Bank of America customers are earning 0.01% on their savings accounts right now.
That is not a typo, and it is not a temporary glitch.
It is the standard rate on the bank's flagship savings product, and it has sat there through the entire stretch of elevated interest rates that followed the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has been paying banks roughly 4.3% on reserves parked at the central bank.
When you deposit money at a big bank, that bank can earn over 4% risk-free on your cash.
Whether any of that gets passed to you is a choice, not a rule.
At 0.01%, you earn about a dollar a year.
In a high-yield savings account paying 4%, the same balance earns roughly $400.
It is a car payment, a month of groceries, or a chunk of a credit card balance.
The catch is that many people never switch.
Big banks make it easy to stay: the app is on your phone, the branch is on your corner, and the transfer feels like a hassle.
Loyalty is comfortable, and comfort is exactly what the 0.01% rate is counting on.
This is not a Bank of America-only issue.
Chase, Wells Fargo, and most traditional branch banks run the same playbook.
The pattern is old: pay almost nothing on deposits, then lend that money out at much higher rates or park it at the Fed.
Customers who never move their cash quietly subsidize the whole operation.
The extra sting right now is credit cards.
If you carry a balance at a big bank while your savings sit at 0.01%, you are on both ends of the same bad trade.
You might be paying 20% or more in interest while your own deposits earn almost nothing.
Check the rate on your savings account today, not next month.
If it starts with 0.0, you have your answer.
Online banks and some credit unions have kept yields near 4% or higher, and moving money between banks takes minutes, not days, once both accounts are linked.
Keep your checking account where it is if the branches and ATMs matter to you, and move only the savings balance.
Watch for minimum balance requirements and monthly fees at the new account.
Confirm the rate is not a promotional teaser that drops after a few months.
And keep an emergency fund liquid either way.
One more thing worth knowing: high-yield rates are not locked in forever.
They track the Fed, and they will slide if the Fed cuts.
It just means the window to earn something meaningful on idle cash may not stay open indefinitely.
The uncomfortable truth is that the 0.01% rate exists because enough customers accept it.
Banks are not required to pay you a fair share of what they earn on your money.
So the real question is not what Bank of America pays.
Moving a savings balance is one of the few financial moves that takes twenty minutes and pays you every single month after.
Final Thoughts
Most people never do it, which is precisely why the rate stays where it is.