by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
The Negotiator Guys® offer a unique value proposition to structured settlement annuitants. According to its website launched September 5, 2018, as
annuitant advocates they level the playing field and help negotiate and aim to ensure you receive the greatest amount of money possible if you choose to sell your structured settlement payments. The Negotiator Guys was created as the antidote to the structured settlement annuitant manipulation, massive profits, and they say, in some cases, illegal methods used within the structured settlement purchasing industry at the expense of annuitants. The principals have extensive industry knowledge and experience to tap. The Negotiator Guys say they do not purchase payments and do not complete transfers with annuitants, which helps protect annuitants from the grooming process and conflicts of interest inherent with simply relying on sales representatives of structured settlement factoring company originators.
The Negotiator Guys® states that its mission is "to improve the experience of seller/annuitants and ensure every seller/annuitant transferring payments to a structured settlement buyer does not get short-changed. To make this happen, we are actively reaching out to Courts/Judges, Attorney's/IPA's, State Legislators, and Insurance Companies offering support and systems that are pushing our mission forward. They claim to be solving the need for a reliable resource within the Structured Settlement purchasing industry and strive to eliminate exploitation of consumers and protect their right to a fair structured settlement transfer.
Here are a couple of key takeaways from The Negotiator Guys website:
Isn't this poaching?
- No. The Negotiator Guys negotiate a higher offer for you before your scheduled court date. You stick with the same purchasing company you are currently signed up with. Nothing changes, except the increased amount of money you receive. If the purchasing company decides to hold back from you, then, you decide what is in your best interest in regard to the amount of money, the time frame, and the urgency. They claim to have have had clients decide to cancel with their current purchasing company, but everyone has different circumstances. Remember, desperation is something that many of these purchasing companies will feed on. They say they will work with you on a strategy to get this done quickly if you do switch companies.
- The Negotiator Guys say that switching companies mid transaction rarely works out very well for you, for a few reasons. Aside from delaying the transfer and having to re-file (the transfer petition), having multiple pending cases can be troublesome for you with the courts, your insurance company, your time deadlines, and the actual amount you end up receiving. Also, all of these companies may have a different sales pitch, but they all work very similar when it comes to the maximum offer you could receive. In many cases, the second company will only offer you enough extra money in order to sell you on canceling with the first company, but that in no way means that you have “maxed out” your offer to the level it should be. You are much better off having The Negotiator Guys review your deal, and if you are being short changed, they can negotiate with the original company you signed up with and at least give them the opportunity to increase your offer prior to you switching companies.
Read the full Negotiator Guys FAQ here
What Do Other Factoring Companies Think?
The Negotiator Guys may be seen as a disruptor to the structured settlement secondary market status quo.
- What would you expect if someone has their number? One example is the thuggery exhibited by Novation representatives in the Junior Matos case, which I reported about in July. Another company has been rattling a saber. At the end of the day, the question is, and should be, what is best for the consumer? Structured settlement factoring companies can rattle sabers all day long.
- Another company suggests that price isn't everything and that extension of service by default should be to call their original structured settlement broker, who refers them to a company they are familiar with to provide an ethically and consultative approach.
Bounty suppliers, legislators, attorneys general and the South Florida, Philadelphia and New York press corps should keep a close eye on this. Efforts to squelch the dissemination of knowledge about the secondary market's abhorrent business practices should not be tolerated in my opinion.
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