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Rating agencies have been used by agents,brokers and purchasers of insurance for years as part of their due diligence. Yet Executive Life was rated AAA only months before its collapse in 1991. 17 years later the integrity of the ratings agencies is again called into question at the depth of the recent financial crisis we now call "The Great Recession". Some feel that money paid to be reviewed presents an enormous conflict of interest. In this video, LBN Chairman Mark Wahlstrom and Registered Settlement Planner and 4structures.com, LLC President, John Darer discuss recent news concerning the agencies that rate insurance companies, banks and other financial institutions which appeared in a March 22, 2010 article in USA Today. Proposed legislation would add a layer of liability which would alow potential lawsuits against the ratings agemncies under ceratin conditions. Wahlstrom and Darer further discuss the impact of ratings actions on insurance purchase decisions, including structured settlements.

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