by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
North Haledon, NJ based* American Asset Finance, LLC makes the Structured Settlement Advertising Wall of Shame this week and Jon Corzine and Insurance commissioner Steven M. Goldman and other licensed structured settlement brokers in New Jersey should know about why. Should you happen to put “settlement annuity quote, NJ or “structured settlement annuity quote, NJ” into the Google or AOL search engine American Asset Finance, LLC comes up #1 in the natural listings.
Sour grapes you say?
” Structured Settlement/ Annuity Quote Request application” along with the address of the company and a link to the following form Download online.ss.app american asset finance 8212006.pdf
American Asset Finance, LLC is not listed as having an active insurance license
So how is it, Commissioner Steven M. Goldman, that this company, American Asset Finance, LLC, which is apparently run by lawyers admitted to the New Jersey Bar, is permitted to imply that they are insurance licensed (required to give structured settlement annuity quotes) to the consumers in your state, as well as other states?
Why Licensing Exists
For Insurance (including annuties)
- Consumer Protection: Licensing ensures that only qualified, trained, and compliant individuals and companies can sell insurance in New Jersey, reducing the risk of unqualified or unethical sales practices The Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey.
- Based on the most recent publicly available state‑wide licensed insurance agent counts, New Jersey had approximately 15,787 life and health insurance producers (including life insurance agents) in 2006 Insurance Agent Lists. This figure comes from the “Licensed Insurance Agent Database Counts by State and Type of Insurance License” dataset, which aggregates data from the National Insurance Producer Registry and state licensing systems.
I, among more than 15,000 others, followed the rules to register and pay money for my LLC to be licensed in your State as well as for my individual insurance license. I also know many other structured settlement brokers and insurance agents who also register and pay such fees.
Why are compliant licensed individuals and companies required to pay fee, when certain unlicensed individuals or firms are permitted to use terms of solicitation for which we need to have a license and must meet standards of continuing education?
To be clear, I’m not saying that I or others should not pay a fee. That is the cost of doing business. But if you let others imply to consumers that they give “annuity quotes” without a license then it’s an unfair trade practice affecting hundreds of individuals, not to mention a source of confusion for the residents of the State of New Jersey that affects thousands of registered voters!
Take another good look at the search engine result below for “settlement annuity, NJ and “structured settlement annuity, nj” and give it some thought. How would you interpret that as a consumer?
STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT/ANNUITY QUOTE REQUEST APPLICATION
535 High Mountain Road, North Haledon, NJ 07508. (888) 277-4467 (toll free) … STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT/ANNUITY QUOTE REQUEST APPLICATION. Name:. Address: …
* at the time of posting. American Asset Finance later moved to West Milford NJ
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