Bentzen Financial

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 10:53:16 GMT

It’s a time to be thankful!

We’d like to show our appreciation for everyone out there who, like us, is focused on crafting the best solution to our clients’ needs. Moreover, the season demands we take the time to acknowledge a few things.

First, and the hard work NSSTA has done to ensure greater fairness in the factoring process. Work in Georgia and Florida to ensure aggressive poaching has been nullified is commendable and should be the standard everywhere. Likewise, a tip of the hat to Texas, whose personal identifying information (PII) protections guarantees that annuitants don’t get harassed ad nauseum from the moment the ink dries on their structured settlement agreements or when they’ve made the decision to cash something out.

We’d also like to thank the work of those who go unrecognized too often: the IPAs who help both us and the courts with guaranteeing that our more vulnerable annuitants get the proper added input and security. It’s not required in all states, but we’re sure to use them as often as we can. The best consultation doesn’t just come from us, and we know plenty of clients need that added layer of protection to feel comfortable. Where some may try to lead annuitants away, knowing full well that the deal is a result of their aggressive telemarketing or clever jingles, we know we can trust you and your referrals. They wouldn’t be doing this unless they needed to.

Finally, we give thanks to you. Enjoy the turkey, good company, and inevitable food coma.

May the holidays begin!

Kudos to NSSTA & Happy Halloween!

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 14:06:38 GMT

“Happy Halloween!”

Do you know what’s truly spooky for annuitants? Incessant calls from aggressive factoring telemarketers who seem to know more about them and their financial situation than most family members. Talk about creepy! But how does it happen? Unsealed court records and easy access through legal databases.

Ah, the sharp minded know that you’re not allowed to use court records for commercial purposes in most states. Unfortunately, even if true, the simple fact is that factoring telemarketers simply stand to make far more money than the slap on the wrist that such a violation entails, whether that’s TCPA, record abuse, or whatever else. If anything, the occasional fine is just part of the overhead. So, how do concerned attorneys or brokers get around this? Thankfully, there’s a solution! Add a single page document to your structured settlement agreements requesting the records of the suit be sealed specifically to prevent predation and harassment. As the legislative successes of NSSTA begin to turn the tide, this step will further prevent the omnipresent court scraping lurkers from being able to find their marks and limit the ability of the telemarketers to become the boogeymen to your clients.

With that, we can all can gorge on Halloween treats in peace!

To Eric Vaughn and the rest of NSSTA who are advancing this very thing, as evidenced in their memo from earlier this month:

Keep up the good work! We’re behind you 100%!

Help spread the word to make this season more fun and less of a headache for annuitants everywhere. Remember: factor only when needed and have a trusted advisor on standby for when annuitants ask. We’ll be waiting.

No Plan is Perfect

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 23:40:47 GMT

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

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 survive unexpected medical complications, car accidents, natural disasters, or a struggling child. This is why people will factor their structures, not greed, stupidity, impulse-control issues, or lack of thought. You can’t go before a judge and say, “I just want money for a vacation.” You’ll be denied in a heartbeat. That this happens is not reflective of reality.

It is right and proper to criticize the high-pressure sales methods of some in the factoring business. It is certainly appropriate to criticize improper exploitation of vulnerable structured settlement recipients, no matter their color, creed, or mental faculties. It is not accurate, though, to say that this is a result of factoring’s mere existence. It is institutionalized arrogance to state that all structured settlement recipients are unsophisticated and financially illiterate. Factoring companies understand the procedure to get the transaction through the judiciary. They also have a sales staff to try and bring in business. They have the same level of sophistication as any other business with a sales arm.

The best ways to combat unethical exploitation of structured settlement recipients is to prevent them from being found for solicitation. You cannot stop an annuitant from looking for ways to liquidate their structures if that’s what they need. You can help put a stop to hyper-aggressive solicitations and harassment. Careful planning, education, and strict personal identification information (PII) censoring protects annuitants from the would-be predators. For those that need the value-added liquidity of a factored transaction, done properly and with appropriate financial consultation, they have the option of getting an attorney’s or broker’s referral for an ethical factoring professional.

Structures and factoring are not enemies. They are complementary in addressing the ever-changing needs of the people we ultimately serve: the annuitants and their families.

The Loan = Factoring Transaction Myth

Tue, 11 Oct 2022 20:08:50 GMT

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.

One Simple Step to Stop Abuse!

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 19:33:27 GMT

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.

Something's Hitting the Fan with the 11th Circuit

Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:16:59 GMT

Another day, another question of abusive cash now transactions. Another lead paint victim, too. See here for more details. It all begs the question: why do the big cash now companies prey on the head injured? Is it a delicacy? Or are they just hoping no one will notice?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we harp on brokers needing to educate their annuitants on how factoring is useful in some situations, and completely inappropriate in others. It’s why brokers are the referral gatekeepers, or at least, they should be. Anyone with a severe personal injury, especially one affecting their judgment, requires greater aid in both pre and post structure environments. Even if a factoring transaction might have addressed the legitimate needs of the man in the article, was factoring the whole thing really necessary? Probably not. It’s why consultation is required, not just telemarketing.

As for the court and its involvement in the issue of whether insurers have a duty to question factoring transactions, full stop. Requiring insurers to question factoring transactions would increase their liability, as well as the fact that while courts must apply the best interest standard, an ethical factoring company uses the annuitant’s best interest as its guiding light. Furthermore, it is the duty of the court to determine whether a factoring transaction is in the best interest of the seller and serves as final gatekeeper. That’s the whole purpose of going to court in the first place. If not the courts, then the legislatures in whatever state is affected by abusive or exploitative practices. We’ve seen this throughout the country in the past few years, such as in Louisiana, Georgia, and Minnesota. It’s cumbersome to add additional requirements upon the companies involved in a potential transaction when the issue isn’t whether the company’s sought to conduct business as usual, but whether the court authorized it in the circumstances they are meant to scrutinize.

Factoring transactions can and should be done according to set rules. No forum shopping, no poaching, no scraping, no “gotcha!” checks, no flagrant flouting of the TCPA and other applicable state consumer protection laws. There’s a right way and a wrong way. Promote the right way.

Educate. Consult. Refer.

We’ll be here.

Cam Mears on Factoring with Dan Finn

Mon, 22 Nov 2021 15:08:30 GMT

We're thrilled to see that others are contributing to the factoring expose by the Minnesota Star Tribune . This time, structured settlement consultant Dan Finn. You can read his take on factoring and the Star article here .

What's more, you can see Cam Mears delve into the details on factoring in his one-on-one interview with Finn here on YouTube!

