by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
What 10TopTenReviews Claims It Does
10TopTenReviews claims "just like our name suggests, we (they) review products. For over 14 years, we’ve been one of the largest and most comprehensive product review sites on the web…". Top Ten Reviews claims they're " a little different from other product review sites in that each one of our product groupings are displayed in an easy-to-follow format. While we may have researched dozens of products in a category, we’ll only show you the best picks because who has time to wade through hundreds of products in an industry? Our reviews are the perfect combination of product comparison, expert analysis and industry data so you can find the right product for you"
Why 10TopTenReviews of Structured Settlement Annuity Companies 2018 is a Fraud on Consumers
Eli McCormick, the writer for "Top 10 Reviews" is not a structured settlement expert.
Eli McCormick
- holds no relevant professional licenses or credentials
- as is evident by the reckless and inaccurate information published, cannot properly articulate fundamental financial concepts such as discount rate
- none of the companies reviewed by McCormick is in fact a structured settlement annuity company.
- annuitants who turn to the structured settlement payment buyers for liquidity are not selling an annuity, they are receiving cash in exchange for the transfer if structured settlement payment rights.
- McCormick fraudulently claims that "When you sell your structured annuity, you give up future value for present gain". First of all you are not selling an annuity you are selling structured settlement payment rights and second, selling your structured settlement is never a gain, It is always a money losing value proposition.
- I critiqued the 2017 version of the same bogus review and Eli McCormick obviously hasn't learned anything. What a pity for consumers.
- The disclaimer says 10TopTenReviews " were not able to evaluate rates and fees, since they depend so much on the specific details of each settlement, thereby making the statement of "the most comprehensive reviews" misleading.
Consider this 10TopTenReviews' "mule muffin"…
"The discount rate represents the amount the company deducts from the total of your structured settlement. While it may sound like a simple percentage, it is much more complicated than that. The discount rate assumes that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future and applies that principle to the payments you're selling.
Take the example above of a $100,000 settlement that is sold for between $30,000 and $50,000. This implies a discount rate of 50 to 70 percent. But discount rates typically range from 8 to 18 percent and can sometimes be as high as 30 percent.
The math doesn't seem to add up, and this is because the structured settlement company applies a different discount rate to each payment depending on how far into the future the payment is. Therefore, next month's payment has a different discount rate than a payment five years from now".
What is a discount rate?
A discount rate is a rate used for discounting future cash flows. When calculating net present value there is a single discount rate applied to each cash flow. As a result, the present value of each cash flow varies because of the time period. The present value of short term cash flows will be higher than ones farther out.
With a structured settlement factoring transaction, the most relevant discount rate is the effective discount rate, which takes into account all of the costs and expenses of the deal.
10TopTen Reviews Credibility Sapped by Serious Allegations Against Companies Listed in Its "Top 10"
One of the companies listed in the 2018 Top 10 is Seneca One. Seneca One is one of the companies alleged to financially exploited a paralyzed Staten Island Ferry victim. See In re: Assignment of Certain Structured Settlement Payments of James V McMillan 2013 CA0007 [Sumter County Florida]. SEneca one specialized in running scam national structured settlement registry programs for structured settlement annuitants that were little more than ways to grab non public information.
Another company Novation has a terrible reputation for exploiting minorities like Cedric Martez Thomas Thomas and Junior Matos
Neither Seneca One nor Novation is a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers, a further showing of the shortcomings of 10TopTen Reviews shoddy research.