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February 23, 2020

CrowFly, First Online Marketplace for Buying /Selling Structured Settlements? Maybe Not

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

CrowFly LLC is making dubious claims that might be getting Genex Capital's CEO Roger Proctor's knickers in a twist, for one. Specifically Genex Capital's  direct competitor CrowFly, LLC of Buffalo has made the claim that it is "The first online marketplace for selling & buying structured settlement payments".  Is CrowFly really the first? Crowfly's claim appears not to be true.  Here's why.

FinTech and Structured Settlements factoring actually started twelve or more years ago

More than a decade ago, an August 29, 2008 press release states the following "Annuity.com and QuoteMeAPrice.com today announced a strategic alliance to co-market and officially launch the revolutionary Quote Me a Price structured settlement and annuity marketplace quote engine".   

Said Bill Brioch CEO of Annuity.com at the time, "Sean over at Quote Me A Price has a brilliant application. Instead of annuitants, tort victims and financial professionals selling their annuity or structured settlement to one funding company, they can now enter their information into the Quote Me A Price competitive quote engine and obtain multiple competitive bids from multiple funding companies. It's ethical and, in my opinion, will revolutionize this troubled industry."

"Put simply, what QMAP does," said Sean C. Houlihan, CEO of QuoteMeAPrice.com "is save people money and time." Houlihan explained that some individuals go with the first funding company they talk to; most spend weeks or even a few months on the phone obtaining quotes from the plethora of funders. With QMAP you simply enter your payment information once, and the funders come to you. No more suffering from countless sales calls. It's all web-based. "The industry standard for a cashing in future payments for a lump sum can be exorbitant, through Quote Me Price people have obtained funding for as low as six percent. Make funding companies compete and the bid prices go way up. It's just that simple," Houlihan said.

In February 2010, I posted a video for Legal Broadcast Network featuring my interview with Andrew Cravenho of the Settlement Quotes, LLC Factoring Exchange. I wrote in a blog dated February 18, 2010 that viewers can learn about this viable alternative to going to the "usual suspects". "If your clients have exhausted all other financing alternatives and have no other way to raise liquidity but to sell a portion of their structured settlement payment rights, a settlement factoring exchange may help make the process easier. An organized bidding process avails the seller of a group of individual investors and companies who compete for the business and the exchange takes a small fee".   

Factoring Company Competition is Good for the Consumer, my December 14, 2010 blog post, sheds some contemporaneous light from a decade ago.

SSQ was established in 2007

Genex Capital ended up acquiring QMAP and Structured Settlement Quotes.com (SSQ) in November 2011.  Genex Capital via SSQ claims  Structured Settlement Quotes ("SSQ") is America's #1 Structured Settlement Marketplace having served over 11,000 customers and transacted more than $500 million in payments since 2007, and counting.

It also claims, "at SSQ we created the first marketplace for you to sell your structured settlement, lottery or other annuity payments.  SSQ claims in 2011 SSQ's customer average discount rate was 8.67 percent, competitive at the time.

Benjamin Geber patent application in 2014

A patent application was submitted  in 2014, claiming rights back to 2012.Read Structured settlement auction patent application United States Patent Application 20140164210 Geber, Benjamin (Vienna, VA, US) Worch, Michael (Gaithersburg, MD, US) 

Then there's the judicial opinion in Bonham Investments Corp. v. Parker, No. CV 2011 5892, District Court, First Judicial District, Kootenai County, Idaho (Idaho Dist. Ct. Aug. 24, 2011) which implies that an "online auction system" has to do with "selling structured settlements . . . ." Rather than selling structured settlements – i.e., selling annuities that fund structured settlements – the opinion describes how the plaintiffs and defendant had a dispute over a plan for online auction system involving the secondary market for sale of structured settlement payment rights. Apparently, some of the plaintiffs had purchased the rights to structured settlement payments in a 2010 factoring transaction [ Source: Secondary Market Insurance Blog Nov 29, 2011]

I brought this to Crowfly Founder John Bair's attention in an email dated June 27, 2018. That's what makes it all the more puzzling why CrowFly is making the questionable claim. So apparently CrowFly apparently is not the first online marketplace to buy and sell structured settlements.  So why does CrowFly make the claim that they are?

