Structured Settlements 4Real: What's Real News in the Structured Settlements, Settlement Planning, Consulting and Lawsuit Recovery Space?

Hartford Life downgraded to "A" (Excellent) by AM Best & Company

AM Best & Company has downgraded the financial strength rating of Hartford Life Insurance Company to A (Excellent) from A+ (Superior). The change was effective February 27, 2009.

Attorneys settling their clients' cases with Hartford Fire are aware, often to their chagrin, that Hartford requires that any structured settlements from settlements involving Hartford insureds be placed with Hartford Life Insurance Company. It will be interesting to see what if anything changes in this regard as the result of the downgrade.

Click here for the full story as reported in Earth Times

Structured Settlement Process... Forge Consulting Has Ass Backwards

"Once this agreement is made,  (Step 1) the defendant funds a stream of payments to the plaintiff, according to specific needs. In most cases,  (Step 2) the defendant then transfers the responsibility to a "qualified assignment," which (Step 3) funds the damage payments with an annuity".  FAQ on  Forge Consulting website 2/28/2009

The Structured Settlement Process Generally (after negotiations)
Step 1 Promise to Pay by Defendant and/or its insurer(s)
Step 2 Qualified Assignment (or non qualified assignment, if involving taxable/non qualified damages)
Step 3 Qualified Assignee Purchases Annuity or United States government obligations if a United States Treasury Bond Structured Settlement

A "qualified assignment" is not an entity as Forge Consulting suggests

Spooner Phillips, a principal of Forge Consulting was appointed by the NSSTA Board of Directors to be in charge of membership of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association. It's bad enough that that NSSTA has compromised its code of ethics in appointing Phillips who 4 years ago signed an affidavit to the United States Department of Justice attesting under perjury to one thing that controverted what he and his partners advertised to plaintiffs and trial lawyers. Now as to the above, as the face of NSSTA, shouldn't Spooner Phillips and his company be setting an example when it comes to financial literacy?

Structured Settlement History Comes With Patrick Hindert's Dyasthema

S2KM's flaccid swing at structured settlement history ignores the United States Treasury Bond strucured settlement trust and follows the trend of gap toothed time lines fashioned by the Terrace Park pedant such as the AIG structured settelment timeline S2KM published in September 2008.

Incredibly at the same time Hindert is promoting an alternative to a business model that barely exists today S2KM's  structured settlement history timeline has ignored significant pieces of structured settlement history:

1. According to one of this author's respected former colleagues, a United States Treasury Bond structured settlement was part of the resolution at least one claim emanating from the American Airlines DC10 crash in Chicago which occurred May 25, 1979.
2. The Schultz Brothers were one pioneers of Treasury based structured settlements. Would an aviation history chart be complete without the Wright Brothers?
3. IRC 130(d), in effect in January 1983, permits obligations of the United States government as a "qualified funding asset". HIndert only mentions "annuity financing" in S2KM's chart.
4. The following Life Insurance Companies offered United States Treasury Bond Structured Settlements over the years: GE Capital, New York Life, Allstate
5. The Halpern Group received its IRS Private Letter Ruling on its United States Treasury Bond Structured Settlements in 1996 and still offers the product.

Why does S2KM (Hindert) continually cite the flawed "structured settlement history" chart on which he collaborated with Phil Burtoft? This was most recently cited in S2KM's  "Settlement Consulting-4"

Link to S2KM (Patrick HIndert) flawed structured settlement history chart which was designed apparently to promote factoring or transfer of structured settlement payment rights (see tags on right side of the chart).

Structured Settlements In California... The Truth About Julie-Ann Amos

This UK based shill for Prosperity Partners has written "The Truth About Structured Settlement Awards". Her Linked In profile shows all sorts of interesting things including the unfortunate proof that Julie-Ann Amos has no bona fides on the subject of structured settlements.

Factoring company Prosperity Partners has registered a number of state specific web domains including structuredsettlementscalifornia.com. Even though it has its own talented writers, it seems to be hiring content generators to compete with the content being generated by "primary market" commentators. The problem with hiring ghost writers who have no background in your subject is that the lack of background may result in errors and factual inaccuracies which reflect poorly on your company. Moreover, it puts you on the radar of the stuctured settlement watchdog.

