With so many bank accounts paying “bupkis” (almost nothing) according to comedian Jerry Stiller in Capital One commercials, this bank’s ad looked really promising.  They pay an enticing  3.01% interest on checking, and charge no fees at any ATM in the country.

What’s the catch?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Ah, if there were only one catch… but there are many buried in that ureadable footnote that appears to be printed in four point type.

– There is a limit of $25,000, higher amounts earn only 0.25%
– If you don’t follow all the rules/requirements, your rate drops to 0.25%
– You must make at 12 debit card transactions per month, not including ATM
– You must have direct deposit or have a recurring ACH transaction
– You must get your statement electronically
– You must access online banking at least once per month
– If you don’t follow the rules, you will not be reimbursed for ATM fees

All these requirements are likely to trip up all but the most diligent consumer, and will result in an account that really pays “bupkis”.

Accounts like this are called rewards checking, and can be found at various banks around the country. Because the nature of these accounts is so different from the traditional checking accounts we are all used to, banks need to more clearly disclose the unique requirements in order to actually receive the high rate of interest advertised.

Capital One Bank has just begun a major national advertising campaign on TV with comic Jerry Stiller and in full page newspaper ads touting its high interest savings rate compared to “bupkus” [nothing] paid by competitors.

In addition to paying 1.35% interest, you also get a 10% quarterly bonus on the amount of interest earned in the previous quarter.

If you click the above ad, you will see unreadable mouse print under the bank’s name. Even looking at the original ad, the text is almost unreadable because of its size, faint color and weight of the font, and the fact that it is printed on a striped background doesn’t help either.

What does the fine print say?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Besides requiring a $1000 minimum balance to get the advertised interest rate, it also imposes some unexpected conditions in order to receive the advertised bonus interest:

“To receive the bonus, your account must be open and you either must maintain an average balance of $10,000 each month in your account or own an active Capital One credit card in good standing with at least one transaction per calendar month.”

This is a pretty significant requirement to bury — that you need $10,000+ to earn the bonus interest. And it is not like they didn’t have enough space in this full page ad to disclose it upfront clearly.

So, how much will MrConsumer deposit at Capital One because of this deception? Bupkis.

Unless you have been asleep for the past month or two, you probably have seen the bright red Toyota commercial touting their commitment to safety:

It says:

“At Toyota, we care about your safety. That’s why we’re investing a million dollars every hour to improve our technology and your safety. It’s an investment that has helped Toyota win multiple top safety pick awards for 2010 by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. No other brand has won more. These top safety picks and all our new safety innovations are available at Toyota.com/safety . “

The average TV watcher will likely take away the message that Toyota cares about safety, has won a lot of safety awards, and is spending a million dollars an hour to improve safety.

Mouse Print* asked the company how they arrived at the million dollars an hour figure.

*MOUSE PRINT:

“The $1 million figure represents Toyota’s total global spending on R&D to enhance the safety and technology of its vehicles. [Toyota] projects $760 billion yen [to be spent in FY2011] on R&D. Breaking down the calculations, 90 yen to the dollar equals $8.44 billion, which works out to $2,318,310 per day or $965,962 an hour, rounded to $1 million an hour. In any event, any fluctuations in the yen would impact the exact final figure.”

The key issue is not so much that they rounded up the figure to a million dollars an hour (exaggerating the amount spent by almost $30 million a year) but rather that the number is TOTAL spending on research and development, not just on safety issues. The company could not provide a number for the actual amount just spent on safety, but it certainly is less than the total spent on R&D, and therefore is not $1 million dollars an hour.

When this discrepancy and interpretation of the commercial was pointed out to Toyota, they responded:

“As the commercials mention, the $1 million figure represents Toyota’s R&D spending on new technology and safety, much of it allocated to quality and safety features.”

If you parse the key sentence in the commercial, it does indeed say that they are spending $1 million an hour to “improve our technology AND your safety.” But by using the term “safety” seven times in 30 seconds, and displaying the words “safety” or “safe” on the screen for much of the commercial, listeners are likely to get the net impression that Toyota is spending a million dollars an hour to “improve our technology FOR your safety.” We don’t think the average consumer would take away from the commercial that the company is spending some number less than a million dollars an hour on safety.

In Massachusetts, we have an advertising regulation that provides:

“An advertisement as a whole may be unfair or deceptive although each representation separately construed is literally true.”

The second phase of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD Act) goes into effect today.

In the past few months, however, credit card issuers have been busy making fine print changes to their rules before the reigns tighten, as this satirical video points out. [ Direct link to video if box below is blank, but in Windows 7, you must use the 32-bit version of Internet Explorer or Firefox.]

*MOUSE PRINT:

You can be sure that credit card companies will find new and clever fees and loopholes in the law to help offset any loss of revenue suffered as a result of the new rules. Keep your eye on those fine print notices!

American Express had good news for shoppers a few months ago when it announced that it was no longer going to charge monthly maintenance fees or dormancy fees on gift cards that previously were imposed after one year.  That truly was a bold and welcome move, considering other gift card issuers continue to charge as much as $2.95 a month after a year, thus depleting the card’s value.

What American Express didn’t say so loudly, is that it will continue to charge other rather high fees associated with buying the card.

*MOUSE PRINT:

There is a purchase fee of $3.95, and a shipping fee of $5.95. Considering the card could have been sent for a mere 44 cents first class, the nearly six dollar shipping fee is exorbitant. On their least expensive $25 gift card, it costs you nearly $10 in fees to buy it, thus in essence reducing the value of the card by 40%.

In the holiday spirit, however, AMEX is making a special offer via email:

Our NEW American Express Gift Cards for the holidays make great gifts this season. As a special offer to you, they are FEE-FREE through 1/31/10. Don’t delay! Order online by December 22 11am EST to ensure your Gift Cards are delivered before December 25.

American Express Gift Cards are 100% Gift, 0% fees:
• No fees after purchase
• No customer service fees
• No lost value

While you will save the $3.95 purchase fee when entering the coupon code EMDECCM, it appears the $5.95 shipping fee still applies.

Ho, ho, ho.