by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
The structured settlement factoring industry are iron chefs of Bollocks Bolognaise. The cash now for structured settlement market's advertising is over-sauced with unrealistic faux "pots of gold" that are misleading and unfair projections on potential sellers receiving structured settlement annuity payments.
Kirk Hughes of Settlement Capital has a number of posts on the Factoring Channel blog under his "Urban Legends" category. I would like to thank Kirk for his posts since they support my arguments. He states that "the average purchase price for a factoring transaction on a structured settlement can range between $25,000 and $45,000 depending on the financial needs of the seller and the size of the annuity policy." If this is indeed the case then, save Kirk's company and a few others , much of the factoring industry's advertising is an "urban legend". You simply can't buy what they're advertising with that small an amount, perhaps even if you looked in Nicaragua or Costa Rica.
Consider the following "bollocks bolognaise":
Peachtree Settlement Funding-Pictures of beach front homes, a goofy woman hiding behind fanned out wads of cash
321 Henderson Guiding the Structured Settlement Industry over the last 10 years FALSE
123 Lump Sum-Unrealistic beach front home, classless commercial
FDR Resources/Money Now/Allways Funding claims to have a structured settlement quote form FALSE– Should read Structured Settlement Factoring Quote Form [ Update: No longer in business]
JG Wentworth and Stone Street Capital state on their websites that you can be "awarded a structured settlement" FALSE
Accelerated Capital Funding Did you win a structured settlement or structured annuity in a lawsuit? FALSE
Stone Street Capital "There are many issues involved with structured settlement transactions, and the process needlessly intimidates many people. Our staff of highly trained professionals understands your concerns and is here to help when you have questions about a specific product offer or service." Stone Street Capital omits the key word "factoring" and presents the urban legend that they are a licensed insurance broker involved in structured settlement transactions. In fact they are involved in factoring transactions not structured settlement transactions.
JG Wentworth "The fact is, people who have certain financial assets are often forced to wait to receive the full value." FALSE This JG Wentworth Urban legend used as an inducement for people to sell their payment rights through JG Wentworth is not true and by selling your structured settlement payment rights you are not receiving full value. You are receiving a discounted amount off the present value. That message is not clear in the advertising. JG Wentworth is not alone in this regard.
Dos Coyotes Funding is still howling about selling your structured settlement payments to fund your retirement. And the cow jumped over the moon! And of course what factoring ad wouldn't be complete without the old folks walking on the beach "without a care in the world." [ Update Appears to no longer be in business]
Virginia Dunn, Diversfied Cash Flow Specialist "Here is their pitch: By structuring the payments of an injury award over time, the insurance company is providing long-term support for the injured party, thereby keeping them off of welfare. By keeping these people off of the roles of government subsidy, insurance companies are providing a valuable public service – hence, they should qualify for tax breaks. Obviously our government agrees. Obviously, there are a lot of holes in this philosophy. The first one that comes to mind is this – Structured settlements include annuity payments to the injured party which are tax free. They are NOT reported to the government as income. Since there is no record of these payments, what is to stop the recipient from going on welfare anyway? Don't rely on the urban legend of Diversified Cash Schmo Ginny Dumb! Clearly she's not aware that on every structured settlement application there is requirement to gather and record the social security number of the annuitant. So guess what, big brother knows! And if the person is the type to be "going on welfare anyway" then they should stick with the structured settlement.
Fairfund Financial Group "It’s your money, so keep more of it". The irony of this "Far Flung Financial Poop" is that they solicit you to sell your payments on the one hand when you actually keep less of your money by factoring because you are receiving a discounted amount of cash for the future payment rights that you are factoring (selling)
What Kirk is doing is good, which is attempting, through education, to separate the good from the bad in the factoring industry. I certainly wouldn't want to be painted with the same brush as a competitor who was sending the wrong message to the public.
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