Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and Commentary

Stone Street Capital's Perfect Metaphor for Financial Exsanguination

by John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP CLTC

Stone Street Capital, a company that buys structured settlement payment rights out of Bethesda Maryland, gets all chirpy on Twitter about the image below, featuring a man about to get bitten in half by a crocodile from them waist down.

I have to hand it to Stone Street Capital for capturing the perfect metaphor for the "race to the bottom" that is happening in the structured settlement secondary market.

Structured settlement annuitants who are approached by cash now pushers, who are ignorant or oblivious to what is happening around them are sure to suffer a 50% "bite" out of their long term financial security. It won't take long for them to "bleed out" financially.

Roll me over Beethoven!

Seen another way, "enforcement" of the Florida Structured Settlement Protection Act is a "Croc". Ask Michael Lafontant.  

Well done Stone Steet Capital!

 

 

 

Cash Advance on Structured Settlement NOT "Just Like Getting Cash From an ATM"

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Stone Street Capital has tweeted a picture of a "mutant bovine" , who if we are to believe what we see, can spit out cash advances just like an ATM.  

Of course this is simply not true as can be corroborated by a statement made by Earl Nesbitt, Executive Director of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP), in a published video interview with Mark Wahlstrom of the Legal Broadcast Network, in 2009.

When you make a withdrawal from an ATM you are withdrawing money from your bank account with nominal transaction fees of $1-$3. You are not receiving an advance on a future payment stream that has to be discounted at a rate that takes into account the settlement purchaser's cost of money and their expense load  (e.g. legal fees, court costs and the fixed administrative fee that must be paid to the annuity issuer)

Put in bovine terms, getting cash from your structured settlement is not as easy as milking a cow.  In some cases it is the seller that is getting "milked"  [See our December 22, 2014 blog on  Lafontant v Imperial Structured Settlements ]

While Stone Street Capital  has an excellent sense of humor,  I'm a little disappointed that they chose this approach in their social media.

 

Stone Street Capital Needs "Bail Out" from Structured Settlement Watchdog

by John Darer® CLU ChFC MSSC RSP CLTC

While Patricia Laborde appeared on an NSSTA factoring panel in La Jolla this week apparently all hell broke loose back home as someone from 'Stone Henge" posted a tweet with this very lame attempt at a limerick.

'There once was a cow from Bethesda... whose name was #Moola. #CowsCannot limerick but #CowsCan give #Cash for #structuredsettlements'

I could not resist the opportunity to "bail out" Stone Street Capital with a few original limericks that actually work:

A.

There once was a cow from Bethesda

A bovine named Moola not Esther

Birthed cash, not a calf?

Uncanny you may laugh

What else would you expect from a jester?

B.

There once was a cow from Bethesda

Who couldn't rhyme no matter how much you would pester

Moo-la was her name

Cash now was her game

But a "limerick" was truly past her.

C.

There was a cow named Moo-la from Nantucket

Whose limerick was so bad you would duck it

She said cash now

He said "HOW NOW brown cow?"

When it's 4-6 weeks on the docket!

 

Image © Iddaris | Dreamstime.com - Cow Pumpkin Photo

 

 

 

Stone Street Capital Promotes Itself With Paid Reviews But Does Not Disclose It

by John Darer CLU ChFC CSSC RSP CLTC

Stone Street Capital proudly displays its ranking in  TopConsumerReviews.com, a company which expressly states that it pays its reviewers and TopConsumerReview.com LLC is compensated for its reviews.  [the "5-star" display appears to the right of the Facebook and Twitter buttons in the image below]

 Download Structured Settlements 2014 - Top Consumer Reviews Paid Reviews of Cash Now Pushers

TopConsumerReviews.com states in its paid review of companies that conduct paid reviews:

"Many people have discovered a simple way to earn extra income while working from home. These people make money by completing surveys on the internet. While not a get-rich-quick scheme, you can still reasonably make $100, $200, even $1,000 or more each month by giving your opinion, trying new products, watching movie trailers, and more".  Read more 

The question is how honest is Stone Street Capital being in displaying its ranking in TopConsumer Reviews?

• Stone Street Capital HAS NOT disclosed that the reviews are paid reviews.
• One doesn't know whether those participating in the paid reviews are even past or present consumers of the services that Stone Street Capital and the other "structured settlement companies" listed provide. 
• Exactly how does one create a scientifically valid review of a money service, from people seeking to have a "simple way to make money from home" by "trying new products, watching movie trailers, and more", when the product is liquidity for structured settlement payment rights?  Is watching a commercial, just a review of a commercial? Wouldn't most concede that JG Wentworth has the most memorable and annoying commercials in the secondary structured settlement space. That just means they have effective advertising.
• In order to try Stone Street Capital's services one would already have to have a structured settlement.  Then you have to add the overlay of the seller's personal mental state and financial state, family influencers, business opportunities, level of sophistication or whether or not they have received any monetary incentive to sell or the level of sales tactics. Not withstanding all THAT,  how about the paid reviewer's state of mind. Was the survey the first or last of the day? Mental fatigue has an effect on paid reviewers. 

