Personal Finance

Comments of the Week: Payday Loans, Pay-Per-Use Toilets, and Waiting Tables

Sonic Boom Fremont Locations to Close

Martinez in Against Prentice

Ex-Transpo Chief Skeptical About Light Rail

It's Official: WaMu for Sale

Disillusioned Former Hedge Fund Manager Denounces Congress, Predatory Lending, Marijuana Laws

Bad News For Moneytree: The City of Seattle Wants to Steal Its Customers

Seattle-based check-cashing and payday-loan giant Moneytree is a homegrown success story that has made great strides in changing the shady reputation of its industry, as Laura Onstot described in a cover story last March. And some thanks it gets!

Budget, Schmudget

This year's budget isn't looking so hot.The folks at the Center for Budget & Policy, a local progressive think tank whose proposals for closing the state budget deficit I wrote about here, have just started a blog called Schmudget. They're good at making complex and esoteric concepts understanda ... More >>

Our Subprime Time Is Coming

We hate to be all doom and gloom about Washington's homeowners, but it's looking all doom and gloom for Washington's homeowners--at least for the fair number paying a high premium for their mortgages. And African-Americans and Latinos were more likely to be paying that high premium. According to a ... More >>

St. Patrick's Day Battle: Leprechauns and Sharks vs. Caterpillars

St. Paddy's Day may be a time to drink beers and fill out your tournament bracket, but it's also a time to dress up like a leprechaun or a loan shark and protest predatory lending. A group called the Alliance to Prevent Predatory Lending will be holding two events at the state capitol today to call ... More >>

Key To Payday Bills? Make Sure Both Sides Hate It

Every year bills pop up in Olympia to rein in the payday loan industry. Most are pushed by advocates like Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-Kitsap) who wants to cap annual interest rates at 36 percent, something that, when passed in other states, has resulted in the industry picking up stakes and leaving. The ... More >>

Payday Loan Bill Doesn't Give an Inch, Gets Closer to Passing

After a parade of witnesses from both sides of the payday loan fights asked state senators to consider amendments to House Bill 1709, the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection voted today to send the bill unamended to the Senate Rules Committee, bringing it one step closer to p ... More >>

The Secret to Passing a Payday-Loan Reform Bill

Make sure everyone hates it.

Why Is the City Pissing on Moneytree?

The government’s new “Bank on Seattle – King County” program treats this local business like an enemy.

Investing for Change

A Microsoft millionaire wonders if his money can express his values.

More Ramen? A Balanced Article About Payday Loans? Amazing!

A Microsoft millionaire wonders if his money can express his values.

Moneytree CEO Wants You to Rethink His Business

With targeted philanthropy, and close attention to ethics, Moneytree CEO Dennis Bassford is achieving the unthinkable: overcoming prejudice against the payday lending industry.

Muralist Michael Fajans Dies

The Northwest loses a visionary, an activist, and a motorcycle buff. Plus other arts news.

98.8 Percent Overhead

The Northwest loses a visionary, an activist, and a motorcycle buff. Plus other arts news.

98.8 Percent Overhead

The North Seattle Community College Foundation is one of the nation's biggest credit-counseling agencies, but hardly any of the millions of dollars in revenue goes to helping students. Most of it goes to for-profit corporations.

Gambler's Holiday

Blowing cash and fueling the soul at Greater Seattle's temples of wagering.

Playing Hardball in a Soft Market

Renting? Buying? Refinancing? Tough times make it relatively easy. Here's why.

Strike cents

The costs of the newspaper strike are heavy for both sides.

The Grey Poupon crowd

City officials' new filings disclose the bank-account size of $chell, $idran, and Ni¢astro.

UNLIMITED UPSIDE!

Yes, I want to be a millionaire.

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The easiest way to give money to those who need it

"How about the best place to meet women in wheelchairs? Or the best place to meet pigeon-toed women, or the best place to meet blonde women with big boobs and no brains?"

The easiest way to give money to those who need it

Ask the Bartender: Vermouth shelf life?

It's that time of week when we answer the questions you're too drunk or shy to ask...This question comes from Brian: How long does an open bottle of vermouth keep? I recently got turned on to martinis with actual vermouth in them, and I want to make them at home, but I don't drink all that much. ... More >>

T.R. Reid

It's that time of week when we answer the questions you're too drunk or shy to ask...This question comes from Brian: How long does an open bottle of vermouth keep? I recently got turned on to martinis with actual vermouth in them, and I want to make them at home, but I don't drink all that much. ... More >>

Group Health’s Pricey Panacea

Anyone who thinks the local co-op is the cure for our insurance-reform woes should examine the bankruptcy case of Eugene and Yukiko Gatlin.

The Weekly Wire: The Week’s Recommended Events

Anyone who thinks the local co-op is the cure for our insurance-reform woes should examine the bankruptcy case of Eugene and Yukiko Gatlin.

