Credit Unions vs Payday Loans in Washington

75 credit unions are headquartered in Washington, with 5,036,105 members in total. 27 are federal credit unions and 48 are state-chartered; all are federally insured by the NCUA.

Credit unions

75

Members

5.0M

Federal

27

State-chartered

48

Members per 100 people

65

CUs per 100k people

1.0

Credit unions vs payday loan stores in Washington

Washington has 81 payday, installment and title loan stores but only 75 credit unions headquartered here — about 1.1 loan stores for every credit union. Local credit unions count 5,036,105 members — roughly 65 memberships per 100 residents.

Biggest loan store chains in Washington: OneMain Financial (30), Moneytree (20), Lendmark Financial Services (13), loanDepot (10), Mariner Finance (7).

What a $500 loan costs over 3 months

You keep with a credit union PAL over 3 months

$406.49 payday costs 10× more

Payday: a typical fee of $75 on a $500 loan for 2 weeks (WA limits are not set in dollars), paid 6 times in 3 months. PAL: payday alternative loan from a federal credit union, capped at 28% APR with an application fee of up to $20.

What it means for a household in Washington

Median household income

$100,769

Payday fee of $75, share of two weeks' income

1.9%

Hours of work to pay the $75 fee

3.1 hours

PAL payment of $174.50, share of monthly income

2.1%

A $400 emergency equals

1.4 days of income

Households earning under $25,000

11.2%

Residents below the poverty line

10.0%

Income and poverty: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, by ZIP code; figures for Washington are population-weighted and approximate. Hours of work are based on the median individual income.

Payday loans vs credit union PALs: the rules in Washington

Payday rules: Washington law as summarized on our Washington payday page. PAL rules: National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) rules for federal credit unions (PAL I and PAL II); state-chartered credit unions may offer similar small loans.

Credit unions by city in Washington

Credit unions are headquartered in 37 cities and towns across Washington. Pick a city for addresses and websites, or scroll down for the smaller towns.

• Spokane · 9
• Everett · 5
• Longview · 5
• Seattle · 5
• Bellingham · 4
• Olympia · 4
• Tacoma · 4
• Vancouver · 4
• Richland · 2
• Yakima · 2
• Bellevue · 1
• Bothell · 1
• Bremerton · 1
• Kennewick · 1
• Kent · 1
• Lakewood · 1
• Puyallup · 1

All credit unions in Washington

Credit unions in smaller towns of Washington

Other cities and towns in Washington where credit unions are headquartered, and how many there are in each.

• Aberdeen 2
• Anacortes 1
• Arlington 1
• Cheney 1
• College Place 1
• Dupont 1
• Enumclaw 1
• Ephrata 1
• Fircrest 1
• Hoquiam 2
• Lacey 1
• Liberty Lake 1
• North Bend 1
• Port Angeles 1
• Seatac 1
• Shelton 2
• Silverdale 1
• Spokane Valley 2
• Tukwila 1
• Tumwater 1