A well-dressed Italian walked into a New York City bank and met with the loan officer and told him that he was going to Italy on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.

The loan officer told him he would need some form of security, so the Italian handed over the keys to a new Ferrari, parked out front! He produced the title and so the bank agreed to hold the car as collateral, but would charge him 12% interest. The Italian readily agreed.

Later, the bank's president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Italian for using a $250,000...