by Structured Settlement Watchdog
Who or what is a structured settlement purchaser?
The primary structured settlement purchasers are Allstate Assignment Company, American General Annuity Service Company, American Home Assurance Company, Assigned Settlement, Inc. ( part of Genworth) Aviva London Assignment Corporation, Employers Insurance of Wausau, Hartford Comprehensive Employee Benefits Service Company ("Hartford CEBSCO"), John Hancock Assignment Company, MassMutual Assignment Company, Metropolitan Tower Resources Group, Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, New York Life Insurance and Annuity Corporation ("NYLIAC"), Pacific Life and Annuity Services, Inc. ("PLASI"), Prudential Assigned Settlement Services Corporation ("Passcorp")and Symetra Assigned Benefits Service Company
The above companies take on "qualified assignments" of periodic payment obligations from insurance companies, defendants of qualified settlement fund trustees pursuant to Section 130(c) of the Internal Revenue Code ("IRC"). They receive consideration from the insurance companies, defendants of qualified settlement fund trustees and then they purchase structured settlements (structured settlement annuities) to fund the obligations that they have assumed from insurance companies, defendants of qualified settlement fund trustees pursuant to IRC Section 130(c). Some structured settlement purchasers fund their periodic payment obligation by the purchase of debt obigations of the United States government (e.g. Treasury Bonds).
Together with other members of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association and certain producer members of the Society of Settlement Planners I assist in and facilitate the placement of structured settlements via these structured settlement purchasers.
There are companies that advertise on the Internet that claim to be structured settlement purchasers. They are not structured settlement purchasers. They are factoring companies sometimes referred to as transfer companies. Those companies buy structured settlement payment rights (note the difference!) and pay recipients a deeply discounted lump sum of cash in exchange for the recipient's rights to receive those structured settlement payments, but they do not purchase structured settlements even if they'd like you to think that they do.
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