Not because of this one thing, every bank offers some return on holding cash. Most are ridiculously low. Personally I like to think of it as, the US govt guar

Not because of this one thing, every bank offers some return on holding cash. Most are ridiculously low. Personally I like to think of it as, the US govt guarantees a return on overnight cash based on the Federal funds rate. Banks and other people that hold cash will give you that rate minus some fee(s) for the hassle of keeping up with your cash for you. Most banks have a very hefty fee, but not all banks. As of this writing: The Federal Reserve will pay 2.56% for cash deposited with them. Bank Of America pays 0.01%, for a fee of 2.55%/yr. Ally bank pays 2.25% for their savings account for a cost of .31%/yr If you are willing to hold cash in an ETF, ICSH will hold cash for a 0.08%/yr fee. For the record, I'm not against Bank Of America, I have an account with them, but I don't hold much, if any, cash with them for any length of time, because I know they charge a lot for that service.