Stone Street Capital is a member of the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP), whose President is an executive of Stone Street Capital. Some have tried to promote NASP membership as a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" of sorts. In one notable instance, Bethesda attorney Elyse Strickland of Offit Kurman, pounded away at Josue Benitez, in the July 2013 deposition of plaintiff Woodbridge Structured Funding's employee, attempting to insinuate something bad about Woodbridge not being a member of NASP, even though her client, defendant Sovereign Funding Group, was not then a member of NASP, according to the NASP website [see Woodbridge v Sovereign and Springer Deposition| "NASPy" Irony"  September 9, 2013)

I have repeatedly questioned marketing hype that NASP membership alone, is a "good housekeeping seal of approval". I have demonstrated that some of the bad business practices highlighted in this blog and elsewhere involve NASP members.  

See Factoring Company Bad Business Practices

 

 

 

 

 

Do Qualified Settlement Funds Offer "UNLIMITED" Time to Address Investments?

by John Darer® CLU ChFC MSSC RSP

In QSF Symposium 2012-1, published September 26, 2012, Patrick Hindert reports that the Evolve Bank & Trust sponsored symposium was "dedicated exclusively to the advancement of qualified settlement fund (QSF) professionals, the purpose of the Symposium are (sic) to stimulate dialogue among QSF industry leaders and experts and to help shape industry thinking on QSF issues". Well I would like to start a dialogue among industry leaders and experts regarding a potential significant point about one of the purported benefits of qualified settlement funds.

In QSF Symposium 2012-2 , published September 30, 2012, Hindert states as one of the advantages to both defendants and plaintiffs:

"Plaintiffs can conduct their settlement planning with a sum certain, using their own advisers, free from the pressures of litigation, with unlimited time to analyze and address tax, investment and government benefit issues"

Hindert is to be thanked for making the assertion, which raises a number of reasonable and logical questions:

• Can a plaintiff truly leave money in a QSF for  an "unlimited time" (for example 5 years, waiting for interest rates to rise from current levels), and THEN,  enter into an agreement to make periodic payments under a traditional. or a non-qualified structured settlement?
• Where and at what point, if ever, do tax principles such as constructive receipt and/or economic benefit come into play in an unlimited time frame?
• Where is the support to Hindert's assertion of an "absolute" in this regard?
  

 

 

Freedom1stFunding Re-Direct Scheme Victimizes Bronx Judge Among Others

The Freedom1stFunding Re-Direct Scheme is a massive ongoing search engine manipulation scheme that counts Bronx Judge Norma Ruiz Download Google search 6-7-2012 Freedom1stfunding Bronx Judge Norma Ruiz, primary and secondary structured settlement market participants and several major insurers among its victims. Through the diabolical scheme, the operator of Freedom1stFunding.com clearly attempts to capitalize on the names and good will of others by creating initial interest confusion in a desperate effort gain a competitive edge. Clicking on the links contained in the search results however, lead to Freedom1stFunding.com, a structured settlement factoring lead generation website that appears to only benefit one party, or a very small group of related parties.

Isn't it ironic that the perpetrators of the re-direct scheme are in the structured settlement factoring industry and that in targeting Norma Ruiz, a seated Bronx New York Supreme Court judge, they are "dissing" someone who often runs rule over whether or not structured settlememnt factoring transactions get approved in Bronx County? Can you sing Dumb da Dumb Dumb DUMB (to the tune of Dragnet)?

 

The Freedom1stFunding.com re-direct scheme is virtually identical to a re-direct scheme that has been alleged in two lawsuits to be the work of (or directed by) David Springer, 46, of Mt. Airy, MD and his company Sovereign Funding Group. The two lawsuits were brought by structured settlement factoring competitors J.G. Wentworth and Woodbridge Structured Funding respectively, shortly after information was discovered that tied the Defendants, David Springer and Sovereign Funding Group to webuypayments.net. Sovereign Funding was described as  a "fringe player" in the factoring industry in J.G. Wentworth's complaint against it..

I first reported on the subject in Who Owns WeBuyPayments.net? on July 25, 2011. On August 26, 2011 the name server for SovereignFunding.com was transferred to webuypayments.net!   Download Q=sovereignfunding IP history. On October 3, 2011 we posted a copy of a work order for website development that further tied Sovereign Funding to webuypayments.net . The dates therein, coincide with the dates that the re-directs (as they applied to structured settlement related names and company marks) were observed to appear by this author. 

