A federal law was just passed that will allow your credit to be both "frozen" or "thawed" - for free at all three credit bureaus. Credit freezing prevents any of your personal data from being reported to lenders and creditors. In the event that a fraudster would try to use your Social Security number to apply for a credit card, that application would be rejected, as the bank would be unable to verify your credit score. Although this has been around for a while, there was a charge to do this at each credit bureau. And then there was another fee to "thaw" your credit when you wanted to open a new credit line. Only 14% of Americans have their credit frozen currently. Honestly, I'd only heard

I attended a class yesterday with special guest speaker, John Wilson, the elected King County Assesor. The overall synopis of Wilson's message was simple: The surging values of properties plus voter approved levies are driving up taxes (particulary, sound transit, emergency radio system, and the McClearly Decision). So, why are our property taxes so high? Keep reading... THE McCLEARY DECISION Ultimately over 60% of our tax increase is due to the McCleary Decision, according to Wilson. Most of you already have heard of the McCleary Decision, but most people don't know how that directly impacts our property taxes. Basically, someone sued the State of Washington several years ago saying that