Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and John Darer Reviews

Stone Street in Massive Structured Settlement I Have Blooper

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Got to hand it to Stone Street Capital for a massive blooper. Here it is 

Beavis and Butthead

" Structured Settlement I Have | Score Some Cash with Stone Street"

What Does It Mean to Score?

It's clear that Stone Street is not appealing to soccer players, but using street slang.

1. "success in obtaining something (such as money or drugs) especially through illegal or irregular means" Merriam-Webster Dictionary
2. "To get illegal drugs" Cambridge-English Dictionary, Urban Dictionary  To wit..."You know where I can score some drugs?", within a *day* everyone would be selling. Your friends. Their kids. Here's why: it's an unbeatable market force man". actor Topher Grace as Seth Abrahms in Traffic (2000)"
3. "Beavis : Damn it, this always happens. I think I'm gonna score, and then I never score. It's not fair. We've traveled, um, a hundred miles 'cause we thought we were gonna score". from Beavis & Butthead

Ironically, when you sell structured settlement payments for the best you're gonna get..."pennies on the dollar", you're closer to the past tense of the " F" word and Butthead Nirvana than a big cash windfall

Selling A Structured Settlement in 2023? Get The 411 on Cash Now. Don't Be a Victim (4structures.com)

 

Sell Structured Settlement Information | Shall We Cash Now, or Shall We Cash Later?

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

When it comes to your structured settlement, don't become a victim of aggressive buyers. Stop, breathe, think and get independent advice, ALWAYS!

Read this helpful guide from 4structures if you feel tempted, or you have a loved one who feels tempted.

 

Selling A Structured Settlement in 2024? Get The 411 on Cash Now. Don't Be a Victim (4structures.com)

 

 

4structures does not buy structured settlement payments. 

Sell Your Structured Settlement for Pennies on the Dollar in Time for The Holidays? Don't Fall For It!

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

What is perhaps one of the dumbest and cheesiest ideas that you may encounter if you're receiving structured settlement payments is the idea that you should sell your structured settlement payments (for pennies on the dollar), to have money to buy holiday gifts.

Sell Your Structured Settlement Payments in Time for the Holidays?

"People are experiencing financial uncertainty due to current inflation and might struggle to catch up on monthly expenses. Even though holidays are so far away, they are approaching and with them, expenses rise significantly".  July 14, 2022 solicitation tweeted out by structured settlement payment purchaser. 

Say you wanted to raise $1,000 for holiday gifts, when you factor in the court filing fees, legal fees and buyer's profit margins, you're always going to lose money, possibly multiple times what seek to get out for holiday money.

The Structured Settlement Annuity Buyer Liar Phenomenon

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

In the interest of financial literacy, I continue my commentary about how structured settlement factoring companies make false claims to to promote themselves in public facing advertising.

Exhibit A  Toronto based Strategic Capital

Strategic Capital maintains that it is a structured settlement annuity buyer.  Ask Strategic Capital to document a single case in which they have purchased a

Exhibit A  Res Ipsa Loquitur Stratcap

structured settlement annuity in the United States since they were established almost two decades ago.  Despite hash tagging for local advertising on the Internet that it is a structured settlement annuity buyer all over the place, if put to the test it's doubtful that Strategic Capital will be able to prove that it actually has bought a structured settlement annuity.  Here's why.

Why Is a Company that Promotes Itself As Structured Settlement Annuity Buyer a Structured Settlement Buyer Liar?

A. They aren't buying a structured settlement annuity

B. They are buying structured settlement payment rights, a critical and important distinction

C. There are only three types of structured settlement annuity buyers

1. A Defendant who is buying and holding the structured settlement annuity to fund a future periodic payment obligation to a claimant under a settlement agreement
2. An Insurer who is buying and holding the structured settlement annuity to fund a future periodic payment obligation to a claimant under a settlement agreement
3. A Qualified Assignment Company that has assumed an obligation to make future periodic payments under a settlement agreement and buys a structured settlement annuity as a "qualified funding asset".

