(Image credit: Future)
For the fourth year, we’re pleased to present the winners of our annual Readers’ Choice Awards. In a survey we conducted on Kiplinger.com in January and February, more than 4,200 readers rated the financial products and services they use in 13 categories, from credit cards and banks to brokers, wealth managers and annuity providers. The results here offer valuable insight into the everyday experiences that Kiplinger readers have with their financial providers.
Respondents made their judgments on such criteria as their interactions with customer service, the likelihood they would recommend the product or service to others, and their overall satisfaction with it. They also had the option to leave comments about their providers, and we have shared some of them here (remarks may be lightly edited for length and clarity).
For each category, we’ve listed an overall winner that earned the highest total score as well as other providers that earned above-average ratings for the various criteria that readers assessed. Our thanks to all of you who participated in the survey.
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Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards: Peer-to-Peer Payment Services
Peer-to-peer payment services make it easy to send and receive money among friends and family members from your smartphone. We asked readers to weigh in on their preferred payment app, based on ease of use, the likelihood they would recommend it to others and their overall satisfaction with the service.
OVERALL WINNER: Cash App
Outstanding for:
- Ease of use
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Cash App unseated the reigning peer-to-peer champion, Apple Cash, this year, receiving outstanding scores across all criteria we asked about. Survey respondents were satisfied with how simple the app is to use as well as the “quick and easy payments.”
Most peer transfers are free, but you’ll pay a 3% fee if you use a credit card as the payment source. When you move money from your Cash App balance to your external bank account, standard transfers of one to three business days are free; you’ll pay a fee of up to 2.5% for an instant transfer.
Cash App also offers financial services such as direct deposit of your paycheck to your account, a high-yield savings option and a debit card tied to your Cash App balance.
Zelle
Outstanding for:
- Ease of use
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Kiplinger readers overwhelmingly praised Zelle for its convenience. Built into the apps of many major banks, Zelle is easy to access without downloading a separate app. Survey respondents also appreciated that there aren’t fees for sending or receiving money, which arrives directly in the recipient’s bank account within minutes.
Apple Cash
Outstanding for:
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
Apple Cash was a three-time overall winner in past years, and it still earned high scores from our readers this year. “Easy, secure,” says one reader. “Love that it links to a bank account and that I can use it to pay at stores.”
Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards Categories
How Readers Chose the Winners
Kiplinger readers were invited to take the Readers’ Choice Awards survey on Kiplinger.com between January 22 and February 19, 2026. The survey asked respondents to choose the financial product or service that they most frequently use in 13 categories: brokerage firms, wealth managers, IRA providers, cash-back credit cards, travel rewards credit cards, airline credit card rewards programs, national banks, internet banks, annuity providers, homeowners insurers, auto insurers, tax software Kiplinger readers were invited to take the Readers’ Choice Awards survey on Kiplinger.com between January 22 and February 19, 2026. The survey asked respondents to choose the financial product or service that they most frequently use in 13 categories: brokerage firms, wealth managers, IRA providers, cash-back credit cards, travel rewards credit cards, airline credit card rewards programs, national banks, internet banks, annuity providers, homeowners insurers, auto insurers, tax software and peer-to-peer payment services.
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 and retirement-planning services. For IRA providers, respondents assessed the mix of investment choices available to them. For peer-to-peer payment apps and tax software, respondents evaluated ease of use, and for auto and home 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 the three highest-scoring providers that had a score above the overall mean won an “outstanding” accolade; in cases of a tie, more than three providers are named, and if fewer than three qualifying providers achieved an above-average score, only those providers are named “outstanding.” 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 overall winner.
