bank’s financial supplement says PNC transferred its $1.4 billion education loan portfolio to loans held for sale, the category banks use for loans they plan to sell. The move came with $35 million of net charge-offs, which are losses PNC wrote off when it made the transfer.
The numbers show where the loans sat. The consumer line that includes education loans fell from $5,904 million at the end of June to $4,623 million at September 30. Total loans held for sale rose from $1,522 million to $2,753 million over the same three months.
PNC’s consumer loans overall totaled $101.8 billion at quarter end, so the education portfolio is a small slice. The release does not say who services the loans now, who would take them over, or what happens to the people who owe on them.
The rest of the household loan book was little changed. Residential mortgages were $48.0 billion, home equity lines held at $26.3 billion, auto loans slipped to $15.3 billion from $15.9 billion, and credit card balances edged up to $7.5 billion from $7.3 billion.
People who borrowed from PNC for school, or co-signed for someone who did, are left with an open question that the earnings cannot answer. Who will hold the loan, and when does that change? PNC is the one to ask, since it has put the number on the books but not the buyer. Until a letter arrives, a borrower’s terms are whatever the loan agreement says today.
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A profit gain built on net interest income
The profit rose on what PNC earns from lending, not on fees. Net interest income was $4,206 million, up 2% from the second quarter and up 15% from a year ago, according to PNC’s results release. The net interest margin was 2.94%, compared with 2.79% in the third quarter of 2025.
Fee income did the opposite. Noninterest income fell 15% from the second quarter to $2,356 million. Capital markets and advisory revenue dropped from $577 million to $433 million, and the second quarter had also included a $448 million gain on a Visa share exchange.
Costs came down too. Noninterest expense fell 8% from the second quarter, and PNC’s efficiency ratio improved to 57% from 60%. Return on average tangible common equity reached 18.28%. Chief executive William Demchak said the bank is “well positioned” and confident in its long-term outlook.
Loans rose faster than deposits. Period-end loans were $378.8 billion, up 3% from June and $52.2 billion from a year ago, and commercial loans made up $277.0 billion of that. Average deposits for the quarter were $461.2 billion, up 1% from the second quarter on seasonally higher commercial interest-bearing deposits.
FirstBank’s 780,000 customers are now PNC customers
PNC closed its purchase of FirstBank on January 5, 2026. At closing, FirstBank had $26 billion of assets, $16 billion of loans and $23 billion of deposits. The bank was merged into PNC Bank on June 22, covering about 780,000 customers, more than 1,620 employees and 95 branches across Colorado and Arizona.
The integration is costing less now. PNC booked $36 million of integration costs in the third quarter, down from $127 million in the second. The release adds that FirstBank-related fee waivers reduced card and cash management revenue, without putting a dollar amount on them.
Customers who invest through the bank held $99 billion in brokerage accounts at September 30, up from $92 billion a year earlier and flat from June. PNC puts total client assets at $598 billion.
PNC ended the quarter with 2,302 retail branches, two fewer than in June. Average deposits in its Retail Banking segment were $267.1 billion for the quarter, against $164.0 billion in Corporate and Institutional Banking.
A bigger dividend and a few cracks in the loan book
PNC declared a dividend of $2.00 per common share on October 2, payable November 5. That is up from $1.70 in the prior quarter and a year ago. The bank returned $1.4 billion to shareholders in the quarter, $0.8 billion in dividends and $0.6 billion in buybacks.
Its estimated common equity ratio, a measure of capital strength, slipped to 9.8% from 10.7% a year earlier. Nonperforming loans, which are loans where borrowers have stopped paying as agreed, rose 8% from June to $2,194 million, or 0.58% of loans, driven by commercial lending. Total delinquencies fell 9% to $1,301 million.
Net loan charge-offs were $257 million, or 0.28% of average loans, up from $179 million a year ago. That figure includes the $35 million tied to the education loan transfer. Strip it out and the quarter looks calm, which leaves one figure the bank has not yet filled in: where the $1.4 billion goes next.
Holding a PNC education loan that is up for sale?
PNC has not said who will end up holding its $1.4 billion in education loans. A borrower who starts hearing from a company they do not recognize needs to know what that company can and cannot do, including what it can reach in a bank account.
Where the loans go is PNC’s to announce. The job The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit finishes is what a borrower does when any collector comes calling: it includes the 2-month bank protection rule and the frozen-account response, plus a debt inventory, call log and deadline tracker for every call and letter.
Set up a call log and a frozen-account plan in one kit →
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This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