Unless Strategic Capital has been a Defendant and bought an annuity to pay for damages it owes in the settlement of a dispute or  litigation it will not have been a structured settlement annuity buyer.

Despite the immutable fact that what they're buying are structured settlement payment rights, which are defined under the Internal Revenue Code, 

Take a look at mendacious claims made by Strategic Capital found in a Google search on August 24, 2021

• "A structured settlement annuity buyer can turn your payment agreement, the result of a personal injury claim, into a lump sum of cash now"
• "As a top structured settlement annuity buyer, we deliver"
• "Buyer of structured settlement annuity"

Sellanyannuity.net is another structured settlement annuity buyer liar 

"Contact a structured settlement annuity buyer Sellannyannuity.net  (Source: same Google search)

Getmycashnow.org  (CBC Settlement Funding answered the phone call when I dialed this afternoon) is a structured settlement annuity buyer liar "carpet bombing" the internet with "Call us today for the best structured settlement annuity buyer"

Even lawyers who give advice to people with structured settlements spread the nonsense

"People decide to sell future payments to a structured settlement annuity buyer" Eugene Ahtirski attorney, At least Mr. Ahtirski is not claiming to be a structured settlement annuity buyer like the company in Exhibit A or the others mentioned above, but surely Mr. Ahtirski knows that these companies are not buying structured settlement annuities. They are buying receivables.

 The Attorney General for the State of Maryland refers to such companies as "structured settlement transferees" or factoring companies and maintains a list of such companies that are registered in Maryland. It does not refer to any of the registered companies as a  "structured settlement annuity buyer".

The Baloney Has a First Name | Structured Settlement Cash Now Opus

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Penned while waiting for the release of Covid-19 booster shots, here's another "jab" at the structured settlement factoring industry and the misinformation disseminated by some of its members, an apt descriptor of which shares its name with a popular processed lunchbox meat. 

The Structured Settlement Cash Now Opus  ( a parody)

The Baloney has a funny voice. Sounds like BlaBlaBla.

The Baloney has a first name

F-A-C-T-O-R.
The Baloney Has a second name,
Pennies on the DOLL-AR.
Oh I love to critique it everyday
And if you ask me why I'll say,    

Factoring Companies have a way with C-R-A-P-O-L-A.

 

The Baloney has a funny voice

Sounds like  B-L-A-B-L-A-B-L-A

You get your pennies and "rejoice"

Ginned up to buy an expensive car

Oh I love to critique it every day

And if you ask me why I'll say

Factoring companies have a way with C-R-A-P-O-L-A

 

The Baloney keeps on calling me

Claims to work with an insurance company

The dude was sly, I looked him in the eye

Said bro I know you're punkin' me.

Oh I love to critique it every day

And if you ask me why I'll say

Factoring companies have a way with C-R-A-P-O-L-A

 

 

 

 

 

The "Ethics" of Structured Settlement Buyers Inducing Family and Friends to "Pimp" Pennies on The Dollar Deals

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Apparently Fairfield Funding, the Atlanta Georgia based structured settlement factoring company, considers paying for friends and family to "pimp" pennies on the dollar deals to be ethical.

Friends or family who pimp for structured settlement factoring companies for $500 assure that their friends and family will suffer a financial loss  

Here is what Fairfield Funding says right on the Fairfield Funding website at time of this publication:

"We value our customers and are always looking for a way to get the most money in their hands. We have two programs that help us achieve that goal.

First, we offer a $500.00 referral fee for anyone that refers a customer to us that completes a transaction. This is great for family and friends. They get a lump sum and you get an extra $500.00 at the time of closing"

What is the definition of a program?

According to Auntie Merriam (Webster) a program is...