More indication of David Springer control or direction over webuypayments.net re-direct scheme became evident after Woodbridge sent a cease and desist letter to Springer with a date certain of October 7, 2011. On October 7, 2011,  the re-direct links were pointed to our company where they remained for a period of 2 weeks. Why would they point to our company on Woodbridge's "or else date" to Springer, if David Springer received a cease and desist letter from Woodbridge? There's reason to believe that this is more than sheer coincidence.

Copy of Woodbridge Complaint filed November 28, 2011 in Maryland Federal Court and still pending  Download Woodbridge Structured Funding complaint v David Springer and Sovereign Funding

The J.G. Wentworth suit against Springer and Sovereign (which alleged that Springer and Sovereign were behind "47 different scam-related URLs!) was settled after a mediation and a joint dismissal was executed March 2, 2012. Compare the search result for JG Wentworth structured settlements  on 9-30-2011 Download JG Wentworth structured settlements We Buy Payments Confusion to the same search result today. Download Jg wentworth structured settlements - Google Search 6-7-2012 . As a side note, in March 2012, the JGW-Sucks.com  web domain, alleged to be owned by David Springer/Sovereign in the JG Wentworth complaint (see  http://www.scribd.com/doc/76906782/1-J-G-Wentworth-Scam-Lawsuit) was transferred to a brand management company for JG Wentworth, according to Whois records.

Examples which compare Freedom1stFunding.com re-redirect Scheme to WeBuyPayments.net re-direct scheme 

A. We Buy Payments Re-Direct Scheme  (clicking on all the marked links at time of Google search pdf was created pointed to webuypayments.net)

Download Stone Street Capital Victim of WeBuyPayments.Net  10-1-2011  Google

Download Metlife structured settlements - Google Search  9-19-2011

Download Pacific life structured settlements - Google Search  9-19-2011

Download 10-28-2011 aig structured settlements - Google Search

Download 123 lump sum - Google Search   9-15-2011 

Download 123 lump sum hallandale fl - Google Search FL 9-19-2011

B. Freedom1stFunding.com Re-Direct Scheme   (clicking on all the marked links at time of posting point to Freedom1stFunding.com)

Download Metlife structured settlements-Google search 6-7-2012

Download Pacific life structured settlements Google search 6-7-2012

Download 123 Lump Sum Google Search 6-7-2012

Download 123 lump sum Hallandale FL 6-7-2012 Google Search

Download Aig structured settlements 6-7-2012 Google Search

Download F1F redirect victim liberty mutual structured settlements - Bing 6-12-2012

Like the webuypayments.net re-direct scheme, the Freedom1stFunding.com re-direct scheme is a scam on consumers who seek legitimate information about who/what they are searching for. The diabolical acts of deception are clearly intentional,  there are multiple instances and it is ongoing.  The list of victims is long. In my opinion, neither the primary or secondary market should put up with an individual or company that seems to repeatedly engage in this behavior.  Those who "cheat to compete" should be dealt with accordingly.

The lawsuits apparently forced the perpetrator of the re-direct scheme to register the target domain off shore in at least an attempt to stymie future litigation over the scheme.

Follow the Woodbridge Structured Funding law suit against David Springer and Sovereign Funding at www.Pacer.gov.

The Structured Settlement Watchdog™ enjoys  a day at "the dog fight"

TopConsumerReviews.Com " Structured Settlement Companies" Reviewing the Reviewer

TopConsumerReviews.com issued  a press release on August 18,  honoring Stone Street Capital with a headline that mischaracterizes  Stone Street as a "Structured Settlement Company" when it is not a structured settlement company. Stone Street Capital is a purchaser of structured settlement payment rights.

Top ConsumerReviews.Com states "Structured settlement companies work with people who receive regular payments from a legal settlement, litigation, or accident. In lieu of some or all of these future payments, these companies provide a lump sum cash amount that can be used to address immediate financial needs. A structured settlement company serves to create the legal agreement, obtain court approval, and establish a relationship with the payer. Strong structured settlement companies are able to provide good payouts in a short amount of time, and are experienced with all aspects of the process". What TopConsumerReviewsCom is mischaracterizing as structured settlement companies are in fact settlement purchasers. Hnece the association that Stone Street Capital, J.G Wentworth and similar companies belong to, namely the National Association of Settlement Purchasers.

It is ironic that a site that was created to help consumers, would issue a press release that could possibly serve to increase consumer confusion.  