Factoring doesn't have to be the boogeyman. Make sure it's done right by referring only to those you trust to offer proper consultation.

The Simple Solution

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 15:07:28 GMT

Yet again abuses in the factoring business have had light shone on them, this time in Minnesota , and we can only shake our heads. This is what we’ve been talking about for what feels like an eternity. Minnesotan outrage is absolutely deserved. The state legislature there has already determined that reform is necessary , and we hope they take reasonable, sensible measures that account for the reality of the abuses with proper context. The ultimate question born out of this and every other state that has had reform, though, is will it be enough?

The answer: No.

It's easy to add registration and bond requirements, change the domicile language, or the number of days in a disclosure period while beating our chests about fair competition, but in the end the overwhelming majority of abuse is enabled by a single issue: the lack of redaction of the personal identifying information (PII) in structured settlement agreements and ongoing factoring transactions which permits endless , high-pressure marketing directly to annuitants. Protecting the PII of annuitants doesn’t need to be legislated, though it certainly should be. Those of us involved in the business can and should merely add a single confidentiality page to agreements. If preventing harassment and abuse isn’t cause enough to protect annuitants through confidentiality provisions, we don’t know what is. We don’t need to rewrite SSPAs to get a handle on this when we can police ourselves.

Join us in making this small change. It’ll make a huge difference. Maybe the industry might even get some good press every now and then.

SSPA Reforms in Georgia & Elsewhere

Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:05:34 GMT

Not as great as you think...

The Georgia SSPA changes, mirroring recent changes to Louisiana, are generally a step in the right direction when taken at face value. There are elements of oligopoly promotion, exclusion of fair competition, and the like, but that’s not for today. Instead, we need to address an unseen and more insidious element of standardization in SSPA’s without regard for the practical realities of each state: uniform requirements for hearings where the payee is domiciled.

Well, that’s a non-starter, isn’t it? Who doesn’t agree with such a basic measure? It’s meant to keep all that evil forum shopping at bay! For those of us in more urban areas with properly staffed and regularly scheduled courts, it’s inconceivable that this could be a bad thing. For much of Georgia and other more rural states, though, it is, for the simple fact that they do not have properly staffed or regularly scheduled court. In fact, in many rural areas of Georgia, specifically, they only have court availability a few times a year. This may seem fine for more routine cases that courts hear, but its grossly unfair for those with financial emergencies that require the factoring vehicle to solve. The entire basis of IRC 5891, the factoring statute, revolves around recognizing and addressing time sensitive financial needs faced by annuitants with no recourse but to cash out part or all of their structures. It’s simply unrealistic to expect that people in these situations will be able to last 4-8 months on a tiny rural docket where they’re domiciled. In other words, we must face an ugly, uncomfortable truth:

Sometimes to properly serve the annuitant’s financial needs we need to move their hearing into a court that will actually hear it within a reasonable time frame. “Forum shoppers!” you cry. Fair enough. But in this case, it’s a matter of actually helping the annuitant in need, or letting them face financial ruin because the means available wasn’t ideal.

Like most laws, the Georgia SSPA isn’t perfect, but we’re not demanding a total rewrite here or anywhere else. A simple amendment could be added to address this in any state where the issue is present, one that accounts for the time sensitive nature of the issues annuitants face and, in the event that a court can’t set a hearing within a reasonable time when in a rural county, the annuitant be permitted to move the hearing to a nearby jurisdiction that can address it in a more timely manner. Simple, clean, understanding, or, in a word: reasonable. That’s the entire basis of factoring as an option.

Annuitants & Factoring Questions: How to Tell They're Coming

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 15:04:09 GMT

Since the Society of Settlement Planners (SSP) Annual meeting, we’ve had some inquiries into how to help annuitants avoid getting taken advantage of by the “Cash Now!” factoring companies. First, we need to establish the reality we’re all dealing with here:

Annuitants are exposed to the existence of factoring through TV, radio, and Internet ads, as well as direct solicitation. The allure of “Cash now!” is misleading but promises to solve people’s financial problems. A transaction will happen.
The Cash Now companies do not offer informed consultation or have any concern for the annuitant’s situation. Their business is simply to buy as many annuity payments as they can, using whatever means possible to get that business, no matter how misleading or ethically questionable.
As part of a factoring transaction, annuitants must provide copies of their structured settlement documents. This is where you come in.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

It’s a red flag when an annuitant asks for their structure documents out of the blue. If they’re asking, it’s most likely because they need them for a factoring transaction with a Cash Now company they saw on TV. This is the best time to keep an annuitant from being victimized. How?

Ask what they need the docs for; Is everything okay? Anything you can do to help them? Is this for a factoring company? Context matters.
If you have a factoring consultant you trust, suggest they call that person to ensure they are considering everything before moving forward. The Cash Now companies urge annuitants to cash out everything, either the first time or through harassing them into subsequent transactions. A proper consultation will help annuitants address their immediate situation and keep needed future payments intact. It also clears up any ad-based misconceptions, like whether they actually get cash now (they don’t), or whether there’s a formal process to go through (there is).
Let them know, as the structure expert, you are recommending a trusted factoring expert. Your referral means a lot to an annuitant in need.
Do not try to talk an annuitant out of a factoring transaction. They’ve already made their decision. It’s more compelling for a trusted factoring consultant to go through their situation in detail and let them know when factoring doesn’t make sense.
Ensure that everyone on your team, from support staff to case managers, know what to look for and how to address it. Have a trusted referral standing by.

Last, and this is vital for annuitants to understand: the availability of factoring is an added value to their structure. However, it should only be done when it makes sense and is truly needed. Factoring shouldn’t be done just because the option exists, and especially not due to the sales pressure of a Cash Now company or the siren-song of an immediate payday. Together, we can make sure annuitants are properly taken care of and do not become victims of sleazy telemarketing, catchy jingles, Words with Friends ads, or their own desperation for cash now.

Happy Holidays!

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 15:00:43 GMT

Bye-Bye 2020!

2020 has been a rollercoaster for us all, but we've almost gotten through it. Here's to a wonderful happy holidays to end this historical time and a very happy new year!

COVID-19 Law Changes?

Thu, 17 Sep 2020 14:58:56 GMT

Here’s your regular nonsense-o-meter update:

Supposedly, COVID-19 got cash now transaction laws changed so they can be done much faster and for an even higher payout nation-wide. We’ve gotten too many calls from too many people on this. We’re not sure who’s spreading this information but please understand that it is completely false. The pandemic has not made anything faster. If anything, it has made everything much slower.

