Home financing in King County.
County-by-county financing guides. No paperwork. No social. No ID.
12 institutions are headquartered inside the King County line, Seattle included, and 10 more keep a branch here. Below, we say which is which.
Not this lane? Business FinancingPersonal Financing
The doors in King County.
The CDFIs, credit unions, and microlenders that actually say yes — county by county, in two languages. We are not a lender. Nobody paid to be listed. And where a county has no good doors, we say so.
- 22
- DOORS HERE
- 12
- BASED HERE
- 34
- WA COUNTIES WITH DOORS
- Lane
- Home Financing
- People
- 2.3Mresidents of King County
- Covers
- Seattle
- Elsewhere in WA
- Spokane County →16 doors — the biggest list of any other county in Washington
- State
- Washington →34 of 39 counties hold a door in this lane
Certified by the U.S. Treasury to lend where a bank will not. Nonprofit, patient, and used to a file that is not clean.
Express Credit Union · Harborstone Credit UnionOwned by their members, not by shareholders. They look at your whole story rather than a score, and that is the difference when a bank says no.
Express Credit Union · Gesa Credit Union- Express Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home
- Seattle Metropolitan Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Verity Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Business Impact NWCommunity lending · Business capital
- Denkyem SPCCommunity lending · Business capital
- IN THIS LIST
12 of the 22 doors inside the county line are CDFI-certified.
The U.S. Treasury certifies them to lend to the people banks pass over. It is a loan, not a favour.
- HomeSightCommunity lending · Business capital
- New Roots FundSBA microlenderCommunity lending · Business capital
- Northwest Access FundCommunity lending · Business capital
Show the other 4Show fewer
- Rainier Valley Community Development FundCommunity lending · Business capital
- Washington Community Reinvestment AssociationCommunity lending · Business capital
- Seattle Economic Development Fund (dba: Business Impact Northwest)Business capital
- VenturesBusiness capital
Based elsewhere, with a member-facing office inside the King County line. You can walk in.
- Gesa Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Global Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Harborstone Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Ironworkers Usa Credit UnionCDFI-certifiedPersonal · Home
- Operating Engineers Local Union #3 Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- NO AGENDA
Nobody paid to be on this list.
The 22 doors inside the county line come off public data, and 13 of them are owned by their own members. We do not ask for your name, and we earn nothing if you knock on one door rather than another.
- Our Community Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
Show the other 4Show fewer
- Red Canoe Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Sound Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Ukrainian Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Washington State Employees Credit UnionPersonal · Home · Business capital
- Mission Asset FundAccepts ITIN
Zero-interest lending circles and credit building. SSN or ITIN accepted. Works through nonprofit partners across the country.
Personal - Accion Opportunity FundAccepts ITIN
Nonprofit small-business lender. Accepts ITIN in place of SSN. Serves most states, in English and Spanish.
Business capital - Grameen AmericaAccepts ITIN
Microloans for women entrepreneurs. Requires photo ID and proof of address — no SSN requirement. Branches in major metro areas.
Business capital
How to read this list.
We do not ask for your name, your email, or your number. Nothing on this page changes based on who you are.
A door is headquartered here when its head office sits inside the county line. The rest are based elsewhere and keep a branch you can walk into. We list both, and we label which is which.
Every institution on this page comes from public federal data — the CDFI Fund certified list (Aug 2026), NCUA credit union data (Jun 2026), and the SBA microloan intermediary list (Sep 2026) — plus a short national tier we verified by hand. We refresh each list as its agency publishes. No listing is paid.
Buying in King County is hard, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. What is also true is that people with uneven paychecks, pooled household incomes, and no Social Security number buy homes here every year — usually through a credit union or a mission lender rather than a national mortgage brand. This guide explains the loan types that actually get used in this county, who qualifies when income arrives as 1099 payments or two jobs, which documents to gather, which doors serve King County, and the Washington rules and closing-table traps to know before you sign.
It's a process, not a rejection.
A mortgage is a long loan secured by the house. If you stop paying, the lender can take the property. Everything else is detail — but the details decide whether you can buy at all.
The shapes that matter here:
- Conventional loans — the standard product, sold to investors, with the strictest documentation and usually the best pricing if you fit the box.
