About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards
The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards aim to recognize and celebrate the best products and services in the personal finance arena. We asked you, our Kiplinger community, to help us name the products and services you think have delivered excellent value in the past year.
The survey results, which we’re sharing here in our second annual Readers’ Choice Awards, offer valuable insight into which providers shine when it comes to your everyday interactions and experiences with them. Our Awards recognize excellence in everything from credit cards, banks and brokers to insurers, tax software and financial apps. For each category, we’ve listed an overall winner that earned the highest score. We’ve also highlighted other products and services that earned above-average scores for various criteria we asked readers to assess.
By voting, our community has helped us form our guide to the very best financial products. These are the products and companies that you think stand out from the crowd.
Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Internet Banks
Internet banks operate entirely or mostly online. They typically offer higher yields and lower fees than their brick-and-mortar counterparts because they have lower overhead costs. Survey respondents judged these institutions on customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the bank to others and how satisfied they are overall with the bank.
OVERALL WINNER: Discover Bank
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Discover Bank customers who responded to our survey gave the bank high marks across the board and were especially pleased with its customer service. One reader noted that Discover is “very easy to deal with.”
Readers also appreciate the bank’s competitive interest rates. One commented, “their service is great, and interest is over twice what my local bank gives on savings and CDs.” Discover’s savings account recently offered a 4.25% yield, and a 12-month CD yielded 4.7%. With Discover’s free Cashback Debit checking account, you get 1% back on up to $3,000 spent each month with your debit card.
Charles Schwab Bank
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Readers commend both the checking and savings accounts from the internet banking arm of broker Charles Schwab. “Best place to bank hands down,” says one respondent.
The Schwab Bank Investor Checking account, open to Schwab One brokerage account customers, charges no monthly fee and provides unlimited reimbursement of out-of-network ATM fees worldwide. Plus, the account yields 0.45%. Schwab Bank also offers the Investor Savings account, which has no monthly fee, yields 0.48% and provides unlimited rebates of ATM fees internationally, too. The bank accounts complement Schwab’s brokerage services nicely. “The way it’s linked to Schwab brokerage is just great and makes it seamless to transfer funds,” one reader says.
Ally Bank
Outstanding for:
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
“It is simple to find information and set up accounts directly online, and Ally now offers investment accounts and lending instruments,” one reader says of Ally Bank. The checking and savings accounts come with no minimum deposit or monthly fee, and the savings account shines for its 4.2% yield.
You can also take advantage of tools to help you save for specific goals. “I really enjoy the Buckets options, where I can split my savings into different buckets I make,” writes one reader.
USAA
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
If an internet bank could win the loyalty award, USAA would probably take top honors; several readers noted that they had banked with USAA for 40 or even 50 years or more. Survey respondents noted USAA’s dedication to customer service. “100% professional, courteous, live customer service, always asking us how it can do better,” a respondent says.
The bank caters to current or former members of the military and their spouses and children. USAA has a whopping 100,000 ATMs worldwide, and the bank will reimburse up to $10 per statement cycle for out-of-network ATM fees.
