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Annuity Status | What's Your Structured Settlement Annuity Status? Don't Fall For It!

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Another bogus marketing pitch out of West Palm Beach Florida, this time from a company called Annuity Status. 

Red Flag Warning

Door Number 1

"We are a team of structured settlement consultants and after years of helping people exchange their future annuity payments for a lump-sum of money we found out there is a bigger need to actually help people find payments owed to them from insurance companies.

We take note and gather information about your structured settlement, dates, insurance companies involved and companies you might have sold payments to in the past".  Linkedin June 20, 2021   HUGE RED FLAG

"Door Number 2

So they claim that they USED to do that, but now they help people find stuff so they can build up a data base to fleece them for pennies on the dollar?  Take a look!  Within days of the statements made in Door Number One...

• It is " a structured settlement factoring company that helps people raise cash from their annuity payments  LinkedIn June 20, 2021
• "Make moving that much easier with some extra cash for your structured settlement payments".  Facebook Business Status Updated June 18, 2021
• " Get More Cash For More trips with cash for your structured settlement payments"   Facebook Business Status Update June 16, 2021 
• "Boost your savings with an honest cash offer for your structured settlement payments".  June 2021
• Annuity Status video is par for the course  "Feel like you hit the jackpot with cash for your structured settlement payments" (as the tiny change purse in your pocket is filed with small change) Video June 2021.  Ain't that the "pennies on the dollar" truth?
• Annuity Status also states "Through court records, searching prior transactions, contacting insurance companies and sending letters to your policy insurance issuer". Annuity Status website June 22, 2022  Another Red Flag.  "Policy insurance issuer" is an indication of a non native English speaker. 

But setting that aside, no insurance company is going to talk to anyone but the Payee, the Guardian (if applicable), or someone with Power of Attorney over your affairs.  Do not give Annuity Status  (or anyone else like them) Power of Attorney over your structured settlement or your affairs.  

Annuity Status Offers Premium Referral Fees to Lawyers in Exchange for Their Clients' Information

$2,000 payoffs to lawyers for referring their clients to sell their structured settlements (some of which may have confidentiality provisions) for pennies on the dollar?

I think you need to seriously question the ethics of a lawyer who takes a $2,000 fee for doing nothing but a referral the consequences of which are that the lawyer's client has to sell more of his or her stable income payments to raise cash  (or Annuity Status is charging the client more money than necessary). 

Annuity Status "misgenders" the term "Structured settlement consultants"

Some companies in the secondary market "misgender" structured settlement terms.  See my May 13, 2021 post It's Thursday and J G Wentworth/Peachtree Go Fluid as a "Structured Settlement Broker", and May 19, 2021 post Peachtree Targets Dreamers With "Trojan Horse" Value Proposition.

 

Check credentials to see if you are dealing with a legitimate structured settlement consultant

• Certified Structured Settlement Consultant  (verify through NSSTA) 
• Master Structured Settlement Consultant      (verify through NSSTA)
• Registered Settlement Planner                      (verify through Society of Settlement Planners)

Verify membership in the National Structured Settlements Trade Association,  Society of Settlement Planners and/or  American association of Settlement Consultants in addition to other qualifications.

Andrew S. Hillman, Lawyer and Early Structured Settlement Secondary Market Pioneer Dies Age 67

by John Darer, CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT  RSP CLTC

Andrew S. Hillman RIP

Andrew S. Hillman, Founder and General Counsel of Specialty Asset Advisors,  a pioneer in the secondary market for structured settlements and has been involved in the business exclusively for over twenty (20) years, has died. Hillman died January 20, 2020. 

Mr. Hillman was instrumental in bringing to the capital markets the first financing (securitization) of structured settlement payment streams and advising companies entering into the advance funding markets de novo. He was a primary negotiator of the compromise between the National Structured Settlement Trade Association and the National Association of Settlement Purchasers that resulted in federal and state legislation to foster the orderly and consumer protective transfer of structured settlement payments. Previously, he was a partner in a large Philadelphia based AV rated law firm and an in-house counsel for various banking, financial institutions, and specialty finance companies.

