by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Imperial Structured Settlements needs to work on its value proposition, in my opinion.
Imperial's latest social media gaffe called "The Power of Helping People with Structured Settlement Money" is irresponsible in its inaccuracy and amateurish in its presentation.
The following statements made by Imperial Structured Settlements show a fundamental lack of understanding by the person who wrote the missive on their behalf as well as the person whose responsibilty it was to review and edit it.
- "Paying parties use this to their advantage by setting up annuities, as it allows them to NOT have to deposit a lump sum equal to your structured settlement, but instead make a lump sum that is smaller than the structured settlement you were awarded"
- "An annuity is a financial tool created to make fixed payments over a specific period of time. They work like your savings account, factoring interest rates and future value of money".
Comments
- Structured settlements are negotiated voluntary agreements.
- The laws of the state of Florida require a disclosure of the cost of the structured settlement when the structured settlement is established. Similar laws are on the books in Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts. The statement published by Imperial Structured Settlements shows ignorance of the facts.
- There are at least 17 instances of the "letter A with a party hat" (an "A-circonflex") peppered throughout the Imperial Structured Settlements text. We've included it in the excerpts to show you how amateurish it looks.
- Interest rates are applied to the balances in savings accounts. The manner of calculation may vary depending on the institution. Annuities are not savings accounts. Future value of money does not come into it. A Structured settlement offers tax advantages to the payee that savings accounts do not.
- Surely with the spreads that Imperial charges the company can afford to hire more competent copywriters and editors.
- There's more to say but why waste more time on what is just slop.
Moving on to the Imperial's value proposition. There is clearly room for improvement.
A. Competitive Pricing for consumers
Imperial Structured Settlements has been known what I refer to as a "low hanging fruit grabber", an opportunist with high discount rates that appears to target those who do not shop around. In researching for an August 2011 blog post, we discovered that Imperial Holdings Q2 2011 filing showed a weighted average discount rate of 18.3%
B. "Magnaminity" That Is Insensitive
- Imperial Structured Settlements played The "Sandy" Card
- During the 2008 economic crisis, amidst a nation's suffering, Imperial tastelessly issued a press release in which it flaunted the company's lavish spending on an employee trip to the Gansevoort Hotel in South Beach when their business is all about paying discounted sums of money to tort victims who, in some cases, need cash so badly so they don't lose their homes.
C. Social Media Gaffes
Imperial Structured Settlements, in its Summer 2012 social media drive, discussed financial nutrition using an image of artery clogging baskets of bacon.
Imperial Structured Settlements promoted the "Make Your Money Work For You" fallacy
D. Unauthorized copying of the works of others
Imperial Structured Settlements copied our April 2, 2012 blog post in its entirety, without authorization.
E. Value for Money?
Parent company Imperial Holdings Lost 84.19% for its IPO investors in 2011.
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In addition to his structured settlement and settlement planning practice, John Darer has served as the de facto Structured Settlement Watchdog since 2005.
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