Bank of America customers checking their savings statements this month are seeing the same thing they've seen for years: an annual percentage yield stuck near 0.01%.
On a $10,000 balance, that works out to roughly one dollar of interest over a full year.
The gap between what big banks pay and what online banks pay has rarely been this wide.
While the Fed's benchmark rate has hovered in the 4%-plus range for much of the past two years, many of the largest U.S. banks kept their standard savings yields essentially flat.
Bank of America's headline savings rate sits at the bottom of that pack.
The math is brutal for anyone keeping real money parked there.
A $25,000 emergency fund earning 0.01% generates about $2.50 annually.
The same balance in a high-yield savings account paying around 4% would produce roughly $1,000 — before any rate changes.
It's a used car payment, a chunk of a mortgage payment, or a year of groceries for some households.
Bank of America's savings accounts are bundled with checking, debit cards, and branch access, and moving money feels like a hassle.
Customers also worry about transfer times, minimum balance rules, or losing a long-standing banking relationship.
Those concerns are real, but they rarely outweigh a four-percentage-point gap.
There's a catch worth flagging: high-yield accounts aren't all equal.
Some are offered by online-only banks with no branches, thinner customer service, or promotional rates that drop after a few months.
A few fintech apps advertise headline yields but park deposits at partner banks with their own fine print.
Before moving cash, confirm the account is FDIC-insured through the institution itself, check whether the rate is variable, and read the minimum balance requirements.
For Bank of America customers who want to stay put, there are partial workarounds.
Some Preferred Rewards tiers improve rates slightly, and certificates of deposit can lock in better yields — though the money becomes less accessible.
Neither option closes the gap with top online accounts.
When the Fed eventually cuts rates, online banks will likely trim their yields too, but they'll still sit well above 0.01%.
The floor for big-bank savings is essentially zero, which means depositors there have more downside exposure and almost no upside.
A practical move for many households: keep one to two months of expenses in the big-bank account for bills and ATM access, then shift the rest of the emergency fund to an FDIC-insured high-yield account.
Set up the transfer once, then leave it alone.
One caveat: rates change constantly, and no yield is guaranteed to last.
What's guaranteed is that money sitting at 0.01% will keep earning almost nothing, month after month, while inflation quietly eats its purchasing power.
The takeaway is uncomfortable but simple.
Loyalty to a big bank's savings account is expensive, and most customers never see the bill because it arrives as money they didn't earn.
Checking the rate on your statement takes two minutes.
Final Thoughts
That's a reasonable trade for a thousand dollars a year.