- FHA loans — government-insured, more forgiving on credit and down payment. In a county where the entry-level stock is older townhomes and small houses, FHA is the workhorse.
- VA loans — for veterans and service members, and this region has a large military-connected population.
- USDA loans — limited to eligible rural areas, which in this county means the far edges, not the valley floor.
- Portfolio and ITIN mortgages — loans a credit union or small institution keeps on its own books instead of selling. Because nobody else has to approve them, this is where borrowers with an ITIN, a self-employed income, or an unusual property usually find a yes. Expect a larger down payment and a rate above the advertised market.
- Rehab and renovation loans — one loan covering purchase plus repairs, which fits the county's older housing stock.
- Down-payment assistance — a second loan or grant layered behind the first mortgage, administered through participating lenders.
- Home equity loans and lines — borrowing against equity you already have, for a repair, a roof, an accessory unit, or to pay off something worse.
King County's own pressures shape the choice. Prices in Seattle push first-time buyers south and east — Kent, Federal Way, Auburn, SeaTac, Burien, Renton, Tukwila — where much of the attainable stock is older single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and manufactured homes.
Condos and townhomes come with HOA dues and their own underwriting questions.
Accessory dwelling units are now a real part of the local market, which is why renovation and equity products matter as much as purchase loans here.
Forget what the banks say.
Underwriting asks four questions: how much do you earn and can you prove it, how much do you already owe each month, how much can you put down, and does the property support the loan.
In this county the people who get approved often look nothing like a salaried couple with one W-2 each:
- A household pooling two or three incomes under one roof. Some lenders will count a non-borrowing household member's income on certain programs; a credit union that keeps loans on its own books is where to ask.
- A framer, drywaller, painter, roofer, or landscaper paid as a 1099 subcontractor, whose approval rests on two years of tax returns plus bank statements.
- A restaurant or hotel worker with a base wage plus tips — tip income counts when it shows up on filings and deposits, and not when it stays in cash.
- A commercial cleaner or home-care worker with two part-time employers.
- An owner-operator driver whose freight settlements are the income record.
- A family with an ITIN, buying through a portfolio lender, with a larger down payment saved over years.
What sinks applications here is rarely income.
It is documentation and existing debt.
A car payment and a credit card balance eat the same room a mortgage payment needs.
Deductions that lower your taxable income also lower the income a lender can use — so talk to a housing counselor before you file next year's return, not after.
An ITIN does not make homeownership impossible. It changes which door opens. Portfolio lenders and some credit unions do this work quietly; national retail brands usually do not. Ask each institution directly whether it lends to ITIN borrowers rather than guessing from a website.
Get your papers in order.
Mortgage files are thicker than any other kind. Start collecting now, in one folder:
- 01Government-issued photo ID
And your ITIN or Social Security number.
- 02Two years of tax returns
All schedules included — personal and business.
- 03W-2s or 1099s for the same two years.
- 04Recent pay stubs if you are on a payroll, covering thirty days.
- 05Two to three months of bank statements for every account, including the one holding the down payment.
- 06A written explanation for any large deposit that is not payroll.
Gift money needs a signed gift letter.
- 07For self-employment
A profit-and-loss statement, business bank statements, your Washington business license and UBI number, and contractor registration if you are in the trades.
- 08Proof of rent paid
Canceled checks or transfers — which can help build a payment history when your credit file is thin.
- 09Landlord
Utility, or phone payment records if you are using alternative credit.
- 10Two years of address history and employment history.
- 11Homebuyer education certificate, which most assistance programs require.
- MISSING ONE?Ask Iris which one you're missing.ASK A QUESTION ↓
The doors worth knowing.
For a first mortgage, start with a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and with a county-based credit union, in that order.
ALL 22 DOORS, BY NAME AND BY TOWN- 22
- DOORS HERE
- 57
- ACROSS WA
Based in Seattle, Washington. A credit union — owned by its members rather than by shareholders, which is exactly what changes the conversation after a bank has said no. It is CDFI-certified.
BEST FORA personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing, and buying, repairing or refinancing a home.Based in Tacoma, Washington. A member-owned credit union, which means the people deciding on your file answer to depositors in the same towns you work in. It is CDFI-certified.
