Setting the record straight about structured settlements

Posted on January 12, 2012

When your product has all the advantages of a structured settlement (guaranteed payments, tax-free income, individually tailored payments), it’s inevitable that outside groups will try to grab onto your good name.  A case in point: companies that purchase future payment rights of structured settlement beneficiaries are inaccurately calling themselves “structured settlement” companies.

As the saying goes, even if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.  Take this posting from a website called TopConsumerNews.com.  While it claims to offer advice about structured settlements, in reality the article and its surrounding advertisements are solely focused on getting people to sell their payments.

There are reasons to be skeptical about topconsumernews.com: First, its “contacts” page  doesn’t list either an address or phone number.  That seems odd for an organization supposedly devoted to consumer support.

Second, many of the articles in the section “Structured Settlements in the News” have nothing to do with structured settlements.

There are other reasons but here’s the bottom line: A structured settlement gives you guaranteed tax-free income and remarkable peace-of-mind during economic turmoil.  There’s rarely a good reason to answer the TV pitches of companies outside the structured settlement industry that promise cash for your future payment rights.

NSSTA Legal Committee co-chair Peter Vodola maintains a blog about legal issues relating to settlement purchases.  Anyone considering selling future payments should check out this recent Vodola blog.