At time of his death Mr. Hillman as been a member in good standing of the Pennsylvania Bar for over 35 years and was an Florida Authorized House Counsel, a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees. Mr. Hillman held a BA from The American University and a Juris Doctor (cum laude) from Temple University School of Law. He was a frequent lecturer and authored and published papers on various financial services related matters.

Mr. Hillman was an avid reader of this blog. He represented tertiary market merchants of factored structured settlement payment streams. He would call me up periodically to "whine" about a particular blog post about one of his clients and he and I often engaged in good natured sparring on the topic of Secondary Market "Annuities".  I give Andy credit for engaging at least one of his clients to substantially clear up their website after more than a year of debating.  

Rest in Peace Andy.

Novation Funding's Bad "Rapper Wrapper" | Another Illusory "Maximum Payout" in Malibu Knock Off

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Malibu Knock Off

When one thinks of Malibu, one thinks of the glamorous beachfront bungalows owned by Hollywood celebrities or a great 1998 song by Courtney Love and her

Malibu California

former group , Hole.  West Palm Beach Florida could never be confused with Malibu, but the silly billys at Novation Funding LLC, utilize the pseudonym "Malibu Island" in a terrible pending structured settlement factoring deal for budding New York City rap artist Anttoine Jerrell Marshall.

Bad Rapper Wrapper

Novation Funding LLC ( doing business as "Malibu Island") submitted a deal with a 9.48% discount rate offering $73,112 for a $450,000 lump sum with a present value of $231,026. A 9.48% discount rate sucks, when a 6%-7% is available. Anttoine Jerrell Marshall should be getting in the range of $130,000 according to our sources.  Upon information and belief Novation Funding refused to budge on its West Palm Beach "Malibu" knock-off. While Malibu  CA  has spectacular cliffs, the 1641 Worthington Rd. West Palm Beach "Malibu" knock-off has a spectacular "fiscal cliff" for a seller.

In the Matter of the Petition of MALIBU ISLAND for the Approval of Transfer of Structured Settlement Payment Rights In Accordance with VERIFIED GOL §5-1701 et seq.,Petitioner(s) -against- THE PRUDENTIAL ASSIGNED SETTLEMENT SERVICES CORPORATION, THE PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE COMPANY OF AMERICA and ANTTIONNE JERRELL MARSHALL, Respondent(s) Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York Index 152268/2019

Novation Funding has an unfortunate history of wholly misleading advertising in which it has repeatedly claimed "maximum payouts" for structured settlements, when a sampling of their deals have proved to be no where near the maximum. Suckers who believe their West Palm Beach baloney get a raw deal. Cedric Martez Thomas, a then 21 year old African American New Yorker, like Marshall, was stalked and financially raped by Novation Funding in 2015 for in excess of one million dollars profit spread.

 

 

Novation Settlement Solutions Make Dubious False Claims for SEO

Novation Settlement Solutions, a DBA for the West Palm Beach financial rapists of New Yorker Cedric Thomas, Novation Funding, has taken some creative liberties with some terms that Novation illegitimately associates with work that the West Palm Beach company does through its bogus advertising.

Settlement Professionals

Settlement Professionals, a registered trademark of Settlement Professionals, Inc./  SPI Franchising Inc. of West Lynn Oregon, a company started by Jack Meligan, a founding President of the Society of Settlement Planners and former member of the NSSTA.   The Trademark settlement professionals has been registered to SPI since 2011, bearing registration number 3928384.

Structured Settlement Broker

Novation makes for SEO "About Novation Settlement Solutions-Structured Settlement Broker"

Novation Settlement Solutions is not a structured settlement broker. Novation does not appear to hold a life insurance license as would be required to broker structured settlement annuities.  Novation Settlement Solutions does not place or buy structured settlement annuities. It buys structured settlement payment rights. It has no appointments with any company issuing structured settlement annuities and is not a member of the National Structured Settlements Trade Association.