I would also like to stress to content generators like Julie-Ann Amos that if you intend to write about structured settlements you better research what you write, or you will be open to critique.

The author of "Hacking Reality," Amos,  incorrectly states that "The total amount a court awards a plaintiff in a structured settlement is actually a life-time worth of payments, and not a sum the insurance company issues a one-time check for. It’s true, over time, you do get the total amount of the settlement, but you receive it in small increments which some people find just isn’t enough to make ends meet. You do have options however.

Comments

1. Structured settlement is a settlement not an award. That's why it's called a structured settlement and not a structured award.
2. Structured settlement may include a  "life-time worth of payments" if  a life annuity is agreed to. There are many other types of structured settlement payments.
3. Amos' sentence construction masks the fact that the insurance company (or if applicable qualified settlement fund trustee or administrator) DOES issue a one time check to a qualified assignment company which includes the cost of the single premium structured settlement annuity.
4. Passing off Julie-Ann Amos' piece as "the truth about structured settlement awards" is a poor reflection on Prosperity Partners. The company is more than capable of writing its own factually based content.

Julie Ann Amos posts are flooding the Internet on Prosperity Partners blogs in Georgia, New York, Arizona, Illinois as part of Prosperity partner's blitzkreig strategy. Once again  Julie Ann Amos (picture above) has no credentials that qualify her as a structured settlement expert. She is simply a content generator, nothing more.

468B QSF Settlement Consulting

Patrick Hindert's pedantic demagoguery of the day focuses on a new concept which he labels 468B QSF settlement consulting. The concept ostensibly involves the standard use of a 468B QSF trust fund that in many cases adds needless extra cost to a settlement transaction.

As a settlement consultant who hold the credentials of Chartered Financial Consultant,  Registered Settlement Planner, Chartered Life Underwriter and Certified Structured Settlement Consultant, who has considered himself a settlement consultant long before the concept was co-opted by Hindert last week, I find it hard to believe that Joe DiGangi as President of Millennium Settlements had Hindert's interpretation in mind when he made his presentation at the NSSTA Regional meeting in Orlando last month.

Hindert continues to focus on what he calls "the claim management model", a term of scribble that appears to ignore the "real estate model" that seems have been adopted throughout the majority of the industry.

The "real estate model"  which operates on the premise that all parties deserve representation, includes the secondary structured settlement market,  and includes non qualified structured settlements. For pedant's sake,  the parent of a major defense oriented firm obtained a private letter ruling on non qualified structured settlements!  Moreover, the "real estate model" does not ignore IRC 468B QSFs and recognizes payees as other than injury victims (for example when special needs trusts and medicare set aside trusts come into play).

But why don't we address the corpulent slobbering "Flabby The Gut" in the middle of the room, that all structured settlement models DO NOT IGNORE what Hindert and the factoring industry deem the structured settlement secondary market. To the contrary, the structured settlement transparency initiative was adopted by less than 5% of the structured settlement industry.  While I may not like this particular brand of sheets, the structured settlement industry has made its bed. The structured settlement industry HAS adopted factoring and in a big way. Many have just not come out of the closet on the issue. As disclosed by Rhonda Bentzen, the heavyweight champion for factoring embedded in the structured settlement industry, many of its members  she works with (90%) receive fees for consulting on structured settlement factoring transactions, even though such fees may not be disclosed or advertised as services on their websites or marketing materials. Today some settlement consultants work with factoring companies to offer loans to attorneys who structure their fees.

Factoring is apparently such big business for the structured settlement industry that the majority of its members are willing to soft shoe the marketing practices of the factoring industry. Factoring also offers significant business opportunities to many lawyers and law firms for insurance companies and secondary market companies. I'm not passing judgment. This is the reality. Does anyone dispute these facts? 

Cash Now Question Should Go To Federal Trade Commission

The focal point of the cash now advertising fraud is the where the cash NOW emphasis is placed. Is the cash NOW emphasis placed on what the consumer needs versus the advertiser's promise and ability to deliver what they advertise?

