Certified Structured Settlement Consultants Should Be Clear About The Credential

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Certified Structured Settlement Consultant is a professional designation offered by the National Structured Settlements Trade Association to its members for two decades through the Executive program at the University of Notre Dame from 1994 until a break during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Since October 2022, the CSSC professional education and designation program has been held at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

Despite the honorable intent of National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA) in creating the designation and many of those who have earned it and repeated notice provided here in this forum since 2007, some designees continue to misrepresent the credentials in a way that could mislead tort victims, judges, attorneys and other stakeholders. The question is "why?"

To set the record straight concerning the Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (CSSC) professional designation:

1. NSSTA hosted its program at University of Notre Dame and currently hosts the program at University of Texas at Austin. It did not involve matriculation at the University of Notre Dame and does not involve matriculation at University of Texas at Austion. Other professional designations such as CLU and ChFC do involve matriculation.
2. The prestigious school located in South Bend, Indiana is referred to as University of Notre Dame, NOT Notre Dame University as some have referred to it.
   
3. The CSSC IS NOT a degree program. It IS NOT an Executive MBA program. The NSSTA was listed an "Executive Education Client" of the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business while the program was hosted there.
   
4. It DOES involve 4 days of classroom sessions and a proctored exam, The word "professional certification program" is what is used by the National Structured Settlement Trade Association in the CSSC brochure on its website
   
5. It DOES represent a fundamental body of knowledge that one must possess to be successful  in the structured settlement industry.
   
6. Being a CSSC and being licensed in all 50 states DOES NOT give you "virtually unparalleled" expertise. There are members of the industry with legal degrees and decades of experience. Over 600 people have earned the designation however, and earning the CSSC DOES set you apart from others who are not in the structured settlement field and others in it with less practical experience. 

Once a settlement adviser decouples the CSSC designation from the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) leaving with Notre Dame or University of Texas in there for marketing purposes, I believe that it crosses the line into misrepresentation.

Remember it is NSSTA which states clearly "IN CONJUNCTION WITH". Should one surmise from the behavior of certain members (otherwise intelligent business people) that they seek the prestige and imprimatur of University of Notre Dame, for 4 days and about $3,000?  As the proponents of the designation and having published a code of ethics to hold out to the public, what is NSSTA doing? The CSSC program includes an ethics component. As part of that component is the NSSTA doing enough to educate those upon whom they confer the designation on how to use the designation?

4 Days in The Vicinity of Touchdown Jesus Does Not Make You One of The Fighting Irish  October 2007.
Some Certified Structured Settlements Shamelessly Puff Their Credentials January 2009

Updated