Bank of America customers are earning a fraction of a penny on their savings.
The Charlotte-based giant still pays roughly 0.01% on its standard savings accounts, a rate that has barely budged through three years of Federal Reserve hikes.
Meanwhile, a wave of online banks and money market funds are paying north of 4%.
On a $10,000 balance, that gap is the difference between about $1 a year and $400 a year.
The math gets uglier once inflation enters the room.
Consumer prices are still climbing faster than the Fed's 2% target, so idle cash in a low-yield account is losing purchasing power every month.
Why the gap exists comes down to business models.
Big banks with thousands of branches and millions of legacy customers don't have to compete hard for deposits — they already have them.
Online banks with no branch overhead compete almost entirely on rate.
Switching savings accounts takes maybe 15 minutes, but surveys consistently show most people never bother.
The Federal Reserve's rate path matters here too.
When the central bank raised rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023, online savings rates followed quickly.
When the Fed eventually cuts, online rates are expected to fall faster — which makes today's spread unusually wide.
If you're parked at a big bank, here's the practical checklist.
First, check your current APY — it's usually buried in your statement or app.
Second, compare against a short list of FDIC-insured online savings accounts and high-yield options.
Third, decide how much you actually need instant access to.
Money you won't touch for six months could sit in a Treasury bill or a money market fund.
Either way, the goal is the same: stop letting your cash earn less than a checking account from 2009.
Promotional rates expire, so read the fine print on any "teaser" APY.
Some high-yield accounts require minimum balances or direct deposit.
And moving money between banks can take a few business days, so don't drain an account you rely on for bill pay.
Credit card rates are a separate problem.
If you're carrying a balance at 20%-plus APR while earning 0.01% on savings, the interest you're paying dwarfs anything a better savings rate can fix.
Paying down that debt is almost always the higher-return move.
For households squeezed by grocery bills and rent, the savings account is often the last place anyone looks.
But it's one of the few places where a small, boring decision can quietly add hundreds of dollars a year.
Our take: loyalty to a big bank's savings account is one of the most expensive habits in personal finance, and it rarely gets labeled as one.
Moving your emergency fund to an FDIC-insured account paying 4%-plus is low-risk, takes an afternoon, and beats most budgeting tricks.
Final Thoughts
Just keep enough at your main bank to cover bills and skip the teaser-rate traps.