 

 

 

 

 

Posted at 12:34 AM in Buffalo Structured Settlement Cash Now, CrowFly LLC Commentary, Genex Capital Commentary, Misinformation About Structured Settlements, Structured Settlement Factoring, Structured Settlement Factoring Auction Sites, Structured Settlement Factoring News, Structured Settlement Watchdog® |

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Guide to Structured Settlements 2024

  • What is a Structured Settlement? What You Need to Know
    Structured settlements and what you need to know about them including a helpful introductory video featuring A.M. Best Client Recommended Structured Settlement Expert and Registered Settlement Planner John Darer of 4structures.com LLC
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    How structured settlements work, including 4structures.com LLC's super helpful structured settlement flow chart/diagram showing how structured settlements fit in on the spectrum of settlement planning solutions.
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  • Treasury Funded Structured Settlements
    Treasury Funded Structured Settlements are a settlement option for the most conservative using the OTHER permissible qualified funding asset under IRC 130(d), United States Treasury Bonds in addition to, or instead of, structured settlement annuities. Treasury Funded Structured Settlements can also be used to fund installment sales, also known as structured sales and other non qualified structured settlements.
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    Use the Taxable Equivalent Yield chart to help compare the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of a structured settlement to other alternative or complementary investments. Need help with the chart? Call 4structures.com® LLC at 888-325-8640
  • Structured Settlement Payments | Types of Structured Settlements 2024
    Ways You Can Structure Your Settlement Payments in 2024. With a structured settlement you can have more than one type of payment in a single contract. Different types of structured settlement payments can be customized and combined to meet your needs on a stand-alone basis, or in conjunction with other financial products. Diversify your structured settlement, if you wish, by funding with more than one annuity issuer, with treasury funded structured settlements, index linked structured settlement payments and market based structured .
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    Structured attorney fees is a financial strategy that offers a unique way to defer taxes for lawyers and law firms. Lawyers CAN structure their legal fees even if the plaintiff doesn't structure their settlement. There are multiple ways to structure your attorney fees, such as capped or uncapped index linked structured settlement annuities where payments are adjusted based on upside changes in the S&P 500 or another index, Trial Lawyers may also use a special deferred pay/deferred compensation arrangement, if market based returns returns are desired with no cap. Plan NOW for year end! Put structured attorney fee expert John Darer® on your settlement planning team in 2024.
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    Receiving structured settlement payments from your own structured settlement or inherited structured settlement? You'll like this huge time saver. Click the title for a link to a comprehensive list of customer service telephone numbers that includes both current AND former structured settlement annuity issuers and reinsurers. If you have simple bank or beneficiary changes, or if the insurance company that issued the structured annuity has merged, sold or spun off its block of structured annuity business (e.g. Aviva, Allstate, Transamerica, AEGON, GE Capital, Liberty, CNA, Confederation Life), oran annuity issuer has changed its name and you're trying to track them down. Here you go! The list is regularly updated. Last updated May 20, 2024.
  • Structured Settlement Quote Lock-Ins | What You Need To Know
    What does a Structured Settlement Lock-In Mean? How do plaintiffs, defendants and insurers benefit from a structured settlement quote lock in when finalizing a settlement? How does the defendant/insurer/court benefit from using a structured settlement lock-in? Where to be careful when using structured settlement lock ins.
  • What Are Structured Settlement Annuities?
    Structured settlement annuities are annuities that can provide one or more customized annuity payment streams in a single contract. Read about structured settlement annuities here.
  • History of Structured Settlements
    Tracing the roots of structured settlements history from 1918, when Congress exempted damages for personal injury or sickness from income tax, to the establishment of structured settlements as a core personal injury settlement planning tool to the present day.
  • What Are Market Based Structured Settlements?
    Market based structured settlements are an alternative or supplementary structured settlement solution for the plaintiff, attorney or law firm that: 1. Can afford to take some market risk 2. Have discretionary settlement dollars. Claimants and attorneys alike may find that market-based structured settlements provide the opportunity to receive tax-free income, or tax-deferred income, while enjoying growth potential.
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Qualified Settlement Funds

  • What is a Qualified Settlement Fund?
    Qualified Settlement Funds | What You Need to Know
  • Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds Debunked
    Firmwide qualified settlement funds have been heavily promoted to trial lawyers, but have been debunked in a detailed analysis in a July 2022 legal opinion a tax partner at the law firm of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Trial lawyers and firms who have established Firmwide QSFs or coinsidering establishing a Firmwide QSF should read the analysis as part of their evaluation.

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