"Single-Payer!" And Other Politely Posed Questions From McDermott's Town Hall Meeting in Seattle

No hostile town hall here. McDermott gets a standing ovation.​A mere 15 nautical miles separate Seattle and Bremerton, but the town halls hosted by Congressional Representatives Jim McDermott here and Norm Dicks there could not have been more different. Nearly everyone sat quietly through most ... More >>

Dubai Debt Threatens Boeing

Dubai, the very picture of modesty and moderation, feels the credit crunch.​Have global economy. Have global economic problems. Boeing's recent move to South Carolina may have saved the jet-maker a couple bucks on non-union labor. But it looks like that money might be needed immediately now t ... More >>

If Christine Gregoire Takes Away Your Healthcare, The Feds Will Save You... in 2014

Cantwell and her fellow senators are building a health care safety net. Unfortunately, it might not be ready in time.​Under the 2010 budget proposed earlier this month by Gov. Chris Gregoire, 65,000 people will be kicked out of the state's Basic Health Care plan. The plan covers families who e ... More >>

Hang on for Obamacare

Just don’t get sick for four years.

Seattle Lawyer Follows Story Suggestion, Sues Student Loan Giant Sallie Mae for Harassing Phone Calls

Sallie Mae in its little-seen hot tranny mess form ​Update: Sallie Mae doesn't think the law prohibits what Mark Arthur's lawyers think it prohibits. Full details after the jump. Last week, Caleb Hannan brought to our attention the story of Craig Cunningham, as reported by our sister paper t ... More >>

Loan Shark

A local attorney says the tactics of these 21st-century crooks have evolved from broken arms and cement boots.

John Tuttle Launches Online Assault on Banks and Credit Cards

"Granny," star of three videos posted on creditcardrevolt.com, takes a large sticky note declaring "Stand Up to the Rich Bankers" and slaps it onto a Bank of America ATM. She turns to the camera: "I've never posted a flyer in my entire life," she announces. "It's my first time, that makes me a fly ... More >>

Washington State Offers Dismal Lesson for Obama's New Attempt to Save Health Care Reform

This is the direction insurance rates went even after new state regulation. ​President Obama's latest attempt to salvage health care reform, unveiled today, introduces yet another new twist--a proposed federal board that could veto excessive health insurance rate hikes. Politically, the propos ... More >>

Rob McKenna Defends State Law Forcing Consumers to Buy Insurance, Will Himself Lead Challenge to Similar New U.S. Law

"If you see Rob, say I said hello."​Attorney General Rob McKenna says he's personally, and solely, handling the state's lawsuit against the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of new U.S. health-care legislation. And he's going to continue to argue that it's wrong for the U.S ... More >>

Even If You Find a Job, Health Care Is Getting Harder to Come By

Just because you got a new job doesn't mean you'll get to see this guy again any time soon.​The state's unemployment rate just keeps creeping up--now at 9.5 percent. So 2014--the year Obamacare goes into effect--might seem really far off if you lost your job and with it your employer-provided ... More >>

State Tallies Loss - or Gain - from Initiatives

​The state has released its findings on the fiscal impacts of six initiatives and a referendum facing voters this fall, and, in short, some measures could cost taxpayers more than a half-billion dollars in lost revenue while others - such as the income tax initiative - could offset losses with ... More >>

Pilita Corrales, Former SuperSonics Cheerleader, Charged With Bilking Her Boss

​Pilita Corrales likes to spend money. The former SuperSonics dancer now shimmying for a local indoor lacrosse team makes that much clear in the hobbies section of her bio: "I also love fashion and love to personal shop and style people," she says. Unfortunately for Corrales' boss, the money s ... More >>

Rob McKenna's Lawsuit to Get Obamacare Overturned Looks Likely to Proceed

​McKenna missed oral arguments this morning as the U.S. Department of Justice attempted to shut down a lawsuit he filed along with 19 other state Attorneys General to overturn Obamacare. But after being briefed by a staffer who listened in, McKenna told reporters by phone, "I think it's obviou ... More >>

Rob McKenna Says After Obamacare, Feds Will Next Mandate We Buy Chevys

Also, the attorney general warns against water fluoridation.

Bartell Drugs and The Seattle Times Team Up Against I-1098

But is the homegrown chain really going to be hurt?

Mike Kreidler, State Insurance Commssioner, Lashes Out at Premera for Trying to Hide Financial Data

​ Update: Premera says Kreidler has got his facts wrong. Details after the jump. State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is pissed. The commissioner has been pushing a bill through the legislature that would allow public access to financial information filed with his office by health insur ... More >>

Salishan "Refugee Housing" Project Video Is Thoroughly Debunked

​Alleged doctor William Mount posted a video on YouTube in February about the Salishan housing complex in Tacoma. In the video, Mount says a bunch of scary words like the complex is "Social Security housing for foreigners" and how each of the illegal immigrants who lives there makes thousands ... More >>

Basic Health Will Kick Out Illegal Immigrants Despite Judge's Ruling

​A federal judge this week ordered the state to re-enroll 11,000 immigrants kicked off its Basic Health program. That would seem like great news for the immigrants, who were dropped from the subsidized health insurance program because they couldn't or didn't prove they had been in the country ... More >>

Tacoma Cop Is Suing Fife and State; Says Red-Light Ticket Ruined His Credit

​On New Year's Day 2009, a Tacoma police lieutenant named Anthony Abuan was captured by a red-light camera making an unlawful right hand turn in Fife. Abuan, though, didn't know the camera had photographed his car since he never received a notice of the infraction.