1. a public notice  (from the Latin programma)

2a: a brief usually printed outline of the order to be followed, of the features to be presented, and the persons participating (as in a public performance)

2b: the performance of a program especially : a performance broadcast on radio or television

3: a plan or system under which action may be taken toward a goal

4: curriculum

5: prospectus/syllabus

6a: a sequence of coded instructions that can be inserted into a mechanism (such as a computer)

6b dated : a complete plan for solving a problem by the use of a mechanism (such as a computer) that includes both instructions to be inserted into the mechanism and plans for human activities such as interpreting output

6c: the genes or sequences of DNA or RNA that are part of an organism or cell and encode or determine a process, trait, or behavior… a mouse in which a tiny but crucial bit of the genetic program has been eliminated.— Bruce Fellmanalso : a process, trait, or behavior determined by or as if by the genetic material of an organism Orb webs are marvels of geometry and construction. They are built according to a complex behavioral program, which is highly flexible in some respects and very precise in others.— Michael H. Robinson

Breaking it down

1. So the $500 that Fairfield Funding is offering is not a program, at least on the authority of Aunt Merriam-Webster in the above excerpt from her dictionary
2. No matter what Fairfield Funding says in its advertising, the best they can do is pay pennies on the dollar to structured settlement annuitants in exchange for their structured settlement payments.
3. Let's face it, pennies on the dollar sucks. No wait a minute, pennies on the dollar REALLY sucks!

4. Friends and family will make a fat $500 profit for "pimping" out a friend or family member who becomes prey for a big loss, returning only pennies on their dollars. Yes, that lump sum is always going to be a loss. That's pretty fricking sour isn't it? Not to mention a potential conflict of interest.

5. We are not talking legal, we are questioning the ethics of such practice, (1) the inducement made by Fairfield Funding to recruit pimps ; (2) the advertising and promotion of the inducement by Fairfield Funding; (3) the act of pimping out "trusted" friends and family, capped off by the "pimps" and the structured settlement factoring company making more profit than the prey.

Annuitants Lives Matter

• The lack of regulation of sales practices in the structured settlement secondary market, facilitates the "friends and family" pimp strategy. 
• If you are receiving structured settlement payments keep it to yourself. There is no need to discuss it with people.
• Don't blab. Read the story of a Stamford CT man who blabbed about his settlement and got robbed in a home invasion.
• Unusual perhaps, but in the times we live in, where there is little accountability who knows?

Annuity1234 Structured Settlement Social Media Road Kill of The Week

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Sell My Annuity (Annuity1234), a DBA for a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers  (NASP) often comes up in the paid ads section on Google searches. The lead generation website can best be described as Social Media Road Kill because it fails to get the fundamentals of structured

Read the book. Don't be a schnook.

settlement right.

Three False Statements of Fact Made on Sell My Annuity (annuity1234.com)

1. A structured settlement is a type of annuity arranged with an insurance company.  FALSE
2. Structured settlements are typically issued to individuals who have suffered harm as a result of a personal injury.  FALSE
3. In cases where the victim is owed money from another party as a result of a personal injury, the federal government, in some cases, encourages these victims and their families to utilize structured settlements issued by the insurance company who insured the party at fault. FALSE

Rebutting Three False Statements of Fact made on Sell My Annuity (Annuity1234)

1. A structured settlement is a form of settlement.
2. A structured settlement may be funded by a structured settlement annuity
3. A structured settlement is not "issued to individuals" or anyone else
4. Structured settlements are a compromise.  Future periodic payments from a structured settlement represent a future periodic payment obligation as compensation for damages as delineated in the settlement agreement and release, qualified assignment and (if applicable) court order approving the settlement.
5. Structured settlements are not issued by the insurance company who insured the party at fault, because (1) structured settlements are not issued; (2)  the insurer "who insured the party at fault" because structured settlements are not issued and second , because the insurer who insured the party at fault would likely be a property and casualty company as opposed to a life insurance company. Life insurance companies issue annuities, w which are the most common qualified funding asset used to fund structured settlements.
6. While state and federal tax law favors structured settlements and has done so for more than 35 years, the federal government is not involved in your settlement unless you are a plaintiff in a legal case against the government, or one of its agencies.

"This ain't a fantastic voyage
But I'm still on a mission to see if I can
Get your attention
Now I wants to drops some information
Just a little additive to your education"   -Coolio  (1,2,3,4), The Clean Version

Members of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers, whose members run a business with no regulation of sales practices,  often do a poor job of educating consumers about structured settlements by publishing wildly inaccurate, ignorant and sometimes reckless misinformation

What's their problem?  Who is approving the publication of the material.