This won’t come as a surprise to many of you who work with or in the courthouses around the country, but annuitants don’t know that, and telemarketers don’t care. The pandemic has tightened a lot of belts for people around the nation. Let’s make sure that even in these increasingly desperate times they don’t get suckered into doing transactions that aren’t good for them, and especially not with the latest brand of snake-oil salesmen. Let’s all weather the storm without being victimized by the hucksters.

We’ll be here if you or your clients need us. Stay safe and healthy out there.

As the Crow Flies

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 14:58:09 GMT

Good afternoon and happy summer during these trying times. We’ve received some agitated reports of renewed marketing from John Bair’s factoring firm, CrowFly. We want to remind you that:

Putting structures together and also taking them apart is a clear conflict of interest for the structuring part. After all, what incentive is there to put a good structure together when there’s an opportunity for double-dipping?
CrowFly’s message of how high rates are terrible is the same one we’ve been saying for nearly 20 years. Yes, high rates are bad, low rates are better, but more importantly:
CrowFly’s rates are just the industry average, and low rates don’t trump the most important part of any factoring consideration;
Doing the right thing for an annuitant does not mean just giving them competitive rates. It sometimes means advising them not to cash out at all.

We stopped putting structures together because we recognized the need to offer sound financial advice on the factoring side. We don’t factor everything we’re referred because it’s not appropriate for every case. We’re not cash now pushers.

Stay safe and cool in this summer heat and thanks for sticking with us.

COVID-19: Bringing out the Predators

Fri, 17 Apr 2020 14:57:14 GMT

As predicted, the pandemic has spawned a new factoring ploy, except this time it is disguised as altruism. You may have already received solicitations promoting COVID-19 loans, or furlough assistance, or paycheck protection, or something to that effect. Factoring companies are counting on sidelined workers and businesses becoming desperate as savings and government subsidies run out, because that’s when they’ll step in with their supposedly compassionate loans.

Decades of experience tells that the probability of an annuitant having the ability or will to repay a loan or cash advance is slim to none. These factoring companies know that. They see annuitants as the hungry fish that doesn’t realize there is a barbed hook hiding underneath that fat, juicy worm. And just like the fish, it’s going to be next to impossible for annuitants to shake free from the hook once that check is cashed. An inevitable factoring transaction to repay what is owed is all but guaranteed. And that’s the scam.

In our opinion, the security of guaranteed structured settlement payments is now more valuable and important than ever. That said, a factoring transaction can be a legitimate way for some annuitants who have been devastated by the economic shutdown to gain the liquidity needed to get back on their feet. But it’s a difficult decision that should be made only after careful consideration of the facts and options, not after being baited with loans.

Stay safe and healthy out there.

Weathering the Storm

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 14:56:17 GMT

We at Bentzen Financial hope you’re staying healthy and safe during this trying time. We are fortunate that our business can still be run fairly effectively while practicing social distancing. Many are not so lucky. The next few months will likely prove to be very challenging for many sectors, resulting in layoffs, financially strained businesses and depleted personal savings.

Trying times like these can bring out the best in us, but it can also bring out the worst. The grifters, opportunists, and hucksters will be out in full force to capitalize on this crisis. This includes the “cash now” pushers in the factoring industry. We’ve already noticed an uptick in TV ads. In this time of confusion and uncertainty, aggressive telemarketers will be working overtime scraping court records and clients lists to coerce unsuspecting annuitants into questionable transactions.

Calls from your clients looking for liquidity will be inevitable as this crisis worsens. We urge you to engage with your clients to help them find sensible solutions. We all agree that preserving their guaranteed payments is the best outcome, however, factoring is sometimes the only option for liquidity. In that case, the goal should be to preserve as much of the payments as possible. Factoring should never be the universal solution that “cash now” firms push.

Experience tells that no matter the warnings you give annuitants about factoring, otherwise sensible people will still answer those “cash now” ads in times of desperation. Trust us that nothing good will come of those calls. Now, more than ever, your clients need facts and options to make informed decisions about their finances; not sales pressure and coercion. They won’t find that on their own without your help.
For those of you personally affected by the COVID-19 health crisis, know that our thoughts and best wishes are with you.

Stay safe and healthy.

Happy Holidays from Bentzen Financial

Fri, 20 Dec 2019 14:55:09 GMT

We wish you a...

And a...

Legal Databases Follow-up

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 14:51:21 GMT

Due to the overwhelming demand for more information on the legal database & scrapers post sent out 11/19, contact information and steps for proper reporting for the legal databases we used as reference are included below.

The database is provided along with links to their terms of use and contact pages. Keep in mind that the following databases are only those that we are aware of and used for research purposes, it is not exhaustive.

WestLaw - Contact - Terms of Use

When contacting WestLaw, you will need to be an existing customer to report a violation; ironically, they're also a big sponsor of NASP (National Association of Settlement Purchasers, the big factoring companies). In all of our attempts, they were the most difficult for us in terms of filing complaints or reporting a violation. Contact their customer service and follow prompts. 1-800-328-4880 .

LexisNexis - Contact - Terms of Use

LexisNexis is the easiest to deal with. Call their customer service line, 1-800-543-6862 , and request their legal department. You will reach someone who will pass your concern to the powers that be. Give them the message.

Bloomberg - Contact - Term of Service

Bloomberg's legal help desk is very straight forward. You give them your complaint and they pass it along. Call 1-888-560-2529 . For something in-depth, you can e-mail them at help@bloomberglaw.com .

If you, too, are concerned with the constant harassment that most settlement recipients are subjected to, even when they haven't sold some or all of their structured settlement before, then please contact the above service providers, along with those of your choice, to demand that these service providers enforce their terms of use. Court scraping is harassment. End it.

Legal Databases & Scrapers

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:48:18 GMT

Factoring industry leaders have made recent overtures towards needed ethics reforms, but they can’t be taken too seriously without the industry properly addressing the root cause of most abuses: court record scraping. We’ve talked about this before. It’s still the number one driver of annuitant harassment and foul, even abusive, business practices. It all stems from access to online legal databases and use of these databases for purposes that are blatantly violating their terms of use at best, and explicitly illegal at worst. For example, these databases specifically prohibit:

Commercial Exploitation – Database firms state that their services are intended for legal, business or scholarly research and analysis.

…data may not be used for commercial solicitations, marketing, fundraising, or other similar activities.

You will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, download, store, further transmit, disseminate, transfer, or otherwise exploit this website

…whose primary purpose is to perform professional, business or educational, research and analysis, and you are working in a court or government agency; a professional or business corporation, organization or other similar entity

The Content on this Web Site is for your personal use only and not for commercial exploitation.

