HELPING STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT RECIPIENTS AFTER THE SETTLEMENT
WHY DO SETTLEMENT PROFESSIONALS TRUST US TO HELP THEIR CLIENTS?
Rhonda Bentzen and Cam Mears have applied their decades of experience putting structured settlements together to help structured settlement annuitants understand their options and make informed decisions when their needs change after settlement. We recognize that in such situations professional consultation is critical. We help you weed through the jargon and advocate for you so you are treated with the respect and honesty you deserve. We pride ourselves on helping our clients find payment options that truly match their long-term needs.
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READ BEFORE YOU CALL
We've compiled a list of questions you should be prepared to answer:
- Why do you feel it’s necessary to transfer your right to future payments?
- Are there any reasonable alternatives to selling your right to future payments?
- Do you have another source of income that will serve to replace your guaranteed payments?
- If you have dependents, how will they benefit or suffer from the sale of your rights to future payments?
- Do you currently owe any back child support or alimony?
- Do you receive needs-based government assistance for which you will be rendered ineligible upon receipt of funds from the sale of your future payments?
Why Choose Bentzen Financial?
A full-service, referral-based business dedicated to helping facilitate the sale of future payments as quickly and easily as possible.
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Our Recent Blogs
“Happy Halloween!”
Factoring isn’t the boogeyman and structures are not perfect.
The best structured settlements are beautiful, but don’t get attached to them. Life happens, and as such it’s life, not factoring, that is the enemy of a structured settlement. The best laid plans, like the best policies, with the best intentions, can’t s
Myth: You will lose money by factoring, so take out a loan instead. Reality: Whether you factor annuity payments or take a loan, there is a cost to obtaining money, but many people believe that factoring involves “losing” money. This misconception comes from comparing the cumulative future payments with the present value lump sum payment offered by the factoring company. For instance, if an annuitant has 200 monthly payments of $1,000 , the cumulative payments would be $200,000 . In this case, a factoring transaction might net the annuitant approximately $100,000 or 50% of the cumulative total. This is not “losing” money, it is the result of obtaining future payments early at a 10% discount rate. If instead the annuitant took a $100,000 loan at 10% and paid it back over 200 months , the total cost including interest would also be $200,000 (assuming the annuitant had sufficient credit to get the loan). A loan requires credit, collateral, origination fees, and carries the risk of late fees and foreclosure if payments are not made when due. In the factoring scenario, the annuitant would need to wait 200 months (almost 17 years) to collect the full $200,000 , during which time the equivalent present value of the payments is continually diminishing due to inflation. A dollar will not have the same purchasing power in 17 years as it has today.
The foundation of abuse in the factoring industry is cracking! South Carolina’s supreme court as well as its senate are readying for reform in response to the most recent expose (see here , here and here ). Both the court and the legislature are intent on fixing a clearly broken system. Despite the natural inclination to copy what other states have done (MN, GA, LA, etc.), whose reforms ironically ended up benefiting the worst abusers of the industry, we suggest a simpler reform that will solve the absolute majority of abuse: Keep the personal identification information (PII) protected for all structured settlement recipients from here on out. This way, the companies guilty of these abuses won’t be able to find new victims. More: make such protection retroactive. This is already standard practice for minors receiving structures, and it works, at least until they turn 18. Extending this protection would do wonders for structure health. What predatory companies can’t find, they can’t chase. Keep people safe and their identification information secure. Advocate for smart reforms.
