Kudos to AIG American General which today released a statement admonishing its structured settlement agents about releasing protected and/or confidential information to factoring companies and the consequences for doing so. Structured Settlements Real covered this issue in my blog posts linked below.
What some firms are doing?
I've learned that two firms use a form of release executed by the annuitant. I've obtained a copy of this document and it is posted here (without the name of the company that purportedly uses it)
Download AUTHORIZATIONTORELEASEANNUITYCONTRACTINFORMATION-Clean.doc
Interesting approach, perhaps myopic and maybe insufficient
Say you partipated in a confidential settlement and the release contained language concerning the non disclsoure or non publication of the terms of the settlement. The above linked document is only a release from the annuitant. How about a release from the released party? If you are the structured settlement broker or settllement planner who represented the plaintiff in the underlying case, and even though you were not the signatory of the release, you were the agent of the person who signed and certainly aware of the provision. What exposure does the plaintiff, the plaintiff attorney and the plaintiff broker have as a result of the disclosure?
Look for other annuity issuers to follow AIG's leadership on this issue.
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