Litigation

A Peach of An Ad from Woodbridge Structured Settlements

Posted on July 12, 2010
Cash Now pusher Woodbridge Structured Settlements demonstrates its lack of originality by bogarting Peachtree Settlement Funding's metaphorical old codger waiting by his mailbox for his structured settlement payments. The Woodbridge version features a man in a suit and tie with...

Presidential Life Affirmed at B+ (Good ) by A.M. Best

Posted on July 11, 2010
Presidential Life Insurance Company has had its A.M. Best rating affirmed at B+ (Good). In a May 25, 2010 press release A.M. indicated that it had removed the notation "under review with negative implications" from both Presidential Life Insurance Company...

Is SSP "Standards of Conduct For Settlement Planners" Just For Show?

Posted on July 10, 2010
Should the credibility of the Society of Settlement Planners Standard of Conduct For Settlement Planners be called into question with its appointment of factoring intermediary to its Board of Directors as Treasurer-Elect? Consider this excerpt from Rule 9: Factoring Structured...

Is She Offering Securities Without a License?

Posted on July 09, 2010
A number of settlement professionals have been solicited today by Society of Settlement Planners' Treasurer-elect, Rhonda Bentzen with what appears to be a securities solicitation. The following represents the body of an email that Rhonda Bentzen sent to at least...

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Settlement Purchaser Lures Structured Settlement Sellers With Largesse- Off Whose Back?

Posted on July 09, 2010
The press release just been issued by Settlement Marketplace seems great on its face. A company that buys or arranges for the purchase of structured settlement payment rights and other cash flows, has promised to donate 15% of its profits...

Qualified Settlement Fund: Wholesale Use May Not Get You Better Rates

Posted on July 08, 2010
The use of a qualified settlement fund has many merits as a settlement tool for the right case. But this author is concerned that the dissemination of propaganda about this tool by certain settlement planners as if it were "The...

"Why Does a Judge Have to Approve Getting My Structured Settlement Money Early"?

Posted on July 08, 2010
Structured settlements recipients seeking to cash in some of their structured settlement payments may be bewildered with the court approval process. Court approval is necessary to get your money early under the structured settlement protection acts in most states...

The Halpern Group Announces Executive Changes

Posted on July 06, 2010
The Halpern Group, a Recovery Management and Structured Settlement company headquartered in Springfield, NJ, has announced the following executive changes: Natalie Sticesen has been named Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer. She will also be responsible for its national sales...

7% on Laddered Secondary Market Structured Settlement Payment Rights

Posted on July 06, 2010
If you have around $18,500 sitting in your IRA, Roth IRA or profit sharing, don't have any restrictions on where you can place your money for the next 20-30 years, you can lock in an internal rate of return of...

Structured Settlement Planning Errors and Omissions Coverage-2

Posted on July 06, 2010
This post is a follow up to my July 4, 2010 post Structured Settlement Planning Errors and Omissions Coverage. In that post I discussed the high rates that structured settlement consultants must pay for insurance coverage and related my discovery...

Structured Asset Funding Trade Secret Case: Michael Asseff... You Rang?

Posted on July 04, 2010
July 2nd was this author's birthday. Among the wonderful calls, cards and Facebook sentiment was a hang up, apparently from Michael Asseff's cell phone at 848pm. Asseff's company, Structured Asset Funding, is: Still a "fast cash now pusher" Still, in...

Structured Settlement Planning Errors and Omissions Insurance

Posted on July 04, 2010
Structured settlement brokers are the obstetricians and gynecologists of the insurance field, when it comes to errors and omissions insurance coverage. Despite the fact that many structured settlement transactions require the review of multiple attorneys, and often a judge, the...

Sliming Competitors Behind Their Backs From "The Moral Pedestal"?

Posted on July 04, 2010
In "Steamed Dumb-plings From Nashville ", this author questioned whether factoring intermediary and Society of Settlement Planners' Treasurer-elect, Rhonda Bentzen was "a vice admiral of the narrow seas", an early 19th Century term used to to describe "one who pisses...

"Auto Bodily Injury Dog Bites"

Posted on July 02, 2010
Didn't your grammar school teacher tell you that a misplaced comma could render a whole new meaning to a sentence or phrase? Indeed, a "Selective" misplaced comma has given part of a settlement consultant's website a new conundrum. When asked...

Plaintiff Structured Settlements To Be Helped By New York Senate Bill S8072A?

Posted on July 02, 2010
A bill introduced June 4, 2010 in the New York State Senate purports to provide plaintiffs with continued availability and use of structured settlement agreements in lieu of a lump sum payments in tort and workers' compensation cases by guaranteeing....

Plaintiff Structured Settlements New Rights In New York Senate Bill S8072A?

