Bank of America

Your deposits are safe up to $250,000

If your money is in a Bank of America checking or savings account, the question that matters is whether you are under the FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary limit. Up to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category, you are covered by the US government regardless of what happens to the bank. Above that, you are relying on Bank of America itself, and here the picture is solid but less comfortable than at JPMorgan Chase. We score it 75/100.

A thin cushion over the minimum

Bank of America's standardized CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary was 11.2% at 30 June 2026. Its minimum is 10.0%, made of the 4.5% base, a 3.0% surcharge for being a global systemically important bankG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary and a 2.5% stress capital buffer. A 1.2-point margin is legal and normal for the bank's recent history. It is still about half of JPMorgan's margin, and the bank has chosen to return capital to shareholders rather than build a larger buffer.

The operating bank's ratings are strong:

	Moody's	S&P	Fitch
Bank of America, N.A.	Aa2	A+	AA
Bank of America Corporation	A1	A-	AA-

The Financial Stability Board moved Bank of America up to bucket 3 of its G-SIB list in November 2025, alongside Citigroup and HSBC. A higher bucket means a higher capital surcharge from 2027, not more risk to depositors.

The bond problem from 2021

Like many US banks, Bank of America put a large share of the deposit inflow of 2020–21 into long-dated mortgage bonds and Treasuries at low interest rates. When rates rose, their market value fell. At 30 June 2026, its held-to-maturity securities had a book value of $505.8 billion and a fair value of $423.7 billion, an unrealised loss of about $82 billion.

This is the same kind of exposure that sank Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. The difference is scale and funding. Bank of America has $2.03 trillion of deposits, many from ordinary households in small amounts. Its liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary averaged 112% in the second quarter of 2026, with $684 billion of high-quality liquid assets. It can hold the bonds until they mature, so the loss shrinks over time. We still mark liquidity down for it.

Crisis history

Bank of America is one of the banks that did need help in 2008. It bought Countrywide, the largest US subprime mortgage lender, in 2008 and Merrill Lynch at the start of 2009. It took $45 billion of TARP capital in total and a federal guarantee on about $118 billion of assets. It repaid the TARP money in December 2009, but the Countrywide mortgage book cost it tens of billions in legal settlements over the following years.

Fines and orders since 2016

Year	Regulator	Amount	Issue
2022	CFPB and OCC	$225 million	Freezing prepaid cards used for state unemployment benefits during the pandemic
2023	CFPB and OCC	$150 million in penalties, plus over $100 million to customers	Double-charging $35 fees, withholding card rewards, opening card accounts without consent
2024	OCC	No penalty yet	Consent order on anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary and sanctions controls

The bank says in its June 2026 quarterly filing that it has completed "significant steps" under the 2024 order, but that resolving it and related inquiries "may include the payment of monetary penalties". In December 2024 the CFPB also sued it, with JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, over fraud on Zelle. That case was dropped in March 2025.

Outages and account security

On 2 October 2024 a technical fault showed some customers zero or wrong balances in the app and online banking for several hours. No money was lost, but it is the kind of event that sets off panic. Separately, a 2023 cyberattack on Infosys McCamish, a vendor, exposed names, addresses and Social Security numbers of about 57,000 Bank of America customers.

On the protection side, the app offers SafePass two-factorTwo-factor authenticationSigning in with a second proof of identity on top of your password, such as a code from an app, a security key or a passkey.More in the glossary approval, card locks and alerts for transfers and logins, and the virtual assistant Erica can flag unusual charges.

How to stay protected

1. Add up all your balances at Bank of America, N.A. by ownership category: single, joint, retirement and trust accounts are insured separately.
2. Keep each category at or under $250,000. If you have more, open an account at a different bank, not a different branch.
3. Turn on SafePass and alerts for every outgoing transfer. Zelle payments you authorise yourself are hard to reverse, even if you were tricked.
4. If you see a wrong balance during an outage, do not move money in a hurry. Check the bank's official status channel first.

How we scored it

Deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (91) and capital ratings carry the score. Conduct (58) is the weakest factor, reflecting repeated consumer-protection penalties and the open anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary order, closely followed by stability history (60) because of the 2008–09 rescue. Compare Citibank, which also needed state support in 2008.