by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
NSSTA Gets Tough
By getting tough with membership qualifications that are consistent with its mission, the National Structured Settlement Trade Association ( NSSTA) has underscored its mission statement to its members and provided credibility reassurance to the members of the public. The primary mission of NSSTA is to "promote the establishment and preservation of structured settlements in order to provide long-term financial security to personal injury claimants and their families through periodic payment of compensation".
NSSTA membership is "only available to a business organization or individual that is (a) engaged in activities that advance the Association's mission and (b) is not engaged directly, or through a third party, in other activities that are incompatible with its mission."
The aggressive efforts of certain settlement purchasers to recruit lucrative new sources of leads to solicit structured settlement factoring business while simultaneously exhibiting high profile predatory and abusive advertising practices, on the Internet and elsewhere, are clearly incompatible with NSSTA's mission.
I have previously excoriated another industry trade association, The Society of Settlement Planners (SSP), whose 20 or so professional members are primarily structured settlement brokers, for taking in money from such organizations combined with a display of overall impotence of its past leadership in dealing with this problem. Fortunately the NSSTA Board of Directors has been sufficiently aroused on this issue to see the big picture and take action.
I have yet to find plaintiff attorneys who look favorably on their structured settlement brokers turning around and factoring the structured settlements they have created for the attorney's clients. Plaintiff attorneys and their plaintiff clients, defendants and insurers, may even have exposure if their structured settlement broker or settlement planner supplies files or conveys information subject to a confidentiality agreement to a factoring company representative-even if the plaintiff provides consent. Most confidentiality agreements do not contain language that permits a unilateral breach of the agreement for the purpose of factoring structured settlement payment rights.
Actively soliciting and promoting structured settlement factoring transactions (to individuals who are receiving periodic payments under structured settlements) by NSSTA members is clearly a no-no.
Sharing information and documentation about existing structured settlements with, or using such information to solicit factoring transactions for, an entity engaged in structured settlement factoring transactions with respect to individuals receiving payments under structured settlements is considered another incompatible activity.
Using the status of NSSTA membership and NSSTA communication channels to facilitate structured settlement factoring transaction and selling payee names/addresses or other identifying information to an entity engaged in structured settlement factoring transactions are also no-nos.
It is my personal opinion that the structured settlement industry and its members should not patronize, support or enable any company or representative of any company whose advertising and business practices serve to undermine or attempted to undermine the brands, message delivery and the goodwill we have collectively created.
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