Education Articles

Introducing SELCO Contactless Cards

All newly issued SELCO credit and debit cards are now contactless, giving you the ability to simply tap to pay. If your SELCO Visa ®  card has the Contactless Indicator on it, here’s all you need to know to confidently tap to pay: Look Find the Contactless Symbol at checkout. Tap Simply tap your Visa contactless card on contactless-enabled...

Buying Your First Home: A Realistic Guide

To buy or not to buy? That is the question facing many prospective homeowners in today’s topsy-turvy housing market. Buying a home at any point can feel intimidating. There’s just so much to consider—finding a home that meets your needs, finding the right agent, finding the right mortgage professional, qualifying for a mortgage, signing so many...

Umbrella Insurance: Stay Dry From Lawsuits

Insurance isn’t just about protecting your investments—it’s about protecting your responsibilities, too. Accidents can happen to anyone, and when they do, someone usually needs to take legal responsibility. Depending on the damage done or a jury’s discretion, this liability could easily add up to six or seven figures, far beyond the limits of a...

Your Personal Boat Buying Guide

Ah, the freedom of the open water. Feel the breeze coming off the Pacific Ocean or one of the Pacific Northwest’s many lakes and rivers as you put the throttle down or point the sails leeward. Or maybe it’s just you, your fishing pole, and the early morning serenity of your favorite watering hole. Boats come in  many shapes and sizes —sailboats ...

Carvana: An Online Car-Buying Nirvana?

“Honey, your car is here!” No, it’s not your Uber or Lyft pulling up. It’s the car you purchased online a week ago. There’s a relatively new Amazon-esque auto seller in town, and its name is  Carvana —akin to the mega-online retailer because it’s fast and everything is done on the internet. With a quick stop at the Carvana website, you can order...

Signs You Might Be Living Beyond Your Means

In an age of plastic spending and mobile payments, living within  your means can easily slide into living  beyond  your means. And many of us fall into this trap without realizing it. Getting out of this trap can be “easier said than done,” said Nick Manley, Financial Advisor for SELCO Investment & Retirement Services. “Living within your means...

What To Know About ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’

They’re so easy to use, they almost seem too good to be true. Is there a catch? With Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, you can walk away with that expensive exercise bike, entertainment system, sectional sofa, or anything else that catches your eye, even if you can’t cover the costs in the moment. And in return, retailers can make more sales b...

Demystifying Mortgage Terms, Part II

Now that some of the  common loan-approval terms  are embedded in your brain, it’s time to explore other head-scratchers that come up over the life of a mortgage. The following is a short list of terms describing anything from mortgage insurance to the various types of loans. By the time you wade through this list, you’ll be good and ready to bu...

Demystifying Mortgage Terms, Part I

Here’s an understatement: The financial industry is full of confusing terms. The mortgage world, especially, is saturated with head-scratching  words and acronyms . What’s an LTV, for example? You’d be forgiven if your first thought went to some sort of off-road vehicle. If you’re buying a home for the first time, a lot of terms will be thrown a...

Looking to Consolidate Debt? Try a HELOC.

What would you rather have—several hundred dollars in monthly payments spread across all your credit cards or one smaller payment over a set number of years? If you’re a homeowner, a home equity line of credit (HELOC) may be what you need to reel in that pesky debt. Aside from being fun to say, a HELOC (hee-lock) can be more than just a means of...