Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the country, is currently paying 0.01% on its standard savings account.
That's not a typo, and it's not a rounding error.
One cent for every $100 you park there for a full year.
Meanwhile, online banks like Ally, Marcus, and Synchrony are paying somewhere in the 4% range on the same money.
On a $10,000 balance, that's the difference between roughly $1 and $400 annually.
Same dollars, same federal insurance, wildly different outcomes.
Because the switching cost isn't the interest rate — it's the friction.
Your mortgage, your Zelle contacts, that one recurring Venmo split with your roommate.
Moving money feels like defusing a bomb, so most people don't.
Big banks have built their entire consumer model around inertia.
Branches, apps, brand trust, and the mild anxiety of change are all doing the same job: keeping deposits in accounts that pay almost nothing while the bank lends that money out at 6% or 7%.
Bank of America does have higher-yield options, but they're gated.
You typically need to be a Preferred Rewards member, which means maintaining combined balances of $20,000, $50,000, or $100,000 across checking, savings, and investments.
Translation: the better rate is a loyalty perk for people who already have money, not a baseline for everyone else.
If you're wondering who benefits from the status quo, it's not the person with $3,000 in a savings account earning 30 cents a month.
It's the bank's net interest income line, which is one of the most closely watched numbers on its quarterly earnings call.
That said, the easy advice — "just switch to a high-yield savings account" — deserves some skepticism too.
They float with the Fed, and if the Fed cuts, your 4% can become 3% or lower within weeks.
Some online banks also have clunky transfer timelines, limited ATM access, and customer service that's a chat window and a prayer.
A more realistic move for a lot of people: don't switch everything.
Keep your checking account where your bills live, open a high-yield savings account somewhere else, and set up an automatic transfer for the portion of your cash you don't need this month.
You keep the convenience and stop donating your interest to a bank that doesn't need it.
Also check the fine print on fees before you move anything.
Some accounts quietly charge monthly maintenance fees unless you hit a balance threshold or set up direct deposit.
A 4% yield means nothing if you're paying $12 a month to hold the account.
And watch for the classic bait: promotional rates that only apply for the first few months, then quietly drop.
Read what the rate becomes after the intro period, not just what's advertised on the homepage.
The honest takeaway is that Bank of America's 0.01% isn't a scandal — it's a business decision, and it works precisely because most customers won't act.
Final Thoughts
Your job is to notice that the gap between 0.01% and 4% is real money, and the only thing standing between you and it is about 20 minutes of setup.