Bank of America customers are earning 0.01% APY on their standard savings accounts.
That is not a typo, and it is not a rounding error buried in a footnote.
On a $10,000 balance, that works out to about one dollar a year in interest, which is less than most people spend on a single coffee.
It simply does not advertise it next to the mortgage rates and credit card offers that fill its branches.
Meanwhile, the same institution is paying far more on certificates of deposit and money market accounts, and online banks are paying many times more on plain savings.
A competitive online savings account paying roughly 4% APY would generate about $400 a year on that same $10,000.
The gap between the two accounts is real money, enough to cover a month of groceries for a family of four in many parts of the country.
So why do millions of Americans leave their cash parked at 0.01%?
The account was opened years ago, often as a teenager, and direct deposit and automatic bill pay keep it sticky.
Switching feels like a hassle, and for a long time it was, before online account opening became standard.
Big banks sell safety, branch access, and a familiar app.
Customers assume a better rate must come with some hidden catch.
In reality, online banks are FDIC-insured too, and the federal insurance limit of $250,000 per depositor per institution applies the same way.
The Federal Reserve's rate decisions matter here.
When the central bank held rates high, the gap between big-bank savings and online accounts widened dramatically.
As the Fed eventually cuts, those online yields will drift lower too, but they have historically stayed well above the 0.01% floor that major banks treat as permanent.
Here is what a practical switch looks like.
Keep the Bank of America checking account if the branches and ATM network matter to you.
Move only the savings balance, the emergency fund, the sinking fund for a car repair, the money that is supposed to be growing.
Leave enough in checking to cover bills, and let the rest actually earn something.
A few things to check before opening a new account.
Confirm there is no monthly maintenance fee, no minimum balance requirement, and no cap on the number of withdrawals.
Read the fine print on promotional rates, which often expire after a few months and quietly drop.
Moving money between banks can take one to three business days, so do not drain an account you need for an automatic payment this week.
Set up the new account first, link it, test a small transfer, then move the bulk.
The real takeaway is that loyalty to a savings account is not loyalty at all.
Banks price deposits based on what they think customers will tolerate, and decades of inertia have taught them that most people will not check.
Checking takes ten minutes and can be worth several hundred dollars a year.
None of this is a promise about future yields, and rates will move with the broader economy.
But the spread between the worst savings accounts and the best ones is wide enough right now that ignoring it is a choice with a price tag.
Our take: the 0.01% savings account is one of the most expensive defaults in personal finance, precisely because it feels free.
Final Thoughts
If your emergency fund is sitting at a major bank earning pennies, moving it is one of the few financial moves that costs nothing and pays immediately.