Legal Violations – Database firms prohibit their services from being used to break the law, but the scraping of these databases is the proximate cause of the relentless phone solicitations that are, for the most part, violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

You will not use, intentionally or unintentionally any of the content, information, or services on this website in a manner contrary to or in violation of any applicable international, national, federal, state, or local law, rule, or regulation having the force of law.

…and shall not be used for any illegal purpose or in any manner inconsistent with the provisions of these TOS.

Derivative Works – These firms do not allow users to sell products created from their databases, but there are several firms that glean these databases to offer prospect lists of annuitants.

You may not modify, publish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, or in any way exploit, any of the Content, software, materials, or Site in whole or in part.

You may not decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, rent, lease, loan, sell, sublicense, or create derivative works from this Web Site or the Content.

…share, recompile, decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, or make or distribute any other form of, or any derivative work from, the Services, or Content, or any portion thereof;

You shall not sell, license, or distribute Content (including Downloaded Content) to third parties or use Content as a component of or as a basis for any material offered for sale, license, or distribution.

Ultimately, factoring is a legitimate service for certain annuitants in need of liquidity. We maintain that annuitants should be the ones who reach out if they choose to explore that option. Instead, they are constantly subjected to high pressure solicitations through phone calls, junk mail, social media stalking, and even front door visits, all based on information scraped from these databases.

It needs to stop.

Either online databases need to start enforcing their terms of use or the factoring industry needs to be regulated. Which would you rather have, and which is likely to happen first? Don’t just let us know, let the database providers know. Annuitants will thank you.

What You Need to Know about Sweeping Changes in Louisiana

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 14:46:15 GMT

Louisiana is proposing changes to their factoring statute along the lines of what Maryland enacted in reaction to the systematic fleecing of lead paint victims in Baltimore. Changes include but are not limited to: requiring a $50,000 surety bond, bans on deal poaching, restrictions on discounts rates. These changes are a mixed bag. On one hand, it protects annuitants against price gouging and creates stability in the factoring industry. On the other hand, it has serious shortcomings.

This legislation is a great first step to cleaning up the factoring industry because it addresses its biggest flaw: the lack of barrier to entry. There has been an influx of scamming fly-by-night con artists over the last few years who have wreaked havoc on unsuspecting annuitants and the factoring industry, in general. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the factoring business can set-up shop using the powerful online legal databases and skip-tracing tools available today, no matter the potential ethical implications. Fast forward to the point that most, if not all, states have similar surety bond and compliance requirements. These small-time hustlers will not have the economies of scale to absorb the cumulative cost of the bonds, the licensing, and the staff to handle compliance. The poaching ban will further dissuade them since it’s a significant part of their current revenue. Most will move on and nobody will miss them.

The ban on deal poaching is also key to industry stability. The Robin Hood narrative touted by poachers to protect annuitants from the relatively few incidents of true gouging will be nullified through pricing regulations in the legislation. In reality, though, poachers usually just steal their competitors’ investment in marketing, staff and other overhead; expenses poachers don’t have. It’s sending the industry into a tailspin. There is no long-term benefit derived from the continued theft of a competitor’s work product. That can only come from real competition on a level playing field.

Speaking of competition, one significant shortcoming to this bureaucratic approach to regulation could be the lack thereof in states with smaller populations. There are likely a hundred transactions concluded in California for every single deal in Wyoming or Montana. Many firms will look at the cost of bonds and annual registration and not bother competing. Many states may see very limited competition, if any at all. Case in point, after two years, only a couple firms have registered in Maryland.

This legislation also doesn’t address another huge ethics issue in the factoring business, namely, the incessant harassment and coercion of annuitants through data mined from court records. It’s not just the shady fly-by-night operators who engage in this harassment. The big firms are also relentless telemarketers. My clients often complain about the incessant calls and the complete disregard of pleas to stop. These big firms treat the Telephone Consumer Protection Act like a pesky annoyance to doing business. How many annuitants are coerced into unwarranted transactions through relentless telemarketing? I have seen quite a few firsthand. At least limit court record marketing to junk mail and let annuitants decide if they want to reach out, or not. A few lines in this legislation regarding unsolicited phone calls could end this abuse for good.

Lastly, it’s certainly no coincidence that the largest beneficiary of these changes will be the big “cash now” firms. They have the volume of business required to easily absorb these compliance costs. A poaching ban also benefits them most since they are the easiest targets with the highest losses. The big firms will score a massive win since their upside will be enormous when compared with the added cost. They’ll get their cake and be able to eat it too. It will be like 2003 all over again, but with pricing regulations.

Happy Holidays from Bentzen Financial!

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 14:42:58 GMT

Bentzen Financial wishes you and yours a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year !

Poaching: What It Really Is

Tue, 30 Oct 2018 14:30:00 GMT

The post Poaching: What It Really Is appeared first on Bentzen Financial .

Foxes, Henhouses, & Conflicts of Interest

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 15:00:00 GMT

You might remember some time ago the open question posed to the industry: Why is Berkshire still a NSSTA member? That question really teased out a larger issue that apparently prompted dozens of pages be written and dedicated to twisting and framing into far more acceptable, more marketable language. Here’s some blunt, honest talk to fill in all the gaps in such smiley bend-over talk.

Did you know that it’s apparently acceptable for insurers to factor their own annuities, but not another’s? One’s OK because it’s called “servicing” whereas the other is called “factoring.” In other words, when someone else makes money, it’s “factoring,” which is bad for the client, but if the insurer makes the money, then it’s “servicing,” which is good for the client. This is merely poorly-veiled marketing-speak for insurers preferring to make money themselves in as many areas as possible, squeezing out as many competitors as possible. Giants have mighty appetites, after all.

The idea that insurers factoring their own annuities is somehow good for the annuitants themselves is a Robin Hood story; just as fictitious as the fairy tale. Many of you are opposed to factoring on principle, but argue that if the annuitant gets more money in the end, then hey, who cares if it’s the insurance company doing it? This approach is problematic because it simply doesn’t account for all the facts.

Insurance companies that factor their own annuities aren’t providing a service, they’ve got the proverbial golden ticket : the names, addresses, and payment details of every annuitant which, lest this be lost in translation, is a salesman’s goldmine. You can mine your list for as long as you keep putting structures together. But again, how’s that a bad thing, even from a business perspective? How is that damning? Because it’s a blatant conflict of interest for insurers.

