Bank of America customers are learning an uncomfortable lesson about loyalty.
The bank's flagship savings account still pays a national average of just 0.01% APY, according to the latest deposit data — a rate that has barely budged even as the Federal Reserve spent two years pushing benchmark rates to their highest level in decades.
That means $10,000 parked in a standard BofA savings account earns roughly $1 a year.
The same balance in a top-yielding online savings account at 4.00% or more would generate about $400.
The gap is not a rounding error — it is the price of staying put.
The math gets worse when inflation enters the picture.
With consumer prices still rising year over year, a 0.01% yield guarantees that money loses purchasing power every single month.
Depositors are effectively paying the bank for the privilege of storing their cash.
So why do millions of Americans keep their savings at Bank of America?
The bank operates roughly 3,700 branches and a massive ATM network, and its app is genuinely well-liked.
Customers value the ability to walk in and talk to a human.
But that access comes with a hidden cost that rarely appears on a statement.
The gap also reflects a structural reality on the bank's balance sheet.
BofA holds hundreds of billions in customer deposits, and paying even 1% across all of them would cost billions annually.
As long as enough customers leave their money alone, there is little competitive pressure to raise rates.
The bank does offer higher yields — but mostly through certificates of deposit or its Preferred Rewards program, which requires substantial combined balances to unlock anything meaningful.
Where BofA does compete is credit cards, where rewards and sign-up bonuses remain aggressive.
That creates an awkward split for households: the same bank that offers generous cash back on spending pays next to nothing on the money you save.
Customers who carry balances in both directions often come out behind without realizing it.
For anyone sitting on idle cash, the practical move is straightforward.
Compare yields before assuming loyalty pays.
High-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, and short-term Treasury bills are all easily accessible online, and moving money between institutions takes minutes rather than days.
Even splitting deposits — keeping a cushion at the big bank for convenience while shifting the rest to a higher-yield account — can capture most of the difference.
One caveat: promotional rates are not permanent.
Yields at online banks tend to track the Fed, so they can fall if policymakers cut rates.
That argues for treating higher yields as a variable benefit rather than a fixed feature, and for revisiting the decision periodically instead of setting it once.
Big-bank savings accounts are designed for customers who never compare.
Final Thoughts
A single afternoon of rate shopping can be worth hundreds of dollars a year — which, for most households, is the easiest money they will make all quarter.