Borderless banking: Not just for rich guys any more

Myths endure because the stories seize our imaginations and never let go. For instance, there's the enduring story of the hitchhiker who is picked up and leaves a wallet behind, and the driver who returns it to the house soon learns that his passenger died in a car accident years ago.

And there's the tale of the young couple out on a date, parked along an old countryside road. The music on the radio is interrupted by a local newscaster with a terse warning: "A dangerous convicted murderer has escaped from an asylum for the criminally insane. He has a hook attached to his right hand..." And, of course, when the couple returns to the young woman's house, they find attached to the outside of her car door -- a bloody hook.

There's Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle and that crazy myth that offshore bank accounts are used by sinister bad guys.

OK, that last one is true to a large extent, but the stigma is so strong that it often prevents good and honest people from opening accounts.

That's why Lloyds Bank, based in the United Kingdom, has been on an active campaign, trying to spread the word that it's perfectly okay to get an offshore bank account. Are they doing this because everyone who works there is kind and benevolent souls? Well, possibly -- I'm sure they're all nice people -- but they also just happen to be in the market to sell you an offshore carrier account.