Bank of America customers are earning 0.01% on their standard savings accounts, according to the bank's published rate disclosures.
That works out to a single penny per $100 saved over a full year.
Meanwhile, a wave of online banks and money market funds have been paying roughly 4% or more, depending on the account and the day.
The gap has become a recurring talking point among personal finance writers, and it's easy to see why.
On a $10,000 balance, the difference between 0.01% and 4% is about $400 a year.
That's a car payment, a chunk of a mortgage, or a decent emergency fund buffer.
Convenience, inertia, and the fact that switching feels like a hassle.
Bank of America has thousands of branches, a polished app, and decades of brand recognition.
Customers often keep money there because their checking account, direct deposit, and bill pay all live in the same place.
Moving savings elsewhere means one more login, one more tax form, and one more thing to monitor.
There's also a structural reason big banks can get away with low rates.
They don't need your savings deposits the way they did before the 2008 financial crisis.
Deposit levels have been relatively flush, and when the Federal Reserve raised rates in 2022 and 2023, many large banks were slow to pass those increases along to savers.
Online-only banks, which compete for deposits nationally, had to move faster.
If you bank at a big traditional institution and never check your rate, you're likely subsidizing someone else's higher yield.
If you're willing to open an account at an online bank or a brokerage sweep account, you can capture most of what the Fed is offering — minus the branch, the teller, and the branded pen.
That said, chasing the highest advertised rate has its own traps.
Some promotional rates are teaser offers that drop after a few months.
Some accounts require direct deposit, minimum balances, or a certain number of debit card transactions to qualify.
Others are offered by fintech apps that partner with a bank you've never heard of, which raises questions about FDIC insurance pass-through and customer service.
Interest income is taxed as ordinary income, so a 4% yield in a 24% federal bracket is really about 3% after federal tax, before any state tax.
That's still far better than 0.01%, but it's worth remembering that the headline number isn't what lands in your pocket.
The bigger risk isn't picking the wrong high-yield account.
Inflation has cooled from its 2022 peak, but grocery bills, rent, and insurance premiums are still noticeably higher than they were four years ago.
Money sitting at 0.01% is losing purchasing power in real terms, slowly and quietly.
If you're a Bank of America customer, the practical move isn't necessarily to close everything and switch banks.
It's to check what your savings is actually earning, compare it to a few FDIC-insured alternatives, and decide whether the convenience is worth several hundred dollars a year.
For a lot of households, it isn't. **The takeaway:** Big banks aren't villains for paying low rates — they're businesses responding to their own incentives, and customers are free to respond to theirs.
The real question is whether you've ever looked at the number.
Final Thoughts
Most people haven't, and that's exactly how the arrangement keeps working.