No doubt some ELNY annuitants probably would prefer to be able to " do the limbo" rather than "being in limbo"
The National Structured Settlements Trade Association has "soft-shoed" the introduction of it General ELNY Information webpage. Better late than never, the fact that the page was introduced on the very last business day that ELNY structured settlement annuitants could file objections to the proposed plan of liquidation is not lost on many of the association's members.
- To help ELNY annuity payees affected by this liquidation to understand their options, including access to an independent $100 million "hardship fund" that is being established for their benefit; and,
- To explain what happened with ELNY, specifically how risky business practices pursued by Executive Life in the 1980s -- practices that have since been prohibited - caused this situation".
I know it will not be lost on my readers that the NSSTA inadvertently emphasizes " to help ELNY" as opposed to "to help ELNY annuitants".
While its work behind the scenes has been subject to a confidentiality agreement, as the face of the structured settlement industry, the NSSTA needs to step up to the plate and do a better job providing timely information at the time of crisis. With respect to providing timely information to ELNY structured settlement annuitants, I believe the association is deserving of this public criticism because it has not done so by a mile.
The NSSTA web page states that NSSTA encourages all ELNY annuity payees facing benefit reductions to apply for support from the Hardship Fund. Applications for Fund support are expected to be distributed directly to payees who have been notified that their benefits will be reduced. For more information about the Hardship Fund, please call toll free at 1-888-809-2254.
A caller to the ELNY Hardship Fund toll-free telephone number (1-888-809-2254) on Friday 13, 2012 will hear a recorded message to the effect that eligibility for the ELNY Hardship Fund, and the rules, guidelines and process for applying to the ELNY Hardship Fund will be determined by an independent administrator that has not yet been appointed.
*blue emphasis is ours
Limbo Image: Wikipedia
One one question that I wonder about? Do the lawyers, insurance writers and insurance industry realize the suffering we have already been through by our injuries & now with the loss of our income, will they still be able to sleep at night as we are forced into bankruptcy and made to suffer extreme hardships because of their greed? When I look at the amounts of loss by my peer group, the higher the amount of loss, I know the greater the suffering they have endured and will endure into the future.
Posted by: Bill | February 14, 2012 at 12:24 PM
The whole point of no information is to keep the public unaware of what is being done to bankrupt the disabled while keeping the SSA's from protesting the loss their income. Do they realize that most of us took little up front income so that as our health declined, we would have higher incomes to deal with our declining health? We were told by our attorneys that this was the safest way to protect our settlements while providing security for our injury? Some of us will be left to the mercy of bankruptcy courts which will have no mercy. It is sad that the attornys who wanted this and the insurance corporation that wrote this, could be made to loose their money in kind as we do as individuals and not protected by their LLC.
Posted by: Bill | January 16, 2012 at 12:42 PM