by Structured Settlement Watchdog
The click through from the Google Search for "Structured Settlement Information" leads you to a page on the Novation Capital website, Learn More About Structured Settlements, a choice on which states Answer to Common Questions About Structured Settlements, clicking on which leads to Answer to Common Questions on Selling Structured Settlements
Why does Novation Capital not provide any information about structured settlements, the creation of which requires the placement of a regulated insurance product that requires an insurance license to sell?
What exactly does a consumer get who reads the headline "Structured Settlement Information from Novation Capital" and is expecting to "Learn More About Structured Settlements as is promised in the description programmed into Novation Capital's web page source code that shows up in the search engine result?
The Code of Federal Regulations contains a section on Bait Advertising at 16CFR 238
Sec. 238.0 Bait advertising defined.
Bait advertising is an alluring but insincere offer to sell a product or service which the advertiser in truth does not intend or want to sell. Its purpose is to switch consumers from buying the advertised merchandise, in order to sell something else, usually at a higher price or on a basis more advantageous to the advertiser. The primary aim of a bait advertisement is to obtain leads as to persons interested in buying merchandise of the type so advertised.
Sec. 238.1 Bait advertisement.
No advertisement containing an offer to sell a product should be published when the offer is not a bona fide effort to sell the advertised product.
Why does Novation Capital not get to the point of information about "selling structured settlement" payment rights instead of requiring 2 baited clicks to suck consumers into its website?
I think we all know why…
There is a pattern and practice of such behavior in the settlement transfer industry**, those who enter into what is defined by the Internal Revenue Code as a "structured settlement factoring transaction". For the last several years it has been typical for settlement transfer companies, emboldened by lack of enforcement of truth in advertising laws, to advertise key words such as "structured settlement, structured settlements, structured settlement quote, structured settlement quotes, free structured settlement quote, structured settlement brokers, structured settlement company, structured settlement information, structured settlement central and other similar items. A number of these occurrences have been reported on Structured Settlements 4Real.
These terms are advertised on the premise that they provide useful relevant structured settlement information about such sub topics, yet the advertising is simply a ruse to get people who are looking for structured settlement information on these items to get to "the main event" for the settlement transfer companies, which is getting the consumer to part from their assets for a discounted amount of cash. Even other factoring companies appear to be wising up to their competitors' shenanigans and the resulting affect on their industry's reputation. Settlement Capital's Factoring Channel blog is consistent in its attempt to differentiate. They and a few others are the exception rather than the rule. This phenomenon needs to change
As part of the regulatory oversight that should come into play it would be nice to see the enforcement of laws already on the books as well as some new ones to protect consumers.
**On its web site Novation Capital also offers testimonials concerning their purported handling of the "structured settlement process". We don't want consumers to be confused. What Novation Capital does is settlement transfers or structured settlement factoring transactions. Make no mistake. It has nothing to do with the "structured settlement process". Also see my June 1, 2006 post about Novation's bogus claims to be "a structured settlement company" and "the leader in structured settlements".
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