Bank of America customers holding cash in a standard savings account are earning 0.01% APY, a rate that has barely budged even after years of Federal Reserve tightening.
On a $10,000 balance, that works out to about one dollar per year.
Meanwhile, the same bank's top-tier CDs and some rival online accounts are paying 20 to 400 times more.
Big banks with millions of checking customers don't have to compete for deposits the way online-only banks do.
Customers tend to park money where their direct deposit lands and rarely move it, so there's little pressure to raise rates on legacy savings products.
What makes this sting more is the broader rate environment.
The Fed's benchmark rate remains well above where it sat for most of the 2010s, and that cost gets passed through to borrowers fast.
Credit card APRs are still hovering near record highs, auto loans are expensive, and mortgage rates have stayed stubborn.
Savers at the same institution are getting almost nothing back.
Grocery bills are where the squeeze becomes visible.
Even with inflation cooling from its 2022 peak, food prices are roughly 20% higher than they were four years ago.
A household earning the same salary as in 2020 is covering more with less, which means the extra dollar a savings account could generate actually matters now.
The practical fix is simple, if slightly annoying: open a high-yield savings account at an online bank or a brokerage sweep account, keep the Bank of America checking account for bills and ATM access, and move the emergency fund elsewhere.
Transfers typically take one to two business days.
There is no rule requiring savings and checking to live under the same roof.
Watch the fine print on CD ladders and promotional rates, though.
Some headline APYs apply only to new money, expire after a few months, or require a minimum balance you can't touch without a penalty.
A 5% promotional rate for three months is not the same as 5% for a year, and the difference can wipe out the advantage.
For anyone carrying credit card debt, the math flips entirely.
Paying down a balance at 22% APR is a guaranteed return that no savings account can match.
Draining a HYSA to clear high-interest debt usually makes more sense than earning 4% while paying 22%, unless the savings is a true emergency buffer.
The broader takeaway is that loyalty to a big bank's savings product is expensive in a way it wasn't a decade ago.
Rate shopping takes an afternoon and can be worth hundreds of dollars a year for a typical household.
Banks count on inertia; the antidote is a five-minute transfer.
Our view: leaving serious cash in a 0.01% account is a choice, not a fate, and it's one of the few money decisions Americans can still control outright.
Final Thoughts
The Fed doesn't set your savings rate — your bank does, and so does your willingness to move.