Bank of America is the second-largest bank in the country, with roughly 35 million consumer checking accounts.
Its flagship savings account, Advantage Savings, currently pays a standard annual percentage yield of just 0.01%.
Put $10,000 in that account for a year and you'll earn about $1.
Federal regulators have spent the past two years reminding Americans that this is a choice the bank makes, not a rule it must follow.
There's no law requiring a giant bank to pay you almost nothing while it lends your money out at 6% or more.
Meanwhile, plenty of online banks and even some regional institutions are paying north of 4% on plain savings accounts with no minimums and no monthly fees.
The gap between those two numbers is the entire story.
On $10,000, the difference between 0.01% and 4.25% is roughly $424 a year.
So why do millions of people leave money sitting there?
Switching banks feels like a hassle, automatic payments are already linked, and the branch down the street is convenient.
Bank of America also waives its $8 monthly maintenance fee if you meet certain conditions, like keeping a $500 minimum balance or being a Preferred Rewards client.
That fee structure nudges people to keep money parked in a low-yield account just to avoid a charge.
Bank of America does offer higher rates through its Preferred Rewards program, but the top tier requires a combined balance of $100,000 or more across BofA and Merrill accounts.
The bump for that loyalty is usually a few tenths of a percentage point at best, still far below what an online savings account pays with zero strings attached.
The bank isn't doing anything illegal, and for some customers the convenience genuinely matters more than the yield.
But the marketing around "rewards" and "preferred" tiers can obscure a simple fact: deposits are cheap funding for banks, and the cheapest deposits are the ones customers forget about.
If you're not sure what your savings account pays, look it up today.
It takes two minutes in the app, and the number is probably printed right next to your balance.
Then compare it to a few nationally available online savings accounts, keeping in mind that federal deposit insurance covers you up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, either way.
The practical move for many households is to keep checking where it is, since switching direct deposits is a pain, and move the emergency fund to an account that actually pays something.
Even a 3% difference on $5,000 is $150 a year for doing almost nothing.
Our take: this isn't a scandal so much as a business model, and it works precisely because most people never check.
Final Thoughts
The bank is betting on your apathy, and it's a safe bet.