by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
The saga of "the Connecticut woman" continues.
Background
The woman lost an eye just over 2 years ago and filed suit against a defendant. The matter was settled in August 2008 and a large structured settlement funding with an annuity from American international Life Assurance Company of New York was part the resolution of her case. The structure was to pay her $10,000 per month for life.
Her father was with her every step of the way through the devastation of both her injury and her law suit. Shortly thereafter due to her father's debilitating illness she decided to construct an in law suite on her home. The up front cash from the settlement was not sufficient and therefore she sought assistance from her structured settlement broker who referred her to a factoring intermediary in September 2008 for additional liquidity.
A structured settlement transfer petition was submitted on or about October 21, 2008 to transfer $1,600 per month of the CT woman's structured settlement payment rights. In prior blog posts in April 2009 we covered various issues concerning promises that were made and not delivered in timely fashion. Ironically the company makes the advertising claim "fast cash now" (and continues to do so). It also turns out that "Structured Ass" is "servicing" the other $8,400 per month of payments. The Connecticut woman was finally paid after having to hire a lawyer, several broken promises as to the timing which the woman relied upon (even talks of the deal not being able to be funded and emergency bank meetings) and 2 blog posts from this author.
As a result of the delay in funding (which meant significant construction delays and penalties) and her beloved father's worsening condition, she laments that the goal that she traded a portion of her financial future for (her father moving into the in-law suite) may never be fulfilled.
The Apology Letter
The apology letter is written on the letterhead of Structured Asset Funding and signed by Andrew Savysky, it's President. Structured Asset Funding is a settlement purchaser based in Hallandale Florida
A copy of the Structured Asset Funding Apology Letter Can Be Downloaded by clicking on this link Download Structured Asset Funding Apology Letter to CT Woman for Delay in Structured Settlement Factoring
The Epilogue
The story does not end with the apology letter.
"Please let us know if there is anything we can do to assist you in solving any financial problems this delay in funding has caused you."
The Connecticut woman apparently spoke to Andrew Savysky whose actions suggest that such an offer was merely gratuitous purportedly denying that the aforementioned line meant any financial compensation. What Savysky did apparently do is offer to do another structured settlement factoring transaction with the victim!
One lesson learned from this story is that making a partial sale to a factoring company may result in the rest of the payments are being servived by the same company because the life insurer issuing the structured annuity will not split annuity payments. Queries by your client about the remaining structured settlement payments addressed to the annuity issuer may instead be referred to the cash now pusher. Lovely!
At the time this post was written the Structured Asset Funding website seemed to advise annuitants to sell their structures for luxury cars and boats and whether that is in your business interest.
Settlement planners must be careful to not over structure.
The issue of "servicing" of structured settlement payments by factoring companies is an industry issue that must be addressed promptly by structured settlement industry leadership. This author believes most people are in the dark on this one, which represents "a herd of pachyderms" in the room
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This author has written to the leadership at the National Structured Settlement Trade Association and requested a written response.
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