Novation Settlement Solutions claims to follow the rules, yet continues to fraudulently advertise Maximum Lump Payouts when it groomed and then brutally financially raped and pillaged a young black man from New York, (who Novation had been badgering since he was a teenager), for well over a million dollars of obscene profit that left the young man in a worse state than they found him.  This is in sharp contrast to Novation's self promotion that they make a positive difference in the lives of their customers.

In a response to a November 7, 2017 consumer complaint to the Better Business Bureau, Novation responded "... Like all of Novation's structured settlement transactions, Mr. *** appeared in court where he requested that the judge find that the terms of the transaction was in Mr. *** best interests and allow him to complete the sale. In the financial rape case, Cedric Thomas WAS in Florida, did not appear in Court, having been expressly told by Novation NOT to appear in Court on the date of his transfer hearing. 

"

Novation Settlement Solutions Yells "Fire" But You're Getting Hosed

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Novation Settlement Solutions is pulling a West Palm Beach Fire Drill. They yell " Fire"  to people receiving structured settlements, but some of those people end up getting hosed in sub-par deals funded by Novation Funding.  One New York man was hosed for over $1.4 million by Novation Funding.

Novation Settlement Solutions is a dishonest in their advertising

1. Novation Settlement Solutions has advertised that it gives maximum pay outs when time after time it can be proven that they don't, because other companies often pay more, much more.Ask Cedric Martez Thomas and all the other minorities who have been taken advantage by Novation.
2. Novation Settlement Solutions is now carpet bombing ads in all sorts of online news media trying to hustle people to sell their structured settlements "because interest rates going up". There is no need to rush when you're going into a bad deal.  Selling your structured settlement is 100% guaranteed to be  a money loser. It's only a question of how much of a money loser you want to be.
   
3. Novation not even original. Let's give credit where credit is due.  Roger Proctor, the President of Genex Capital tried to pull the same interest rate sales pitch in 2009 and 2010. Anyone who took his advice then, would have lost tons of money as interest rates fell.  Here's how I covered that story.
   

Don't Let Your Structured Settlement Go Up in the Flames of a "Hot Deal" that Will Leave You Hosed Beyond Belief

 

National Association of Settlement Purchasers' Fluffy 2017 Letter to Consumers is Without Substance

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

The simmering NASP bouillabaisse gurgles like the bullfrog Jeremiah,  the morning after a "Three Chili Dog NIght" out.

21 months after one of its members financially raped a young African American New Yorker for over $1.4 million in profit spread and continues to this day to make wholly misleading statements that it delivers maximum payouts, the National Association of Settlement Purchasers delivered this nothing burger.

All is not accurate on the NASP lilypad 

"Firms that join NASP are required to disclose the details of their business practices by providing an approximation of how many transfers they complete in a calendar year, explaining how the company finances its acquisition of structured settlements, and describing how the company markets its services to customers".  NASP website annual letter January 2017.

• Strong doubts are surely raised about NASP's review of Novation Funding.  In the same time frame as the $1.4M financial rape.  Novation Funding skanked another African-American New Yorker, with an Allstate structured settlement for a discount rate that meant a much lower payout than he would have received had he just used Allstate's Advanced Funding Exchange Notice that was in his policy. Novation lacked the ethics to get anywhere near the Allstate rate.  Novation lies in wait by suggesting you sell your structured settlement to go to Bora Bora, or an interest rate fire sale.  Novation Funding has been the industry poster child for false, misleading and predatory advertising,  in my opinion. 
• Strong doubts are surely raised about NASP's review of Seneca One. Seneca One recently withdrew from NASP. While Seneca One was a member it was notorious for creating official sounding  fake agencies to generate leads for its business and, while operating as Albanoni LLC,  for hosing Oklahoma resident Lauren Nesbitt for a $1 million profit spread while advertising " your trusted source".
• Strong doubts are surely raised about NASP's review of a certain member's soliciting structured settlement annuitants, including a young African-American single father of two toddlers and an Allstate structured settlement,  with statements about inappropriate investments and using investment projections that could have potentially violated securities laws.
  
