by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Patrick Hindert’s Blatant Mischaracterization
Why has the structured settlement blogger and seminal text co-author blatantly mischaracterized the bailout of AIG as a component of a “structured settlement liquidity crisis”
Hindert’s missive appears in blog post putatively about the annual meeting of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers? The post is a very good read, in my opinion, until Hindert’s squeaky “brain fart”.
Hindert states:
“Both the primary and the secondary structured settlement markets were devastated by the 2008 financial crisis which:
- Temporarily shut down asset-backed securities markets including securities backed by structured settlement payment rights.
- Created an industry liquidity crisis which resulted in:
- J.G. Wentworth, the largest secondary market company, entering bankruptcy in 2009.
- AIG, the largest primary market company, receiving a financial bailout from the U.S. government in 2008 and 2009.
- Both Wentworth and AIG have subsequently recovered and regained their respective market leadership roles”.
Characterizing the AIG entity which received a 2008 Bailout as a structured settlement “Primary Market Company” is misleading
The educational materials distributed by AIG’s annuity issuing subsidiaries to settlement industry professionals (presumably including Pat Hindert) made the relationship between companies clear, with particular emphasis on the security of the long term promises made to structured settlement annuitants.
⭐ FACT: None of the AIG structured settlement annuity issuers received a bailout in 2008
Neither American General Life Insurance Company, American International Life Assurance Company of New York (now United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York) received a bailout.
The structured settlement annuity issuers continued to write business, albeit at a lower volume due to public fears, both rational and irrational. Some of the irrational fears were stoked by predatory solicitation of AIG annuitants by opportunists in the structured settlement secondary market/ factoring industry.
⭐ FACT: History has shown that those sucked into the “Cash now for AIG” vortex in 2008 likely made very bad financial decisions.
They received pennies on the dollar at fire sale prices when calmer heads would have lost absolutely nothing.
Leave a Reply