Advertisers amuse me. Sometimes their claims are so ridiculous that you know they’re just hoping some less-knowledgeable people believe their claims because they heard it on television.

Take the Royal Bank, for example. They’re offering what they call the RBC High Interest eSavings account. Everyone likes high interest, and eSavings sounds all modern and fancy! Except of course, there’s nothing to it. Today, they’re offering 0.75% interest. It’s good rate when you look at the typical bank savings account, but it comes up lacking when you compare it to ING Direct’s 1.05% and Ally’s 2%.

Particularly amusing is the Royal Bank’s Enhanced Savings account. I gather that this was their highest interest account before the eSavings account was introduced. With the enhanced savings, you get no interest if you have less than $5000 in the account. Pass this threshold and you are showered with 0.020% interest! To seize the brass ring and earn the highest possible interest, you’ve got to have at least $250,000 in the account, at which point you’ll be on easy-street earning 0.20%. That’s a measly $500 a year return, ignoring compounding.

Laughable.