                                      

The Intellectually Dishonest Thing Structured Settlement Cash Now Companies Leave Out

by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC

Keep a structured settlement for what it WILL do, not what it might do. The "will do" is the contractually guaranteed income inherent in a qualified funding asset issued by a regulated life insurance company

Some structured settlement cash now companies attempt to twist people out of receiving payments from 15-20-30 year old structured settlements for pennies on the dollar, using a dubious investment projection of what might happen from a financial advisor, but compare to current rates.  A number of structured settlement cash now companies link up with the financial advisors to target vulnerable individuals.

If you're in your 30s, 40s or 50s and have a structured settlement that was established when you were a child in the 1980s or 1990s, be mindful that the base rate of return on your investment should be calculated from the original cost of the annuity. Start with that rate of return, nearing in mind that it is income tax free if the structured settlement payments represent damages for a personal physical injury, wrongful death. 

The use of current rates for comparison of your childhood structured settlement with alternative investments is simply not credible. On July 22, 1996 the 30 Year US Treasury bond was yielding 7.02%. 25 years later the 30 year Treasury yield was 1.90%.  But the return on the original cost of the structure has not changed. It was locked in when the structured settlement was established. Furthermore, because the investment portfolios of life insurance companies are not solely invested in United States Treasuries, the Internal Rate of Return on the original cost of structured settlement would likely have exceeded the 30 year Treasury.

If your structured settlement is for payment of damages for personal physical injury, physical sickness or wrongful death the payments are income tax free subject to IRC 104(a)(2). If you encounter one of the charlatans, take their projected rate of return and discount it for taxes.

Use 4structures.com LLC's free Taxable Equivalent Yield Chart to learn the net return on their projections. You can also use the taxable equivalent yield chart to learn what you would have to earn in a particular tax bracket to end up with the rate of return locked in when your structured settlement was established.

Once again, keep a structured settlement for what it WILL do, not what it might do.

If you have experienced this and want to speak about it feel free to contact me.

Structured Settlement Factoring Loophole Raises Potential for "Bribes" for Pennies on the Dollar

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Structured settlement factoring companies offer a valuable service for people in need who cannot get resources they need from other sources. Unfortunately, because sales practices of structured settlement factoring companies are completely unregulated in all but a few states, the potential for exploitation of structured settlement annuitants is a thing.

Consider this questionable approach on the website of a company called Rapid Capital LLC which uses the catchy URL rapcashnow(dot) com

"Your Rapid Card puts you in full control of your money, instantly!

From the moment you receive your personalized card, you can start receiving advances, gifts and funding straight to your hands. The card can be used as a point-of-sale credit or debit card at any store or online retailer that accepts Master Card. In addition, the card may be used at any ATM to check your balance or withdraw cash (see below for free ATM locations). As soon as your transaction is approved in court, we will distribute your funds directly to your rapid card and the funds will be available for use immediately after"

Questions about the Rapid Capital Approach on their website rapcashnow (dot) com

1. You do not have full control of your money instantly because there are structured settlement protection laws in all 50 states in the United States.  Any transfer must be approved by a judge as being in the payee's best interest and that of his/her/their dependents. That process could take 60-90 days, if approved.
2. The best that Rapid Capital, or any company like them can do is pay pennies on the dollar. No gift is going is make up for the money for going to lose by selling payments to them, or any other similar company. Don't be distracted by a shiny penny or quarter.  
3. Do the stored value cards give the structured settlement factoring company the ability to make money on the float of your money? What are those charges?
4. Is there any FDIC protection on money stored in the cards?  Read this GENERAL COUNSEL'S OPINION NO. 8—Insurability of Funds Underlying Stored Value Cards and Other Nontraditional Access Mechanisms, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation  (FDIC).

The Structured Settlement Watchdog Raps Cash Now

Rap Cash Now

Trap Ka-Pow!

