If your emergency fund is parked at Bank of America, you may be earning next to nothing on it.
The bank's standard savings account has long paid an annual percentage yield of just 0.01%, according to deposit data tracked by Bankrate and other rate watchers.
On $10,000, that's about a dollar a year — not a typo.
Meanwhile, the same $10,000 sitting in a competitive online savings account could earn several hundred dollars annually at current rates.
Online banks like Ally, Marcus, and Synchrony have spent months advertising yields in the low-4% range, even after the Federal Reserve began trimming its benchmark rate.
The gap between the two is one of the widest in consumer banking.
Bank of America does offer higher-yield options, including promotional savings rates and its Preferred Rewards program.
But those tiers require minimum balances or relationship levels that many households don't hit.
For the average customer with a few thousand dollars saved, the everyday rate is the one that applies — and it's 0.01%.
Big banks don't need your savings dollars badly enough to pay for them.
They have millions of checking accounts, and checking deposits typically pay zero interest.
Your money is already there for convenience, so there's little incentive to compete on savings yields the way deposit-hungry online banks do.
Most online savings accounts open in about 10 minutes, require no minimum balance, and let you link your existing checking account for transfers.
Some people keep one month of expenses at the big bank for instant access and move the rest to a higher-yield account.
A few things to check before you move: monthly maintenance fees, transfer limits, and whether your new bank is FDIC insured.
Moving money out of a big bank can slow you down if you rely on instant transfers between accounts at the same institution.
And some online banks have limited ATM networks, though most reimburse fees or partner with national networks.
Anyone chasing a higher yield should also watch for promotional rates that expire.
A headline APY can drop after a few months, so read the fine print on how long the rate lasts.
If it sounds too high to be permanent, it probably isn't.
The bigger point: leaving cash in a low-yield account is a silent cost.
Inflation has cooled, but it hasn't vanished, and a 0.01% return does essentially nothing to offset it.
Even a modest move — say, shifting $5,000 — can mean the difference between earning pocket change and earning enough to cover a monthly bill or two.
Our take: loyalty to a big bank's brand rarely pays interest.
If your savings are earning less than 1%, it's worth an hour of your time to compare what's out there.
Final Thoughts
You don't have to close your checking account to stop earning pennies on your savings — you just have to move the money.