Bank of America's flagship savings account currently pays around 0.01% APY, a figure that has barely budged even as the Federal Reserve spent two years holding rates at multi-decade highs.
On a $10,000 balance, that works out to about a dollar a year.
Meanwhile, a plain vanilla high-yield savings account at an online bank has been paying in the 4% to 5% range for much of that same stretch.
It's the difference between buying a sandwich once a year and buying a few hundred dollars' worth of groceries.
And it's sitting in plain sight on millions of statements that customers never read closely.
Here's the part that trips people up: the 0.01% applies to the standard savings account, but Bank of America does offer higher yields through its Preferred Rewards program.
The catch is that the better rates are tiered, and the top tiers require combined balances — checking, savings, and investments — of $100,000 or more.
Below that, you're looking at rates that still fall well short of what's available elsewhere.
In other words, the bank rewards people who already have money parked with it, and quietly pays almost nothing to everyone else.
That's not illegal, and it's not unique to Bank of America.
Most big national banks run some version of this playbook.
The economics are simple: branches, tellers, and marketing cost money, and deposits that customers don't move are the cheapest funding a bank can get.
Switching savings accounts takes maybe 20 minutes online, but it requires noticing there's a problem first.
Many customers opened their account years ago, set up direct deposit, and never revisited the rate because it wasn't the reason they picked the bank.
They wanted the ATM network, the app, or the branch down the street.
Those things have real value — just not $400-a-year value on a modest balance.
Some of the highest advertised savings rates come from online-only banks with no branches, thinner customer service, and, in a few cases, promotional rates that quietly drop after a few months.
A 4.5% teaser that resets to 1% in six months isn't the same as a steady 4%.
Read the fine print on whether the rate is variable, how often it changes, and whether there's a minimum balance to earn it.
If you want to keep your checking account where it is — and plenty of people do, because moving automatic payments is a headache — you don't have to move everything.
You can leave enough in checking to cover bills and shift the rest of your savings to an account that actually pays.
Just watch for monthly maintenance fees and minimum balance requirements at both ends, since those can eat the gains.
One more thing worth checking: whether your bank automatically sweeps idle cash into a higher-yield option, or whether it counts on you not asking.
A quick phone call or a look at your online account settings often reveals options that were never mentioned at signup.
The honest takeaway is that loyalty to a big bank's savings account is usually a one-sided deal.
Banks are businesses, and they price deposits based on what customers will tolerate.
The 0.01% rate isn't a secret — it's a bet that you won't bother to look.
Final Thoughts
Checking your statement once a year and comparing it to what's out there costs nothing and occasionally pays surprisingly well.