2023 Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards Results

We asked Kiplinger readers for their opinions about financial services companies, and boy, did they deliver. More than 2,600 readers responded to our survey, and you can benefit from their collective knowledge and experience as we’re sharing the results here.

Customers who use credit cards, banks, brokers, insurance companies, and other financial entities have everyday experiences that can help others make beneficial choices when pooled together and shared. Earlier this year, we conducted a survey, asking readers to rate several financial products and services based on such criteria as their experience with customer service representatives, how likely they are to recommend the providers to others, and how satisfied they are overall with the companies or services. 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. And we offered survey respondents the option to leave comments about their experiences with the products and services they use. We didn’t receive comments for every financial provider, but for those that did garner reader remarks, we have shared some of the commentary. 

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Read on to see which financial providers our readers ranked as outstanding — and thank you to all of you who took our survey.

2023 Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards Categories

Best Cash Back Credit Cards

We asked survey respondents to rate their cash back cards on the strength of customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the card to others and how satisfied they are overall with the card. 

Our overall 2023 winner was Fidelity Rewards Visa.

Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards

Readers judged travel cards on the strength of customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the card to others and how satisfied they are overall with the card.

Our overall 2023 winner was American Express Platinum.

Best Airline Credit Card Rewards Programs

Airline cards provide miles or points on purchases, which passengers can put toward flights. Readers evaluated airline card programs on customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the card program to others and how satisfied they are overall with the card program 

Our overall 2023 winner was Southwest Airlines cards. 

Best National Banks

Readers rated these institutions on the strength of customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the bank to others and how satisfied they are overall with the bank. 

Our overall 2023 winner was TD Bank. 

Best Internet Banks

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.

Our overall 2023 winner was Charles Schwab Bank.

Best Full-Service Brokers

Readers evaluated brokers on the strength of customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the firm to others and how satisfied they are overall with the broker.

Our overall 2023 winner was Fidelity Investments.

Best Wealth Managers

We asked readers to judge major firms that provide financial planning and wealth management services — primarily through dedicated wealth managers who tailor their advice to each client.

Our overall 2023 winner was Ameriprise Financial.

Best Peer-To-Peer Payment Apps

Peer-to-peer payment apps allow you to send and receive payments with other individuals. Readers were asked to rate the ease of use, how likely they are to recommend it to others, and their overall satisfaction with it.

Our overall 2023 winner was Apple Cash. 

Best Tax Software

Readers rated the tax software on how easy it is to use, whether they’d recommend it to others and how satisfied they are overall with the tax programs.

Our overall 2023 winner was FreeTaxUSA.

Best Auto Insurance Companies

Respondents scored auto insurers based on how competitive their rates are, how positive the experience is when making a claim and whether they’d recommend the insurer to others.

Our overall 2023 winner was USAA.

How Readers Chose Their Winners

Kiplinger readers were invited to take the Readers’ Choice Awards survey on Kiplinger.com between February 28 and March 31, 2023. The survey asked respondents to choose the financial product or service that they most frequently use in several categories, including cash-back credit cards, travel rewards credit cards, airline credit card rewards programs, national banks, internet banks, full-service brokerage firms, wealth managers, peer-to-peer payment apps, tax software and auto insurers. 

We asked readers to rate each provider they selected on a scale of one to 10 based on a few criteria. In many categories, readers rated the strength of customer service, how likely they would be to recommend the product or service to others, and how satisfied they are overall with the provider. In some categories, we included more-nuanced criteria. With wealth management firms, we asked respondents to rate the trustworthiness of a firm’s advisers and the quality of its financial advice. For peer-to-peer payment apps and tax software, respondents evaluated ease of use, and for auto insurance companies, readers judged the competitiveness of rates and strength of the claims experience. 

We calculated an average (mean) score for each criterion with each provider. We also calculated an overall mean score for all providers for each criterion we asked readers to judge. We compared individual provider mean scores with the overall mean, and those that had a score higher than the overall mean won an “outstanding” accolade. In each category, providers are generally listed in descending order by the number of criteria for which they received the “outstanding” designation — so a product or company that is deemed “outstanding” in three areas, for example, is listed before a provider with one or two “outstanding” awards. 

To choose an overall winner in each category, we added together the mean scores for each criterion rated for each product or service. The provider with the highest total score in each category took the prize for the overall winner.