• Strong doubts about review of the NASP member companies involved in Kyle Stibb case
• Strong doubts about review of NASP member Liberty Settlement Funding's " Don't Miss The Boat" ads, a dishonest targeting of immigrants with the false premise that a factoring discount is a good deal.  More dubious advertising by Liberty Settlement Funding

It's simply not enough for NASP to say they review a company's marketing because its clear that either (1)  they're not doing so; or (2), that they are conducting such reviews based on incomplete disclosures and/or (3) they are aware and professing willful ignorance

 

The "Interest Rates Going Up" Fire Sale Is Old School Structured Settlement Cash Now Play

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

"Interest Rates are going up. Act now and get more for your payments" bray the structured settlement cash now "mules" for Novation Settlement Solutions on social media as they seek to "burro" into your safe secure income stream for "chicken feed"

Novation's not so slick value proposition is an old school hustle that could have devastating consequences for structured settlement annuitants who get sucked into the Novation cash now fire sale "tractor beam".

Novation Settlement Solutions Interest Rate "Fire Sale" is an Old School hustle

 Genex Capital weaved the same web to snare annuitants in 2009 on the basis of rising interest rates, that proved to be illusory. Anyone who heeded Genex Capital's howling would have been devastated because interest rates actually went down making the structured settlements more valuable. Read The Wolf of Structured Settlements' Inflation Howl Reduced To A Yelp.

What is the Federal Funds Rate?

Talk of rising interest rates is no doubt spurred by the recent small increase in the Federal Funds rate by the United States Federal Reserve  ( "The Fed"). The Fed Funds rate is a benchmark interest rate—the key rate at which banks offer each other overnight loans—On June 14, 2017, The Fed raised the federal funds rate by 0.25 percentage points today and was set between 1% and 1.25%. It is the first time since 2008 that the rate will be at least 1%.  According to Bloomberg, policy makers also issued forecasts showing another three (.25) quarter-point rate increases in 2018, similar to the previous projections in March. Inflation is under 2%.

Novation's Pig Doesn't Fly

Novation has a lot of fat in its deals. As I covered in a recent post, two Brooklyn New York Novation Funding cash now , structured settlement transfer hearings scheduled for August 2017, carry predatory effective discount rates of 17.07% and 19.85%. The Novation discount rates are hardly competitive.

• If you find yourself in need of cash then speak to a credentialed financial professional
• If you decide that selling structured settlement payments is the way to go for you, then shop around.  Pay no attention to a structured settlement cash now pusher's "tug job". Don't respond to "tugs on your heart strings", use your head.
• Judges in places like Kings County should be mindful and informed of the approach that Novation uses to snare customers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lawyer Who Forged Judges Signatures on Structured Settlement Transfer Orders to Be Sentenced After Changing Plea

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

Jose Manuel Camacho Jr, the disgraced fraudster Miami lawyer arrested last Fall, who admitted to forging 7 Broward County Florida judge's signatures on multiple structured settlement transfer orders, will be changing his plea, and will be sentenced on August 26, 2016.

Camacho, the now disbarred lawyer is charged with multiple count 3rd degree felonies for Uttering a Forged instrument in a bizarre series of events leave one scratching one's head.  Among the bizarro revelations surrounding the case were the arresting agency employing Camacho's ex-wife and whited out notary signatures and forgeries that weren't even close.

The structured settlement secondary market did its best to keep the forgeries under wraps for 3 months before I busted it open on this blog in early January 2016.  Coming on the heels of the 100+ New York forged structured settlement transfer orders involving an employee of New York City's Paris & Chaiken the Camacho forgeries were an unmitigated PR disaster. My reporting was followed by a news report in the Sun Sentinel on February 22, 2016

Download Case Summary State of Florida v Camacho Jr

Novation Cash Now Pushers Repeatedly Ignored Do Not Call List, Offered $50 Western Union Bribes

by Structured Settlement Watchdog®

In a lawsuit against Novation Funding, the stinking onion that is the structured settlement secondary market continues to be peeled back in all its repellent splendor.