Cain't Be So

Unless Judge say so

If Judge say no

Ain't got no dough

Ain't really in control

Or even effin' whole

It's a trick, Rick

Quick and slick

Nothin' but rim

The pickins slim

Pennies on the dollar is the best you gonna get

I told ya so and that is effin that. 

 

 

 

 

 

Structured Settlement Cash Now Sharks Prey on 18-24 Year Olds' With Structured Settlements Using Fanciful Investment Schemes

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

If you recently turned 18-24 and have a structured settlement, beware creatures of the deep discount. Some structured settlement purchasers are like razor toothed bull sharks prowling the reef or surf line, waiting for the "just old enough" dinner bell to ring. 

Structured settlement cash now sharks nosh on young adults' structured settlements

Some structured settlement purchasers prey on legal but unsophisticated wide eyed young adults with "bull shark" sales pitches that involve pairing a purchaser of structured settlement payment rights and an investment adviser. In one matter I recently learned of, a young adult is being pitched to sell $2,000,000 in payments for $500,000 and some investment adviser purports to be able to turn those pennies on the dollar into $5,000,000.

Before you get bamboozled into a pennies on the dollar disaster consider the following:

The S&P 500, as an index, is a statistical measure of the performance of America’s 500 largest stocks. In this context, the S&P 500 is a common benchmark against which portfolio performance can be evaluated. According to Motley Fool, "when it comes to the major U.S. stock indexes, none is more highly regarded as a barometer of the overall stock market’s performance and an indicator of how large corporations are performing than the S&P 500 index".

If you invested in the S&P 500 on January 2, 2001 and left it in the entire time period, without succumbing to the market's gyrations for 20 years, until December 31, 2020, your rate of return would be 7.47%, according to the J.P. Morgan Asset Management 2021 Retirement Guide published March 6, 2021.  If you missed the 60 biggest trading days over the 20 years, you return would have been negative, to the tune of -6.81%.  These returns are before taxes. 

How Compound Interest Works

So, if we use the 7.47% for an example and plug that into a compound interest calculator, along with the $500,000 proceeds from the recent proposed sale for 20 years, the calculator shows that you could accumulate $2,112.102 over 20 years, not taking into account federal, state and possibly local income taxes that might be due over the time period. So under that scenario the person might end up with less after taxes while exposing themselves to more risk.

What is really nuts, in my opinion is when structured settlement factoring companies pair with a investment advisor and project "from the moon" investment assumptions.

Three stories involving New Yorkers

Melissa Diego, a Latinx victim of con men Dan Cevallos and Eddie Rodriguez of Advance Funding 

Cedric Thomas, a then young person of color victimized by 365 Advance/Novation Funding. Had a nice six figure  income tax free "salary" from his AIG structured settlement before being taken by 365 Advance/Novation in October 2015 for a $1.5 million profit spread, bearing a disgusting 15.24% effective discount rate  The money was spent on money losing properties and a Maserati. 

'Michael Monagan, almost a victim of a pennies on the dollar to investment scheme where the financial adviser projected 12%, without taking into account taxes. 

Structured Settlement Cash Now Shark Warnings in English, Spanish, French, Creole, Portuguese, Swahili, Latin, Yiddish,  "Ebonics", Korean and German

• Beware the Structured Settlement Cash Now Sharks!
• Cuidado con el efectivo de liquidación estructurada ahora tiburones
• Méfiez-vous de l’argent maintenant requins!
• fe atansyon lajan kach kounye a reken
• cuidado dinheiro agora tubarões
• Jihadharini na pesa taslimu sasa papa 
• Cave ergo Stingrays cash est structured settlement 
• hit eykh di straktsherd oysglaykh gelt itst sharx
• Yo! bewis da structured settlement cash now sharks   [ Source: Ebonics translator ]
• 이제 구조화 결제 현금을 조심하세요! ije gujohwa gyeolje hyeongeum-eul josimhaseyo!

• Hüten Sie sich vor den Cash-Now-Haien mit strukturierter Abwicklung!