Banking & Finance

Wading through Social Security survivor options

Analysts advise couples to formulate strategy early

April 23, 2015

Understanding the Social Security system can be a challenge regardless of marital status, but if you're married and your spouse dies, it's important to have prepared in advance to traverse a system that can be complex, says Sarah Carlson, owner of Spo

Inland Northwest public companies lag behind S&P 500

Index dips in first three months

April 23, 2015

Judith Spitzer

Hart Capital Management Inc., a Spokane-based investment firm, says the combined stock value of 11 publicly traded companies in the Inland Northwest, as measured in an overall index it compiles, fell 3.4 percent in the first quarter of 2015, compared with

Michael Maehl: Don't start with numbers with planning retirement

Look first at latter-years lifestyle, then pencil it out

April 23, 2015

Michael Maehl

It's been my experience over my career that people often will spend more time and effort planning for their annual two-week vacation than they will a 30-plus year retirement. My goal with this article is to help you consider parts of the proverbial bigg

Cheney credit union's membership rises after charter change

Its ranks have ballooned by 600 over last two years

April 23, 2015

Judith Spitzer

Cheney Federal Credit Union has added 600 members to its field of membership since April, 2013 when its charter was expanded to include anyone who lives within the Cheney and Medical Lake school districts, which includes Airway Heights, says JoAn Sanders,

U.S. Bank invests in training its private bankers

Educational focus seen as benefit to customers

April 23, 2015

U.S. Bank's private banking department is providing enhanced educational support for its financial representatives, including here, that it believes will enable them to better serve its larger-balance customers.

Craft3 opens Spokane office

Nontraditional lender now has operations in seven Northwest cities

April 23, 2015

Judith Spitzer

Craft3, a nonprofit lender based in the southwestern Washington city of Ilwaco, has opened a Spokane office in the Peyton Building, at 10 N. Post downtown, says Susan Doll, Craft3's senior business lender here.

Former Spokane banking executive joins PacWest Bancorp

Rusnak to become CFO at $16 billion institution

April 23, 2015

Staff Report

Former Spokane banking executive Patrick J. Rusnak, who was credited here with helping to bring AmericanWest Bank back from the brink of collapse, has been named to take over as chief financial officer at Los Angeles-based PacWest Bancorp this fall.

Washington Federal plans Spokane presence - Art Only

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April 23, 2015

Staff Report

Seattle-based Washington Federal Inc. is constructing a $3.5 million building on Spokane's North Side that will house its first permanent bank branch in Spokane and its Eastern Washington division offices. Located at 5322 N. Division, the two-story, 12,

Willamette Valley Bank to move its Coeur d'Alene home loan center

Oregon company takes space on East Sherman Avenue

April 23, 2015

Mike McLean

Oregon-based Willamette Valley Bank plans to move its Coeur d'Alene home-loan center by summer into a new building on Sherman Avenue at the east edge of downtown, says Steve Novotny, the bank's Coeur d'Alene sales manager and one of its loan officer

An Affinity for home loans: HomeStreet's employer-aided mortgage program

Fee-free service includes fiscal counseling

April 23, 2015

Mike McLean

HomeStreet Inc., the Seattle-based residential lender with three Spokane-area offices, says it has seen strong growth in its employer-assisted mortgage lending program since the bank entered the Spokane market three years ago.