According to transcripts of audio recordings produced by the Novation Defendants in a class action lawsuit and submitted as part of a reply motion on May 26, 2016, Novation Defendants  repeatedly ignored the Do Not Call List and Novation telemarketers even attempted to bribe a structured settlement annuitant to listen to their sales pitch with a $50 Western union wire. 

Two cited audios produced by the Novation Defendants  with Bates Stamps 0000039 and 0000044 lay it out for you.  

What is a Bribe?

Bribery is the act of giving money, goods or other forms of recompense to a recipient in exchange for an alteration of their behavior (to the benefit/interest of the giver) that the recipient would otherwise not alter. Employees, managers, or salespeople of a business may offer money or gifts to a potential client in exchange for business.  The structured settlement secondary market, where there is no licensing, a trade association with a straw man code of ethics,  and  a complete lack of regulation of sales practices and business conduct uses bribes to coax structured settlement annuitants to commit unlawful acts, such as stating in court documents that they reside in a state that they don't.

Who is Suing Novation Funding, LLC et al?

See KEVIN BUJA, individually and on behalf of others similarly situated, Plaintiff,v. NOVATION CAPITAL, LLC, a foreign limited liability company; NOVATION VENTURES, LLC,a foreign limited liability company; NOVATION FUNDING, LLC each doing business as "Novation Settlement Solutions," an unregistered fictitious entity,Defendants.

Plaintiff, Kevin Buja, moves pursuant to F.R.C.P. 56(c)(1)(A) and CM/ECF Administrative Procedure 3H(7) for leave to conventionally file with the Court a compact disk containing an audio recordings of unsolicited telephone calls made by Defendants, in support oPlaintiff’s Reply in Support of Motion to Amend. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants made unsolicited telemarketing calls to his cellular phone in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227,et seq.[ECF No.39]. Defendants “scrape” court dockets and other public filings for the telephone numbers of individuals who have structured settlements. The names and telephone numbers of potential clients are then loaded into an automatic telephone dialing system,

As I've shown over and over again, Novation defendants are not truthful  in advertising.  After financially raping a young lad named Cedric Martez Thomas for in excess of a $1 million spread, they persistently advertise that they give maximum payouts. It's a total lie.

 

 

Novation Settlement Solutions YouTube | The Chutzpah of These People

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

The Novation Settlement Solutions YouTube Channel features spotlight interviews of various Novation employees. The videos were published in early 2015,  to solicit people like Cedric Martez Thomas, to do business with Novation, which he did in October 2015

1. Novation Settlement Solutions  YouTube channel says "we can give our customer's faster decisions, better service and maximum payouts".  an outright lie now, given their payout in the Cedric Martez Thomas case that was nowhere near maximum
2. Evan Kaye down plays "best price" 
3. Justin Restivo says " we put our money where our mouth is"   True statement, Novation gorged on Cedric Martez Thomas structured settlement payments like ravenous gluttons
4. Betty Castellanos says "...not just out to make a buck"        Hmm,  ya think that's still true Betty Boop? 

Cedric Martez Thomas sold $6,600,000 in future payments to Novation for $1,037,000, when he could have easily received more than double that.  Cedric Martez Thomas could have done more with his "second chance' had he not done business with Novation, according to credible sources in the structured settlement secondary market.  He could have had his cake and ate it too, by getting the same amount of money as the Novation gluttons paid him, but kept some of his tax free structured settlement from American General Life Insurance Company. Here's the Court Order Download PDF C Thomas 

 

Novation boasts of a 97% transfer approval rating.  That's evident if one uses their ability to get a judge to approve such an outrageously crappy one off deal for Cedric Thomas as an example.