by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Due to the pathetic lack of regulation of advertising practices, factoring companies are not required to list the name and address of their company on their websites. This has led to the posting of testimonials on some websites for which the legitimate ownership cannot be easily determined. Lack of transparency is very bad for consumers, particularly a vulnerable consumer in financial trouble who may have limited Internet skills.
If we take the example of Boardwalk Funding Group whose pay per click ads come up in a Google Search today…
- The "about us" section lists no officers or names of key employees.
- There is no company address listed on the website.
- The owners of the website domain name use a privacy service to conceal their identities.
- A call to the company's listed phone number at 3 separate times leads to voice mail that requires you to leave a message despite the statement in the voice mail greeting that the company is open from 6am to 6pm
- The notation at the bottom of the website states "lead generation website" which raises a red flag
- If one traces the "direct phone number" listed on the website it has an area code for Salem Oregon.
- A search of the Oregon Secretary of State for a business look up on July 5, 2011, finds Boardwalk Funding and a Carlsbad California address for Christopher S. Nicholson and Brian C. Meagher (principal place of business 6353 El Camino Real Suite C Carlsbad CA 92009) and a registry date of July 11, 2006.
- A search of the California Secretary of State records July 5, 2011 shows that the company filed its corporate registration August 16, 2004 but that the registration has been suspended Download Boardwalk Funding Business Search – California Business Entities – Business Programs
- The company lists no privacy policy even though they ask for your phone number and email address.
Boardwalk Funding Group may very well provide a legitimate service, but why the need for secrecy when you are dealing with what for some is a life impacting financial decision? I personally would not do business with an entity that does not clearly state its principal place of business on its website.
Here are a couple of doozies from the website:
A. Numerous factors influence the value of your settlement, including the amount of your current payments and your personal financial objectives.
What this dreadfully worded ad copy implies to me is that the more desperate you are the more you're gonna get hosed. In reality the value of your settlement is determined on a macro level by the marketplace. If you shop around and get competing quotes from companies that list their principal place of business on their website and/or a factoring auction site that also lists its place of business, you will have a better understanding of the amount of cash you can raise by selling structured settlement payment rights.
B. Boardwalk Funding Group states "A structured settlement typically arises as a result of a lawsuit from a personal injury claim, wrongful death or lawsuits where its owner receives fixed or periodic payments over time. Other examples include:
- Insurance settlements
- Lottery winnings
- Annuities
- Trust Funds"
The statement is misleading. The reality is that a structured settlement is funded with a structured settlement annuity or United States Treasury obligations, neither of which are owned by the structured settlement payee. The structured settlement payee is the owner of structured settlement payment rights. This is an important distinction. Lottery winnings, Trust Funds and regular annuities ARE NOT structured settlements as Boardwalk Funding Group mischaracterizes. The following flow chart explains the structured settlement process where a structured annuity or annuities are qualified funding assets.
"Under the Boardwalk down on mo-neeee, yeah
Structured settlement cash flow is where I''ll be"
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