Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards: Internet Banks

Readers' Choice Awards 2023 Internet Banks banner

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last updated 31 May 2023

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.

Our Awards recognize excellence in everything from credit cards, banks and brokers to insurers, tax software and financial apps. More than 2,600 readers responded to our survey, and we’re sharing the results here. 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

Most of these banks forgo branch networks. But because they have smaller overhead costs, they typically offer higher yields and lower fees than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. 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:

Customer service
Most recommended
Overall satisfaction

The online banking division of investment firm Charles Schwab won over our readers, receiving exceptionally high scores all around. The Schwab Bank Investor Checking account charges no monthly fee, provides free checks and has some attractive perks for travelers, including unlimited reimbursement of out-of-network ATM fees worldwide and no foreign transaction fees. Plus, the account yields 0.45%. You must have a Schwab One brokerage account to use Investor Checking, but it has no minimum balance requirement.

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.

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. They were pleased with the bank’s U.S.-based representatives and praised its customer service. “A live person is always available in a very short period of time, and that live person is always knowledgeable,” says one respondent.

Recently, Discover was not accepting new applications for its Cashback Debit checking account, but you could sign up on its website to be notified by e-mail when the account is open to applications again. Discover’s savings account, which charges no monthly fee, recently yielded 3.75%, and the no-fee money market account yielded 3.65% for balances of less than $100,000 or 3.7% for balances of $100,000 or more. CD rates include 4.75% for an 18-month maturity ($2,500 minimum deposit).

Ally Bank

Outstanding for:

Customer service
Overall satisfaction

Readers who have accounts with Ally Bank commended it for offering high interest rates and minimal fees. Its free checking account yields as much as 0.25%, depending on the balance. The no-fee savings account recently yielded 3.75%, and the free money market account offered a 4% rate. Ally’s CDs come in a few flavors, including high-yield CDs — recently, you could earn 4.8% with an 18-month maturity— and the no-penalty CD, which charges no early-withdrawal penalty and recently yielded 4.25% for an 11-month term.

Capital One

Outstanding for:

Customer service
Overall satisfaction

Although Capital One maintains a few hundred branches, it has shifted emphasis to its online menu of deposit accounts. Some readers commented on the high interest rates the bank offers for savings accounts and CDs. The free 360 Performance Savings account recently yielded 3.75%, and its no-minimum CDs yielded as much as 4.3% for maturities of 24, 30 or 36 months. The 360 Checking account charges no monthly fee and yields 0.1%.

Kiplinger Readers' Choice Awards Categories

Lisa has been the editor of Kiplinger Personal Finance since June 2023. Previously, she spent more than a decade reporting and writing for the magazine on a variety of topics, including credit, banking and retirement. She has shared her expertise as a guest on the Today Show, CNN, Fox, NPR, Cheddar and many other media outlets around the nation. Lisa graduated from Ball State University and received the school’s “Graduate of the Last Decade” award in 2014. A military spouse, she has moved around the U.S. and currently lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and two sons.