Bank of America customers watching their savings accounts this month are seeing the same number they saw a year ago: 0.01%.
The nation's second-largest bank still pays a single basis point on its standard savings account, even after the Federal Reserve spent most of 2022 and 2023 pushing its benchmark rate above 5%.
The gap between what banks like BofA pay and what the Fed's rate allows has rarely been wider.
Online-only banks and money market funds are offering between 4% and 5% APY on federally insured accounts.
On a $10,000 balance, that difference works out to roughly $400 to $500 a year — money that quietly stays with the bank instead of landing in your pocket.
So why do so many people keep money parked in the low-yield account?
Branch access, a familiar app, and decades of direct deposits create inertia.
But the math gets harder to ignore as grocery bills, rent, and credit card APRs stay elevated.
That credit card detail matters more than most people realize.
The average BofA credit card APR runs above 20%, and many customers carry balances while also holding savings at 0.01%.
They are essentially paying the bank roughly 20% to borrow while the bank pays them almost nothing to save — a spread that works against the household, not for it.
The practical move many financial planners suggest is simple: keep the checking account if it serves your bill-pay and direct-deposit needs, but move the emergency fund somewhere it earns real interest.
High-yield savings accounts, certificates of deposit, and Treasury bills are all federally backed options worth comparing.
Transfers between linked accounts typically clear in a day or two.
BofA does offer higher yields on certain products, including some CDs and its Preferred Rewards tiers, but those rates often require larger balances or specific relationship levels.
A standard savings account holder with $5,000 rarely qualifies for the better tier without moving significant assets to the bank.
The bigger picture is that the Fed's rate decisions set the ceiling, not the floor.
When the central bank holds rates steady, banks with cheap deposit bases have little incentive to raise savings yields.
Competition from online banks does the pushing, and that pressure has not been enough to move the biggest institutions far.
For households still absorbing higher prices at the grocery store and higher rent renewals, the interest left on the table is real money.
It will not fix a budget on its own, but it is one of the few levers most people can pull without changing jobs or cutting spending. **Our take:** Loyalty to a big bank is rarely rewarded with a competitive savings rate, and staying put while carrying credit card debt is the costliest version of that habit.
It takes about fifteen minutes to open a higher-yield account and link it to your existing checking.
Final Thoughts
That is a better return on your time than almost anything else in personal finance right now.