Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards 2025: Internet Banks
The winners of the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards' best internet banks category. Our awards celebrate the very best products and services in personal finance.
Lisa Gerstner
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Today
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more delivered daily. Smart money moves start here.
Sent five days a week
Kiplinger A Step Ahead
Get practical help to make better financial decisions in your everyday life, from spending to savings on top deals.
Delivered daily
Kiplinger Closing Bell
Get today's biggest financial and investing headlines delivered to your inbox every day the U.S. stock market is open.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Adviser Intel
Financial pros across the country share best practices and fresh tactics to preserve and grow your wealth.
Delivered weekly
Kiplinger Tax Tips
Trim your federal and state tax bills with practical tax-planning and tax-cutting strategies.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Retirement Tips
Your twice-a-week guide to planning and enjoying a financially secure and richly rewarding retirement
Sent bimonthly.
Kiplinger Adviser Angle
Insights for advisers, wealth managers and other financial professionals.
Sent twice a week
Kiplinger Investing Weekly
Your twice-a-week roundup of promising stocks, funds, companies and industries you should consider, ones you should avoid, and why.
Sent weekly for six weeks
Kiplinger Invest for Retirement
Your step-by-step six-part series on how to invest for retirement, from devising a successful strategy to exactly which investments to choose.
About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2025
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 often provide higher yields than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. The reason? Internet banks don’t have physical locations, so their overhead costs are lower, allowing them to pay out better rates. 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: Charles Schwab Bank
Outstanding for:
From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance
Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
If you want to bundle your banking and brokerage services, Charles Schwab is a great option. Schwab Bank’s Investor Checking charges no monthly fees, and although you must link it to a Schwab One brokerage account, you’re not required to maintain a minimum balance in either account. You can move money securely and quickly from your checking account to your brokerage accounts. Schwab also offers a savings account with a 0.15% yield.
Schwab Bank is particularly appealing for international travelers. You don’t pay foreign-transaction fees when you use your debit card overseas, and you get unlimited reimbursement of out-of-network fees when you use your card at ATMs worldwide—a “fantastic” benefit, one reader says.
Ally
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Ally offers healthy yields on its CDs, high-yield savings account and money market account. The money market account for example, recently yielded 3.6% and provides quick access to your cash with a debit card. One reader notes, “The interest rates are consistently competitive, and the customer service is excellent.”
Ally also keeps fees to a minimum, charging no monthly maintenance fee on accounts and no fees for incoming wires. Customers have access to more than 75,000 fee-free ATMs nationwide, and the bank reimburses up to $10 monthly in out-of-network ATM surcharges.
USAA
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
“I've been with USAA for over 45 years. I would not use another bank as my primary bank for checking and savings,” says one dedicated reader.
To become a USAA member, you must be an active-duty military member, a veteran, or a spouse or child of one who served. For those who qualify, USAA offers a full suite of banking services and money-management tools.
Checking customers can access more than 100,000 in-network ATMs nationwide, and they also get up to $10 refunded monthly in out-of-network fees. In some cases, members can receive their paycheck via direct deposit up to two days before payday.
Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards Categories
- Readers' Choice Full-Service Brokers
- Readers' Choice Wealth Management
- Readers' Choice Cash Back Credit Cards
- Readers' Choice Travel Rewards Credit Cards
- Readers' Choice Airline Credit Card Rewards Programs
- Readers' Choice Hotel Credit Card Rewards Programs
- Readers' Choice National Banks
- Readers' Choice Auto Insurance Companies
- Readers' Choice Homeowners Insurance Companies
- Readers' Choice Annuity Providers
- Readers' Choice Tax Software
- Readers' Choice Peer-to-Peer Payment Services
-
Quiz: Do You Know How to Avoid the "Medigap Trap?"Quiz Test your basic knowledge of the "Medigap Trap" in our quick quiz.
-
5 Top Tax-Efficient Mutual Funds for Smarter InvestingMutual funds are many things, but "tax-friendly" usually isn't one of them. These are the exceptions.
-
AI Sparks Existential Crisis for Software StocksThe Kiplinger Letter Fears that SaaS subscription software could be rendered obsolete by artificial intelligence make investors jittery.
-
One of the Most Powerful Wealth-Building Moves a Woman Can Make: A Midcareer PivotIf it feels like you can't sustain what you're doing for the next 20 years, it's time for an honest look at what's draining you and what energizes you.
-
I'm a Wealth Adviser Obsessed With Mahjong: Here Are 8 Ways It Can Teach Us How to Manage Our MoneyThis increasingly popular Chinese game can teach us not only how to help manage our money but also how important it is to connect with other people.
-
Looking for a Financial Book That Won't Put Your Young Adult to Sleep? This One Makes 'Cents'"Wealth Your Way" by Cosmo DeStefano offers a highly accessible guide for young adults and their parents on building wealth through simple, consistent habits.
-
My Spouse and I Are Saving Money for a Down Payment on a House. Which Savings Account is the Best Way to Reach Our Goal?Learn how timing matters when it comes to choosing the right account.
-
We're 78 and Want to Use Our 2026 RMD to Treat Our Kids and Grandkids to a Vacation. How Should We Approach This?An extended family vacation can be a fun and bonding experience if planned well. Here are tips from travel experts.
-
My First $1 Million: Retired From Real Estate, 75, San FranciscoEver wonder how someone who's made a million dollars or more did it? Kiplinger's My First $1 Million series uncovers the answers.
-
To Love, Honor and Make Financial Decisions as Equal PartnersEnsuring both partners are engaged in financial decisions isn't just about fairness — it's a risk-management strategy that protects against costly crises.
-
Top 5 Career Lessons From the 2026 Winter Olympics (So Far)Five lessons to learn from the 2026 Winter Olympics for your career and finances.