Structures are put together in a careful way, with insurers as legally specified gatekeepers to factoring transactions. They are the second line of defense, behind the Courts, to securing a factoring transaction based on an annuitant’s demonstrative need , not simply desire, for structured funds. How are insurers, in their gatekeeping function, supposed to adequately gatekeep against their own profit motives? Are insurers going to object against making more money for themselves? Of course not.

Some may claim that no profit is made off these transactions. That’s silly to the point of foolish. No service line or product from any insurance company exists to not turn profit. As for measuring this profit, don’t look exclusively at the red or black numbers at the bottom of the sheet, but instead consider this: insurers get tax breaks for making secure, guaranteed payments to underwrite structured settlements, the same structures that they’re going to now purchase, at a discount, and still enjoy the tax breaks despite not paying out to injured parties anymore, thus enjoying huge profits. Beyond this simple rehash of how providing services actually does make money, there’s something more problematic at work: optics.

Structure brokers need attorneys to work with them to put these things together. Attorneys already have qualms with the mere existence of factoring, so that many won’t advise structures for their clients, the would-be annuitants. How does it look to these attorneys, then, for insurance companies – supposed benevolent gatekeepers – to have everything they need, that glorious golden ticket , to relentlessly market to their clients? Not so good.

Don’t believe any of this is happening, or that it’s just a twist on the benevolent intentions of your favorite insurer? Look at those who already do it: Visit Symetra’s website (symetra.com/clearscape) to see how unabashedly they sell factoring by marketing their familiarity as the insurance company and the ease of having all the required paperwork already. Allstate, too, has an ongoing factoring entity. Still others are taking it a bit slower, rolling into ‘test markets’ before unleashing themselves nation-wide, napkin and cutlery ready. The list goes on.

Insurers aren’t white knights bludgeoning the evil factoring industry; they’re foxes guarding the henhouse, gatekeeping be damned. Don’t like this new development? Speak up; stand up and object. Otherwise, you should remind annuitants to say ‘thank you’ while you assist them in bending over.

Fire and brimstone aside, we do have an industry-wide solution that can satisfy most, if not all parties. It just requires us all to be on the same page before we get there. The article is forthcoming.

The post Foxes, Henhouses, & Conflicts of Interest appeared first on Bentzen Financial .

Cam Mears to Join Bentzen Financial

Tue, 03 Jul 2018 15:00:00 GMT

Bentzen Financial is pleased to announce that W. Campbell Mears, CPA, CSSC has joined the company, effective July 2, 2018. Bentzen Financial has worked tirelessly to become the beacon of ethics in an otherwise controversial market-space. It’s rare to encounter someone with the level of integrity Mr. Mears demonstrates, so adding him to the company simply made sense.

Mr. Mears brings 25 years of structured settlement experience to the company. He has held senior positions at leading firms in the insurance industry, including AIG, Cambridge Galaher Settlements, and Crowe Paradis Services Corporation, and he was co-founder and CEO of StructureOnline, a provider of Internet-based structured settlement management systems. In 2010, he joined the factoring industry. His significant experience and expertise will help serve structured settlement annuitants whose financial needs have changed post-settlement and will greatly enhance Bentzen Financial’s unique capabilities.

“I’m excited to join Bentzen Financial because Rhonda and the team share my strong beliefs about factoring,” said Mears. “Structured settlements are meant to protect people affected by injury, but the needs anticipated at the time of settlement can change as life goes on. Factoring is a valuable tool to address these situations, but it must be provided as a consultative service that helps annuitants balance current and future needs. Factoring should be done with the same care, attention, and expertise that is used to put structured settlements together.”

Mr. Mears holds a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and is a Certified Public Accountant. He earned his Certified Structured Settlement Consultant designation from the National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA) at the University of Notre Dame. He is former co-chair of the NSSTA Marketing and Technology Committees.

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Why is Berkshire still a NSSTA Member?

Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:30:00 GMT

Berkshire, like Symetra and Allstate before it, has entered the factoring game. Unlike Symetra and Allstate, though, who jumped in all at once, Berkshire has opted for the slow creep. There is no difference between these players other than the way they’ve entered. The end game is the same. So why does Berkshire get a pass?

For the past couple of years Berkshire has acted primarily as a gatekeeper for annuitants seeking cash now providers. There’s no problem with that, and it’s certainly their prerogative, but last year they dipped their toe into the factoring waters of Texas as a special test market. Fast forward and they’re doing the same in a few other states. Really, it’s merely a matter of time until Berkshire is nationwide like the other insurance companies before them. I firmly believe this is a problem for one crucial reason: it’s a strong conflict of interest.

This conflict of interest centers around the fact that as the historical gatekeeper, it has a list of annuitants (read: customers), ready to go. This is the holy grail of any would-be player in the industry. Who doesn’t want a free list of people ready to go? Moreover, they’re not just prospective customers in some potential, hypothetical sales district, they’re existing customers, who aren’t protected by traditional consumer protections such as the TCPA because of their ‘existing customer’ status. In other words: they can, and likely will be contacted for ‘additional services’ when it’s nothing more than a veiled sales pitch from someone who already has their business in the first place. It looks like Berkshire is slowly but surely having their cake and eating it too.

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Money vs. Ethics in the Factoring Business

Wed, 29 Nov 2017 20:00:00 GMT

I have always abhorred the factoring industry’s scouring of court records for profit. It’s a perversion of the intent of open court records. These firms search for past factoring transactions as well as every personal injury suit that may have settled with a structure. Combined with sophisticated skip-tracing tools, today’s legal databases allow factoring companies to compile massive lists of potential sellers. It wouldn’t be such an issue if they just sent annoying junk mail like the mortgage and real estate companies who also scour public records. Instead, they also bombard annuitants with unending phone calls, stalking on social media and even in-person sales visits. Worse yet, the factoring industry uses these records to purposely target the poor and unsophisticated with endless temptations of “cash now”. The Baltimore lead paint scandal targeting cognitively challenged inner city annuitants is my case in point. Then there are the horrific number of cases where court records are used to coerce annuitants into multiple transactions until they are penniless and destitute.

Fifteen years in the factoring business has shown me that most of the egregious behavior can be directly tied to court record scraping. It’s been an issue since I started in this business in 2002, however, the increased sophistication of online databases in recent years has compounded the scraping problem exponentially. Today, these searches are cheap, easy and profitable. Curtailing online access could completely change the cost-benefit rationale. The added work and complexity of using court runners would drive up costs, making scraping far less lucrative. More importantly, it could drive the worst actors out of the business altogether: the small, scamming, castoffs of the big firms whose entire business model revolves around online record searches combined with unending, coercive sales calls.