BEST FORBuying, repairing or refinancing a home, and working capital, equipment and payroll for a small business.Based in Portland, Oregon. A credit union: no shareholders to satisfy, and a habit of reading a whole story rather than a single score. It is CDFI-certified.
BEST FORA personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing, and buying, repairing or refinancing a home.Based in Anchorage, Alaska. A credit union — owned by its members rather than by shareholders, which is exactly what changes the conversation after a bank has said no.
BEST FORA personal loan, or building a credit file from nothing, and buying, repairing or refinancing a home.
Don't fall into these traps.
Expensive markets attract predators, and the ones who target immigrant and cash-income families are practiced at it.
You make payments, you maintain the house, and the seller keeps the title. Miss one payment and in many arrangements you lose everything you have paid. If someone offers to sell you a house without a real closing, walk.
Legitimate housing counseling is free. Loan officers are paid at closing.
Refinancing repeatedly, rolling fees into the balance each time, hands your equity to whoever arranged it. Ask one question on every refinance: does my total interest cost go down, and by how much?
This is the most common theft in a home purchase. Criminals send an email that looks exactly like your escrow company's, with new wire instructions. Never accept wire instructions by email. Call the escrow office at the number you already had and confirm every digit by voice.
Some portfolio and ITIN loans include them. They are not automatically wrong, but you must know they are there and what they cost you if you refinance in three years.
You have the right to ask for interpretation and for time. Any agent, notary, or officer who discourages either is telling you something about themselves.
If you are behind, the free HUD-approved counselor is the correct call. Anyone knocking with paperwork and urgency is not there to help.
No honest buyer needs your signature today.
Everything below is set by Washington, and it reads the same in every county in it. The 22 marks above are this county's own doors — who opens one is decided by them, not by the state.
The rules where you are.
The legal frame here differs from other states in ways that cost or save you money.
Washington uses a deed of trust, and foreclosure generally proceeds through a trustee sale rather than a courtroom. There is a defined notice period with a required meeting opportunity, but the timeline is faster than in judicial states. Know this before you take a loan you can barely carry, and call a HUD-approved counselor at the first missed payment, not the fourth.
Washington is a community property state. Property and debt acquired during a marriage are generally shared, which affects whose income and whose debts enter the file even when only one spouse signs.
The state charges a real estate excise tax when property transfers, customarily paid by the seller. It matters when you sell, and it matters when you negotiate.
The county assessor values property and taxes follow the levies approved in that area, so two similar houses in different cities can carry different bills. Washington offers property tax relief programs for qualifying seniors, people with disabilities, and some veterans. Ask the assessor's office directly — these are underused.
The Washington State Housing Finance Commission and the state Department of Commerce administer homebuyer assistance and housing programs through lenders and local partners. Specifics change annually, so treat them as offices to call, not products to assume.
Adding an accessory dwelling unit or renting a basement makes you a landlord under state and city law, with notice requirements and, in some cities, additional registration. Factor that in before you count the rent as income.
The short version.
- 01
King County is expensive, and that is a fact about the market, not a verdict on you. People with uneven income, pooled households, and ITINs buy here every year.
- 02
The path that works most often: call a HUD-approved housing counselor first and take the homebuyer class. Then sit down with one of the county's member-owned credit unions in Seattle and ask whether they keep mortgages on their own books, and whether they lend to ITIN borrowers. Then ask what down-payment assistance you qualify for through the state housing finance commission. Only then start looking at houses.
- 03
Before any of that, do the boring work: two years of filed tax returns you can hand over, three months of explainable bank activity, existing debts cut down, and every rent payment documented.
- 04
Never accept wire instructions by email. Never buy a house without a real closing. Never sign a document you have not read in a language you read comfortably. And compare at least two written loan estimates on total cost, not on monthly payment alone.
Same county, another question.
Business FinancingLoans, lines of credit, and capital for small businesses and contractorsSEE IT IN KING COUNTY →
Personal FinancingPersonal loans, credit building, and ITIN-friendly financing optionsSEE IT IN KING COUNTY →34WA COUNTIES WITH DOORSThe whole stateEvery county in Washington, in this same lane.57 institutions fund homes and repairs inside Washington county lines.OPEN THE STATE →Still don't see your situation?
Ask Iris. She'll explain it the way it should have been explained the first time.