I don't think there's any question that a consumer could be in a situation where they need cash NOW. When the consumer needs cash NOW, or perceives that he or she needs cash NOW don't they need it at once, today or yesterday? Otherwise why wouldn't they think I need cash tomorrow or I need cash in 90 days?  Cash NOW implies immediately or "at once" as is in the dictionary definition.

Looking at some examples of the use of NOW...

When your mother said to spit the gum out NOW, did she mean in 60 days?  When your mother said stop hitting your sibling NOW, did she mean you could continue whaling on him for a few more minutes? When the teacher said to hand in your test NOW, did she mean you could take it home and  let the dog eat it?  When on the way home from the party at 1am you get pulled over and  the policeman barks "step out of the car NOW and put your hands on the hood" (after you've been speeding at 80mph and weaving all over the road) does that mean when let's wait until the sun rises?

The cash now pusher's defense of the practice tends to be a weak  "depends on on what you mean by cash now". Most concede that even though they say "cash now" they cannot deliver "cash now" as the advertising would lead any person reading or watching the advertising to expect.  After they get 'em in the door with the false cash NOW claim some say they make the disclosure that it isn't actually delivered NOW. Where's the "fine print" in the advertisement?

If cash now pushers cannot do the right thing up front then there needs to be an "intervention". Shouldn't Cash NOW pushers  be put through their own form of rehab by enforcement action from the Federal Trade Commission.

It is high time for this issue to be escalated to the Federal Trade Commission so the FTC can determine if the advertising is misleading. We're talking about the majority of an industry that practices this abuse. I for one would like a front row seat to see what the FTC thinks about Peachtree Settlement Funding's outrageous claim that they can give you "ALL your money now"(in exchange for your structured settlement payment rights).

Structured Settlement Thought For The Day

Regarding competition in today's environment... … you don't simply want just the low cost bid on parachutes, life preservers, life insurance OR structured annuities.

No More Rated Ages From Allstate Life Insurance Company

Allstate Life is discontinuing medical underwriting for both qualified and non-qualified business. Allstate's decision to no longer issue rated ages is said to be due to high underwriting volumes and low placement rates.

Rated age is an important cost factor in a structured settlement which includes a lifetime annuity as one of its components. Allstate's decision affects plaintiff's of all types, attorneys who wish to structure attorney fees, structured sales with a life annuity component and other non qualified structured settlements.

The use of rated ages in MSA submissions to CMS has handicapped the underwriting departments at many structured settlement annuity issuers where they must pay medical staff for what ends up as low ROI business. Several years ago Allstate Life was the first to state that it would not take any rated age requests for workers compensation cases.

In a release to appointed brokers Allstate Life stated that contracts will be issued for cases with rated ages only if:

The request for a new rated age or the request for a renewal of an expiring rated age or the request for a second look has been received by Underwriting no later than Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Despite this development Allstate Life states that it remains committed to the structured settlement industry.

Most Popular Structured Settlement Websites February 2009

Three Month Trailing Top 10 Traffic Rank (Alexa Rank as of 02/25/2009) of Structured Settlement and Settlement Planning Industry websites* (+ or- traffic from 01/25/2009 report). Lower number means more traffic (e.g. Yahoo.com is ranked 1 in the overall scheme)

Who Are Ya?

1. Structured Settlements 4Real Blog (John Darer) 830,985+
2. Beyond Structured Settlements Blog (Pat Hindert) 953,196+
3. Structured Settlement Services 2,925,499+
4. 4structures.com, LLC 3,057,556-
5. National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) 3,887,304-
6. Ringler Associates, Inc. 4,548,039-
7. The James Street Group 4,650,063+
8. EPS Settlements Group 4,851,208-
9. Structured Financial Associates 5,940,057+
10. Millennium Settlements 6,706,071+

 *Daniel Alvarez, JD, from Delta Settlements, who contributes to a Settlement Blog at Claris.com and HIgh Impact Structures, LLC have been omitted from the search results as their ISPs do not differentiate between them and the ISP itself.