Despite the recent reports of factoring industry shenanigans, the search engine companies still seem to turn a blind eye. I can’t say for certain which services the factoring industry uses since I don’t engage in court record scraping, but I can state that Westlaw has been a premier sponsor of NASP’s annual meeting for years. I reviewed the terms of service for some the larger legal search firms and found the following related to commercial use:

LexisNexis

You and your Authorized Users (defined below in Section 2.1) are granted a nonexclusive, nontransferable, limited right to access and use for research purposes the Online Services and Materials made available to you.

Bloomberg

You may not use the Service for any illegal purpose, for the facilitation of the violation of any law or regulation, or in any manner inconsistent with the TOS. You agree to use the Service solely for your own noncommercial use and benefit, and not for resale or other transfer or disposition to, or use by or for the benefit of, any other person or entity.

Westlaw

you will not use, intentionally or unintentionally any of the content, information, or services on this website in a manner contrary to or in violation of any applicable international, national, federal, state, or local law, rule, or regulation having the force of law.

… you will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, download, store, further transmit, disseminate, transfer, or otherwise exploit this website, or any portion hereof without Thomson Reuters’ prior written consent…

The above excerpts seem to suggest that these firms are concerned with the legal, non-commercial and ethical use of their services. That said, the ones that do allow factoring industry access clearly don’t seem too concerned with enforcement. Regarding legal use, the reality is that the information scraped from these databases is used to continually violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) with incessant calls to annuitants. Our survey of past clients confirmed the never-ending calls and the industry’s refusal to follow the law by not honoring do-not-call requests. For some, it was so bad that they no longer answered their phones and couple even changed phone numbers, to no avail. Rampant industry violation of the TCPA is also suggested by an ongoing potential class action suit against a large NASP-affiliated firm for their alleged failure to honor do-not-call requests. When it comes to derivative works violations, I have also seen several Craigslist ads offering the contact information for thousands of annuitants, all likely gleaned from these court record services.

Court record scraping has been a longstanding issue that seems to be getting worse by the day as more factoring companies become increasingly aggressive and underhanded in their pursuit of unsuspecting annuitants. Ideally, some regulations restricting the commercial use of court records would be more beneficial to annuitants, but I don’t see that happening. However, anything that can be done to limit the ease of access can’t hurt. The question becomes, how does one get these legal database firms to actually enforce their terms of service?

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Selling Your Client Lists

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 09:30:00 GMT

Have you been approached by a factoring company to sell your client list? There is no denying that it has value and I assume that they’ll pay handsomely to get their hands on it. To them, your list is guaranteed fresh meat. That’s a welcome change to their usual court scraping endeavors, where the status quo involves daily battles with the numerous other hyenas circling the same carcasses. These similes may seem overly dramatic; however, I’ve been in this business 15 years and naively worked for a couple of these firms early on, so I can definitively state that they’re entirely accurate. It’s all about the hunt, the kill, and the feasting, not about integrity and compassion.

I can also categorically state that you can’t trust these people regardless of contracts and non-disclosure agreements. I know first-hand that neither promise or contract mean anything to them. They are smooth, fast-talking snake oil salesmen who will tell you what you want to hear but rarely deliver on those promises and guarantees. After all, these sleazy “cash now” hucksters are the ones who routinely deceive, harass and coerce annuitants through every unethical scheme imaginable. It’s a stretch to believe that they will treat you with any more integrity.

You also need to know that factoring is a small, competitive and downright vindictive industry. You have no way of controlling how widely your name will be disseminated within the organization. Partners and employees are forever parting and forming new firms, usually with great animosity. There is so much bad blood between most firms that they routinely rat each other out to colleagues and industry bloggers. That’s how I was made aware of one broker who sold a list. I don’t intend to gossip but it’s only a matter of time until this tidbit of news crosses over to the primary side, if it hasn’t done so already.

Furthermore, regardless of promises to the contrary, I guarantee that these factoring companies will hound your unwitting clients to the ends of the earth to get a return on their investment. Your clients will not simply receive harmless mailers extolling the services they offer, but instead, they will be marketed the same way they do annuitants scraped from court records: with incessant phone calls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), stalking on social media, or worse, sales reps at their front doors. One big “cash now” firm is currently being sued for alleged TCPA violations, with a pending motion before the court to compel client lists and phone records. Confidentiality agreements offer little protection in deposition, so what happens if the purchasing company gets sued for TCPA violations, or worse, for the victimization of vulnerable annuitants like the Baltimore lead paint fiasco? Either way, there’s a chance that your name could become public record if plaintiff’s counsel digs into the firm’s annuitant prospecting methods.

There is no denying that easy money can be made by capitalizing on the hard work you’ve already done, but if ever there was a time to be cautious of the people you do business with, this is it. Ultimately, is it worth the risk to your reputation, let alone the harm and aggravation to your clients?

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WARNING: Buying Secondary Market Deals

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 15:32:00 GMT

In recent years there has been a proliferation of secondary market firms touting higher yields through either individual payment streams or trusts backed by factored payment rights. However, in light of recent developments, I strongly advise caution and due diligence. This is no indictment of any secondary market seller, but a warning of what may lie ahead in this market. My concern is that some of these secondary market trusts may be sitting on ticking time bombs of potentially toxic assets. I believe that the following longstanding and unethical business practices in the factoring industry may finally come home to roost:

Forum shopping – This has been a rampant problem where factoring companies will fake the residency of an annuitant in a rubber stamp jurisdiction to get a transfer approved easily. The motive is either that the proper jurisdiction is particularly difficult to get any case approved, or that much higher profits can be made in jurisdictions with little oversight.

Coercion – Unethical factoring companies are notorious for pressuring at-risk annuitants into unwarranted transactions. These annuitants have no business selling payments so the factoring companies lie to the Court to get the transfer approved. A perfect example is the recent Baltimore lead paint fiasco, where cognitively impaired annuitants were manipulated into predatory discount rate transactions, complete with bogus independent professional advice.

Fraud – Likely not as common but factoring firms have been known to forge documents. A NASP firm was recently sued for forging an annuitant’s signature on lottery transfer documents and I am aware of another pending case alleging forged signatures by two NASP firms buying structured settlement payments.

In total, the number of questionably sourced transactions falling into the above categories is quite considerable. The common denominator is that all these transactions constitute fraud committed upon the Court. Consequently, we are now starting to see suits being brought to vacate some of these deceitfully obtained court orders. When orders are vacated, the purchased payments revert back to the annuitant, potentially leaving the investor holding the bag.