  
According to the disclaimer on it website:

• TopConsumerReviews.com does not accept free products or services from the companies we review. In fact, most companies do not know they are being reviewed until after our reviews are published online.
•  All product and service reviews are written based on the reviewer's personal experiences and/or information discovered through investigation and analysis. Ratings are subjective and are the sole opinion of TopConsumerReviews.com.
•  TopConsumerReviews.com periodically updates our reviews to reflect changes in product availability and function. This may result in changes to a product's rating. However, once posted, TopConsumerReviews.com does not accept any consideration from companies to directly adjust reviews or ratings.
• TopConsumerReviews.com does not charge consumers any access fees or monthly subscription dues for our analysis and recommendations. Instead, revenue is generated from the following sources: •  Banner advertisements •  Sponsored text link ads •  Affiliate relationships with companies of products and services reviewed

 

Cash Now for Structured Settlements Pusher Strikes New Low

The come on is "Get Structured Settlement Cash in a Flash".  Download Google cash now structured settlement. According to worldnetweb at Princeton University the words "in a flash"  mean "instantaneously: without any delay". (emphasis ours). The advertising claim is utter

 

,  the vulgar photo a "tip of the hat" to Stone Street Capital's "Teletubby-like" bovine spokescreature and a metaphor for the fresh "pile" that is the claim.

This isn't the first time either  (see It's Not A Question IF Stone Street Took a Few Liberties, They Did!"  December 9, 2010).

While the President of the National Association of Settlement Planners stated in part 2 of our April 11, 2011 debate (see first 2 1/2 minutes of video below) that he did not think it unethical (for a factoring company to advertise that they provide "structured settlement annuity quotes"), but perhaps even he would doubt the "cash in a flash claim" as not being in line with reality.

Structured Settlement Factoring Leaders by Estimated Transactions

JG Wentworth and Peachtree dominate the structured settlement factoring industry representing close to 70% of the industry's structured settlement factoring transactions each year, according to a survey posted on the Settlement Quotes, LLC website. It is no coincidence that the leading two companies invest substantial amount of money on saturation advertising campaigns that are memorable but universally annoying.

1. J.G. Wentworth 5,000
2. Peachtree 3,500
3. Strategic Capital 500
4. Stone Street Capital 400
5. Imperial Holdings 400
6. Structured Asset Funding/123 Lump Sum 300
7. Prosperity Partners 300
8. RSL Funding 300
9. Settlement Capital 200
10. Woodbridge Structured Funding, LLC 200
11. Novation Capital/ Encore 200
12. Patriot Funding 200
13. CBC Settlement Funding 150
14. Singer Asset Finance 150
15. Annuity Transfers, Ltd. 140
16. Client First  120
17. Fairfield Funding 120
18. Olive Branch Funding 120

Settlement Quotes' survey does not explain how estimates were derived. Factoring companies who believe that these estimates are not accurate are free to contact this author with adjusted numbers. The  Settlement Quotes report includes contact information, links to each company's website as well as a description of key personnel and Better Business Bureau record. If you are a "yelper", Settlement Quotes also gives you the ability for those who have patronized these companies to write a review.

Setting aside the obvious, that J.G. Wentworth and Peachtree have made spectacular returns on their advertising dollars, one wonders how many of the 70% who have embraced "Peachworth" are actually shopping around for the best deal?  Structured settlement sellers may be tempted to jump at the first offer for their structured settlement payments, when it might be a wise and strategic move to preserve more  capital with another factoring company and/or negotiate with one of the big advertisers.

 

It's Not A Question IF Stone Street Took a Few Liberties, They Did!

 
How can Stone Street Capital in good conscience advertise  "free structured settlement annuity quote"?

T  Stone Street Capital "busted" for "monkey see monkey do"

The apparent owners of the website structuredsettlementlumpsum.com, "cash now pushers" seem to have done just that in Google adsense ad. 

Despite the fact that the whois records of the registration remain anonymous, a telephone call by the structured settlement watchdog to the toll free number listed on the site  (866-273-0665) revealed the truth. When I asked the "receptionist" if he could provide me with a structured settlement annuity quote, he said "sure!" So as a phantom shopper,  I proceeded to see how much benefit iI could get for a cost of $500,000. At that point the "receptionist" said that they buy existing structured settlement annuities, which isn't even correct because they purchase structured settlement payment rights NOT structured settlement annuities.

At that point I revealed myself as the structured settlement watchdog and told the "receptionist" that I planned on communicating with company leadership in the morning.

It is bad enough that we see factoring companies advertise structured settlement quotes from time to time. What THEY do is purchase structured settlement payment rights. What THEY quote is the amount of cash that THEY are willing to offer in exchange for those rights. Unless THEY have an insurance license neither THEY nor THEIR representatives should be holding themselves out as being able to provide a quote for a product that requires a license, in my opinion...even in an attention grabbing  headline.

 

 Structured settlement watchdog in the holiday spirit