FAST FACT: A November 5-6 2008 Zogby poll found that 37.6% of those asked consider the Internet the most reliable source of news.  Source: Media Bistro

Structured Settlement Websites-WHERE Are Ya? Three Month Trailing -Laggards Rank (+ or -Alexa traffic rank of 01/25/2009)*

Delta Settlements 6,827,412+

Speaking of Settlements  8,988,310+

Davis Settlement Partners 9,124,866+

Huver  9,183,955+

National Settlement Consultants 9,233,698-

Creative Capital, Inc. 9,306,961-

Settlement Professionals 10,924,989+

Forge Consulting, LLC 11,273,277-

Lesti Settlements 11,885,852-

Speaking of Settlements 12,499,277+

Atlas Settlements Group 16,828,265-

The Settlement Plan (Lazarus) 17,703,910-

The Settlement Channel 19,524,441-

Settlement Services Group (Garretson) 20,019,166-

Summit Structured Settlements 24,137,375-

Survey of structured settlement website traffic only covers USA websites of the creation side of structured settlements, including professional or associate members of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) or Society of Settlement Planners, Inc. (whether individuals or firms), the association websites and alternative structured settlement periodic payment providers. Structured Settlements 4Real no longer publishes the names of unranked websites

ONGOING STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT WEBSITE STANDINGS (this structured settlement survey began in April 2007)

Times Ranked #1 in 3 month structured settlement website traffic, as measured by Alexa: 

• Beyond Structured Settlements blog 12
• Structured Settlements 4Real blog 9
• Ringler Associates 1

Times Ranked #2 in 3 month structured settlement website traffic, as measured by Alexa:

• Structured Settlements 4Real blog 13
• 4structures.com, LLC 5 
• Beyond Structured Settlements 3
• Ringler Associates 1

Looks like the IFS Group of companies has been doing some SEO recently. If your company is not ranked high enough, consistently on the "where are ya" list or consistently unranked it's time to realize that nobody knows who you are on the Internet. Consider yourself urged on by Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend.

Further survey criteria: Companies whose primary business is structured settlement factoring transactions are not counted in this survey because: (i) despite the propaganda and efforts of some to "frame" them otherwise, they are NOT part of the structured settlement industry- they are part of the cash flow, factoring or settlement purchasing industry; and (ii) the additional purpose of this survey is to identify legitimate sources of information for tort victims, their families, consumers, attorneys, judges or companies seeking structured settlements and the structured settlement brokers, certified structured settlement consultants, settlement planners, appointed structured settlement companies and agencies, United States Treasury structured settlement providers, or other financial professionals, who have the ability to deliver this information

Three Month Trailing Top 10 Traffic Rank (Alexa Rank as of 02/25/2009) of Structured Settlement and Settlement Planning Industry websites* (+ or- traffic from 01/25/2009 report). Lower number means more traffic (e.g. Yahoo.com is ranked 1 in the overall scheme)

Who Are Ya?

1. Structured Settlements 4Real Blog (John Darer) 830,985+
2. Beyond Structured Settlements Blog (Pat Hindert) 953,196+
3. Structured Settlement Services 2,925,499+
4. 4structures.com, LLC 3,057,556-
5. National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) 3,887,304-
6. Ringler Associates, Inc. 4,548,039-
7. The James Street Group 4,650,063+
8. EPS Settlements Group 4,851,208-
9. Structured Financial Associates 5,940,057+
10. Millennium Settlements 6,706,071+

 *Daniel Alvarez, JD, from Delta Settlements, who contributes to a Settlement Blog at Claris.com and HIgh Impact Structures, LLC have been omitted from the search results as their ISPs do not differentiate between them and the ISP itself.