For these secondary market firms, the security of the factored payments they buy is only as good as the ethics of the factoring companies with which they do business. Compounding the risk is the fact that secondary market firms typically buy from smaller producers since the larger firms usually have institutional investors. The exposure lies in the fact that many of these smaller firms are scamming, unethical, fly-by-night court record scrapers who, just like Access Funding in the wake of the Baltimore investigations, will simply close up shop if they get caught, leaving few to no assets to go after. Ultimately, how many vacated orders can these trusts absorb before they’re in serious trouble?

That leaves the question of how bad the fallout will be from vacated orders. It will depend on what transpires with the Baltimore situation and whether the plaintiff bar truly takes notice. There have only been a handful of suits to date, so how it all shakes out is anyone’s guess. It could be minor, but it could also be game changing. That’s why I’m suggesting caution. If you’re considering a trust product, I recommend waiting until the dust settles unless you can be assured that they have contingencies in place to cover potential losses. If you’re considering the purchase of individual payment streams, there are other firms who do factoring transactions by the book, like us. You simply need to ask where the transaction was sourced and do some research. An upcoming article may help you sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to reputable factoring companies. In the interim, feel free to call us with any questions.

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Thoughts on NASP

Fri, 22 Apr 2016 16:22:00 GMT

Written by Rhonda Bentzen

I was shocked that we recently got an invitation to join the National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP), the factoring industry’s trade group. After all, I’ve been a pretty vocal critic of their members’ shenanigans for years. I admit that the prospect of being given the opportunity to voice my ideas to the group on needed industry ethics reforms was quite enticing. Plus, I support the fact that factoring definitely needs a trade association to deal with industry issues that crop up. I’m also appreciative of the fact that NSSTA actually cooperates with NASP to address many of these issues, particularly when it comes to state statutes. I’d like to work on making that cooperation even greater. I even agree with NASP’s code of ethics and what they’ve been saying lately about the need for transparency and doing right by annuitants.

Now, for reasons, I’m not prepared to join just yet. To start, contrary to all the positive statements in their press releases lately, I believe almost everything NASP says and does these days is just lip service: rhetoric they think the structured settlement and legal communities, investors, the media, and government regulators want to hear. I haven’t seen any evidence to the contrary. Adherence to their code of ethics, along with consequences for its violation, are a complete joke. If they actually enforced their code of ethics, I believe few to none would be left in the organization. Members are currently being sued for alleged forum shopping and coercion. Another was implicated in the recent Baltimore lead paint scandal. Another recently settled a lawsuit involving the claimed falsification of an annuitant’s signature to initiate extra lottery transactions. A different firm was recently sued for allegedly calling an annuitant nearly 50 times in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection ACT (TCPA). Yet another is now involved in a class action suit for alleged violations of the TCPA. One firm is even involved in a whistleblower suit alleging money laundering and serious breaches of banking laws. Even our survey of past clients found that most complaints related to incessant telemarketing harassment and deceptive sales tactics were directed at NASP members.

My other pause at joining the organization is that it’s not really inclusive, like NSSTA. I was easily able to be a NSSTA member even though I was a small producer in a tertiary market. Not with NASP. The cost to join NASP is prohibitively high, making it more of an exclusive cabal of the big “cash now” operators. This means that the few referral-driven, client-focused firms that actually do a good job of factoring are priced out of the association. As such, we have no say or vote whatsoever in planning and deciding the direction of the industry; however, based on their record, I honestly believe that NASP has no interest in hearing our input on best business practices anyway.

Done right, factoring can be a legitimate option for some annuitants in need of liquidity, and judging by their code of ethics and recent press releases, NASP members actually do know what they should be doing to treat annuitants fairly. Getting their members to actually do it is the hard part. Ultimately, annuitants simply need the facts and options to make informed decisions about their money, even if it means no transaction at all. They don’t need pressure, they don’t need harassment, they don’t need coercion, and they definitely don’t need to be endlessly solicited into repeat transactions…all of which are in the playbook of most NASP members today.

The Pollyanna in me says that I can’t affect change without joining; however, the realist in me says that I’d be naïve to think that I could make the slightest difference at this juncture when I can’t see any sign that NASP members are actually serious about reform and adherence to their code of ethics. I’ve spent 14 years in this business doing things differently; therefore, I concluded that my firm simply cannot be associated with a group that that approves of, or turns a blind eye to, everything I oppose. So, if you’re referring clients to any of these NASP-affiliated firms listed below, maybe it’s time to reach out to them and ask why nothing seems to change within their organization? Better yet, perhaps it’s time to stop supporting members of an organization which apparently refuses to effectively deal with questionable ethics and shady business practices?

123 LUMPSUM, LLC – 3625 Broward Blvd, 2nd Floor, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312

Annuity Transfers Ltd . – 1800 Preston Park Blvd., Suite 115, Plano, TX 75093

BofI Federal Bank – 4350 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite 140, San Diego, CA 92109

CBC Settlement Funding – 181 Washington Street, suite 375, Conshohocken, PA 19428

Client First Settlement Funding – 301 Yamato Road, Suite 3200, Boca Raton, FL 33496

DRB Capital – 1625 South Congress, Suite 200, Delray Beach, FL 33445

J. G. Wentworth – 201 King of Prussia Rd, Suite 200, Wayne, PA 19087

Liberty Settlement Funding, LLC – 16 NE 4th Street, Suite 210, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

MyLumpsum LLC – 1400 Centrepark, Blvd, Suite 960, West Palm Beach, FL 33401

Northeastern Capital – Empire State Building, 59th Floor, New York, NY 10118

Novation Capital – 1641 Worthington Road, Suite 410, West Palm Beach, FL 33409

Patriot Settlement Resources – 2799 NW Boca Raton Blvd, Suite 111, Boca Raton, FL 33431

Peachtree Settlement Funding – 201 King of Prussia Road, Suite 320, Radnor, PA 19087

Seneca One, LLC – 7920 Norfolk Avenue, Suite 300, Bethesda, MD 20814

Settlement Capital Corporation – 14755 Preston Road, Suite 610, Dallas, TX 75254

Singer Asset Finance Company, L.L.C. – 2255 Glades Road, Suite 118E, Boca Raton, FL 33431

Stone Street Capital, LLC – 7316 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 500, Bethesda, MD 20814

Strategic Capital, LLC – 100 Sheppard Ave East, Suite 720, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

***This list was compiled from the NASP website .

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Maryland Regulation & Endorsements

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 16:07:00 GMT

The structured settlement secondary market is being regulated for, let’s face it, internal industry corruption. Greed has rendered it utterly toxic, and now Washington wants to get involved. Can you blame them, though in this post lead paint exposé environment? The Maryland reforms, many of which are spreading past the state, deal at length with the issue of forum shopping and factoring transparency. What some may laud as truly tough new regulation isn’t particularly impressive, though. The reason for this is simple: it fails to address the core problems within the industry: scraping and ruthless aggression in the generation and pursuit of sales leads.