Posted on July 02, 2010
A bill introduced June 4, 2010 in the New York State Senate purports to provide plaintiffs with continued availability and use of structured settlement agreements in lieu of a lump sum payments in tort and workers' compensation cases by guaranteeing....

Financial Literacy Moments of 2010-11: Non Qualified Assignments and Qualified Settlement Funds

Posted on July 01, 2010
Writer Louis Z. is typical of "factoring floggers" who feign credibility on the subject of structured settlements so they can sell (flog) something else. Like others he gets terminology and concepts wrong and in my opinion, clogs the information highway...

Transamerica Life upgraded to A Plus (Superior) by A.M. Best

Posted on June 30, 2010
In a gratifying and continued sign that the insurance industry financial strength is improving, A.M. Best has UPGRADED Transamerica Life Insurance Company and Transamerica Financial Life Insurance Company to "A+" from "A". Here are the companies current ratings, as of...

Structured Settlement Payment Rights: Buy Them HELP Tort Victims!

Posted on June 30, 2010
Way back my Northwestern Mutual general agent, Gerald N. Gilberg used to say that "you can't sell what you don't own", the rationale being that it's easier to ask for the premium on $1,000,000 of life insurance* if you own...

Good Riddance, SmithBucklin Association Management!

Posted on June 30, 2010
Earlier today, National Structured Settlement Trade Association President Mike Kelly sent an email to members of the association reminding them that as of tomorrow SmithBucklin is no longer NSSTA?s management company. Good riddance! Echoing my June 3, 2010 blog post,...

30 Year Treasury Gets Stuffed By Secondary Market Structured Settlement

Posted on June 29, 2010
TODAY 30 Year Treasury Yield 3.93% In force structured annuity approximately same time period 7% Structured settlement payments rights backed by a S&P AA- rated company no longer writing structured settlements in the primary market.

Settlement Planning Oriented Websites Dominate Settlement Industry Traffic Ranking-July 2010

Posted on June 29, 2010
Which legitimate structured settlement industry websites are getting the most Internet traffic? Three Month Trailing Top 10 Global Traffic Rank (Alexa Rank as of 06/29/2010) of Structured Settlement and Settlement Planning Industry websites* (+ or- traffic from 05/31/2010 report)...

In Force Structured Annuities: Secondary Market Intermediary Provides E&O coverage

Posted on June 29, 2010
In a sign that the market for in-force structured annuities is being elevated towards the mainstream, secondary market intemediary Bulbrook-Drislane is now providing Agent Errors and Omissions coverage for cases written through the intermediary up to $1,000,000 per case/$3,000,000 aggregate...

They SAID Cash NOW. Couldn't Fund and Then Held Sellers Hostage to Contract

Posted on June 28, 2010
Another one of the nation's "cash now pushers" that I am least enamored with advertised "cash now" for structured settlement and then couldn't "get it up" when it counted leaving 20-30 annuitants hanging for over a year. During the "hang...

New Sleazy Factoring Company Marketing Tactics Identified

Posted on June 25, 2010
Andrew Cravenho of Settlement Quotes, LLC factoring exchange has identified an unethical marketing practice that has the potential to screw unwary plaintiffs out of thousands of dollars when entering into structured settlement factoring transactions. He says "It has come to...

Hoopster "Leg Off "Case Overturned by New York Appellate Court

Posted on June 25, 2010
The publication of shocking legal awards often singe our senses because they seem to obviate any idea of personal responsibility. The classic example everyone has probably heard was the McDonald's coffee spill case and the outrage it caused due to...

He's Still Talking About Guaranty Associations in Sales Materials But Is It Kosher or Accurate?

Posted on June 25, 2010
Despite prohibitions on advertising state insurance guaranty associations in sales literature why does Millennium Settlements' Bryan Milner continue to do so? As of June 25, 2010 at 125am EDT, the following Questions and Answers on alleviating structured settlement fears appears...

John Hancock Structured Settlements Offers Qualified Assignment Release and Pledge Option

Posted on June 25, 2010
Structured settlements funded with an annuity issued by John Hancock Life Insurance Company (USA) and John Hancock Life Insurance Company of New York will now offer a security interest consistent with, and within the meaning of Section 130 of the...

Singing The Blues: Credibility Buster Solicits Factoring Deals From Structured Brokers But Buyers Fell Through

Posted on June 25, 2010
Structured settlement brokers have been pounded with blast emails from a certain Florida based financial adviser who claims that he can get the best deals for their clients. Our sources tell us that at least 3 of those deals have...

Financial Literacy Moments of 2010-10: What is a Structured Annuity?

Posted on June 24, 2010
Randall Shatto's definition of "structured annuity" on AnswerBag.com is listed as a "professionally researched Great Answer". Here's what Randall says: "A structured annuity is money you receive because of a settlement from a life insurance company or Treasury Bond Trust...

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