FAST FACT: A November 5-6 2008 Zogby poll found that 37.6% of those asked consider the Internet the most reliable source of news.  Source: Media Bistro

Structured Settlement Websites-WHERE Are Ya? Three Month Trailing -Laggards Rank (+ or -Alexa traffic rank of 01/25/2009)*

Delta Settlements 6,827,412+

Speaking of Settlements  8,988,310+

Davis Settlement Partners 9,124,866+

Huver  9,183,955+

National Settlement Consultants 9,233,698-

Creative Capital, Inc. 9,306,961-

Settlement Professionals 10,924,989+

Forge Consulting, LLC 11,273,277-

Lesti Settlements 11,885,852-

Speaking of Settlements 12,499,277+

Atlas Settlements Group 16,828,265-

The Settlement Plan (Lazarus) 17,703,910-

The Settlement Channel 19,524,441-

Settlement Services Group (Garretson) 20,019,166-

Summit Structured Settlements 24,137,375-

Survey of structured settlement website traffic only covers USA websites of the creation side of structured settlements, including professional or associate members of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) or Society of Settlement Planners, Inc. (whether individuals or firms), the association websites and alternative structured settlement periodic payment providers. Structured Settlements 4Real no longer publishes the names of unranked websites

ONGOING STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT WEBSITE STANDINGS (this structured settlement survey began in April 2007)

Times Ranked #1 in 3 month structured settlement website traffic, as measured by Alexa: 

• Beyond Structured Settlements blog 12
• Structured Settlements 4Real blog 9
• Ringler Associates 1

Times Ranked #2 in 3 month structured settlement website traffic, as measured by Alexa:

• Structured Settlements 4Real blog 13
• 4structures.com, LLC 5 
• Beyond Structured Settlements 3
• Ringler Associates 1

Looks like the IFS Group of companies has been doing some SEO recently. If your company is not ranked high enough, consistently on the "where are ya" list or consistently unranked it's time to realize that nobody knows who you are on the Internet. Consider yourself urged on by Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend.

Further survey criteria: Companies whose primary business is structured settlement factoring transactions are not counted in this survey because: (i) despite the propaganda and efforts of some to "frame" them otherwise, they are NOT part of the structured settlement industry- they are part of the cash flow, factoring or settlement purchasing industry; and (ii) the additional purpose of this survey is to identify legitimate sources of information for tort victims, their families, consumers, attorneys, judges or companies seeking structured settlements and the structured settlement brokers, certified structured settlement consultants, settlement planners, appointed structured settlement companies and agencies, United States Treasury structured settlement providers, or other financial professionals, who have the ability to deliver this information

Imperial Structured Settlements Queen's Kumbaya Misses The Point

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Cash Now pusher Imperial Stuctured Settlements has issued a press release in response to "disreputable industry blogs".

It states "buzz surrounding seedy blogs posted about structured settlement and annuity factoring companies has grown dramatically over the past year. These blogs generate a confusing and daunting challenge for those searching for facts. Providing purely biased views, bloggers offer bad advice, lack industry experience, and more often than being misleading – they just get things wrong.

Queen Deborah Benaim stated “There’s an overwhelming amount of negative articles published in the news and on blogs, especially about our industry.”

“What these bloggers fail to mention is that by selling a portion of future payments these people are able to raise money today to make a better life.”

“So, I decided to launch a book club to boost employee moral (sic) and provide time to engage in thought provoking conversations,” continued  Benaim. “I thought the club would be a great way to stir up some positive energy and bond the team.”

Surely Ms. Benaim and her minions know by now that there is no dispute about the value of liquidity in desperate times or the legality of structured settlement factoring transactions. The focal point of the dispute however, is and always has been the advertising practices, the lack of regulation of factoring advertising practices, keyword manipulation, creating confusion by including factoring  of structured settlements and other annuities in the same text, and the factoring industry's unwillingness to put some elbow grease into addressing these overlapping issues.

The notion that Cash Now is a fraud is supported by the video testimony of Earl Nesbitt, the General Counsel of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP), the trade association cited to on the Imperial Structured Settlements web site " that determines best practices and provides strength and credibility to the industry". Continuing to advertise cash now in the face of this and other evidence IS the seedy underbelly not the blogs and commentators who expose it.

Furthermore, one must seriously question a company such as Imperial Structured Settlements that issues a press release about a lavish employee incentive trip during the worst economic period of recent time. Ms. Benaim's reputation for such press releases "blossomed" during her time at Peachtree Settlement Funding where she touted car giveaways to employees at the same time Peachtree was attempting to justify "above the market" high teens discount rates as reasonable.