Many were shocked and saddened by the idea that a bunch of Maryland lead paint victims could so strategically be targeted by factoring companies. The process of going through a factoring transaction was specifically examined by regulators for reform. That’s a fine start, as noted earlier – but why haven’t regulators bothered to ask the question how certain people are being targeted so exactly, with such efficiency . Scraping!

We know we sound like broken records, but scraping is the heart and life blood within the dark underbelly of this issue. How do these companies know who to target? They get a hold of the records. How do they get a hold of the records? By using court scraping or court runner services. Who provides such services? West Law, among others. These venerable lawyer resources are at the forefront of profit-making for the factoring industry. Using these services for client-lead generation has become the norm, however, and are typically against service terms of use. If not market leads being generated by court sleuthing by dedicated hires within the factoring companies, leads can instead be purchased either alone or in pre-compiled lists by court runners and other scrapers.

Legislators & Regulators: if you want to protect annuitants, you need to protect their privacy. Simply adding a few transparency measures into existing regulations won’t cut it. If you want predatory behavior to stop, you must remove the predators’ teeth and claws. Strengthen consumer protections and enhance annuitant record privacy.

Brokers & Annuitants: Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is it. It’s far from over. Know the ethical partners worth doing business with. Bentzen Financial doesn’t scrape or gnash its teeth in preparation for a juicy sales kill. We are referral based because it’s the right way to do business, and don’t buy our endorsements like some of our competitors.

If you want straight talk, you want Bentzen Financial.

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What can YOU do?

Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:56:00 GMT

What can someone do when confronted with the realities of court scraping, shady forum shopping, deal poaching, aggressive solicitations, and poor rates on factoring transactions, especially from big factoring firms?

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Washington Post Follow-up: Maryland County Reforms Due to Forum Shopping Concerns

Mon, 14 Sep 2015 17:06:00 GMT

Note: This post references the Washington Post report published on 9/13/2015 at 9:06 PM, written by Terrence McCoy. You can read the article here .

Such reforms are not extreme or radical reactions to problems being blown out of proportion. Anyone involved in the secondary market knows about the big issues: court scraping, forum shopping, deal poaching, aggressive solicitation often in violation of TCPA regulations. Some in the secondary market will cry foul and say that these reforms in Maryland are a result of nothing more than sensationalism; however, the reality is that the reason it all sounds so much like media sensationalism is not because they’re actually being blown out of proportion, it’s because they’re actually, shockingly, true. The truth is that annuitants have every right to be angry. They’re being relentlessly targeted and harassed.

These changes are a good first step. Annuitants should show up to their own hearings. They should be fully aware of what they’re doing and the possible implications of it. They should seek real independent professional advice, and they should know if they’re doing the right thing at the right time. Perhaps buying a new luxury car isn’t appropriate… but avoiding bankruptcy is. Not getting hammered by overwhelming medical bills is too. Life happens. IPAs having to show up at hearings now too will certainly make the apparent quid pro quo of IPAs with factoring companies more difficult too.

The structured settlement industry should be aware of who is doing something unacceptable; which companies are conducting themselves inappropriately. Factoring has a legitimate purpose for those in need of liquidity and we all want to be the company that you turn to in assisting your clients. That said, companies with a clean, ethical track record should be chosen to consult with annuitants who have legitimate needs when considering a factoring transaction. Yes, I do mean Bentzen Financial. Those of you reading this are aware of our stance and our record. Referring to us means you’re avoiding the headlines because we keep our brokers and annuitants happy; no one ends up in the news because our business as usual is based on positive results for everyone, not just our bottom line. How? We don’t scrape. We don’t aggressively solicit. We don’t break any rules. We treat our brokers and annuitants with honesty and respect; nothing more or less. We do our jobs properly and ethically. It’s really not as hard as some companies might lead people to believe.

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Lead Paint Victims, Court Scraping, & the “Netherworld” of Factoring Companies

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 18:44:00 GMT

It’s a sad day when victims of lead paint exposure are targeted for sales. No matter the justification for giving these victims money, especially when most are cognitively impaired, a person really has to suspend good judgment to think, “Sure, Joe can’t read or write well, and doesn’t have a driver’s license… but hey, he wants a car and he has a structured settlement… who am I to say no? Big money!”

The average annuitant has a hard enough time making ends meet when faced with the arduous task of dealing with the constant barrage of sales solicitations. The flagrant violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), meant to prevent this sort of thing from happening, add insult to eventual injury when an annuitant finally breaks down and signs on the dotted line. That is to say, they’ve signed a bad deal that’s probably ill advised to begin with. Why? To pad the line of an aggressive factoring company.

Factoring a structured settlement has a time and place. For some, it’s a genuinely good option, especially if the structured payment stream isn’t the sole income of a person or family. For others, however, cashing out a structured settlement is not just ill advised – but disastrous. The Washington Post article exemplifies the latter, and we’re sick to our stomachs having read it. Nothing like that should ever happen in this industry.

How can business go on when actors like this are effectively defecating on our industry? Take the reason for why Access Funding allegedly targets lead paint victims, in particular: because they’re easy to find . Court scraping 101 at its worst: a few easy keystrokes in a court search and you’ve got yourself a potential treasure trove of money. The best part? The annuitants are living hard lives, aren’t usually well educated, and are susceptible to a con job. This shameful strategy for ‘easy’ money should not exist, but with the ease of court scraping software at hand – what is there to do? At this point it’s worth noting that the perusal of court records for sales purposes is almost universally prohibited – but it happens all the time anyway. This is the ethical dilemma facing our industry.

There are two solutions, and only one with much chance of success at this point in time:

1.) Software/databases used for court sleuthing purposes need to locate, track, and punish violators of terms of use (no sleuthing for sales).

2.) Legally imposed censorship of personal identification information in court documents to prevent sales sleuthing to begin with.

The purpose of being able to search through court records is explicitly for non-commercial research and personal reference. Under no circumstances are court records permitted to be used for profit-bearing purposes. Needless to say, few actually follow this rule; there’s just far too much profit in ignoring this rule.

It’s time to face facts: no one cares to follow rules that inconvenience profit making. The industry clearly has no interest in self-policing; there is only one option left: government intervention and regulation. It’s a dirty suggestion and no one likes the idea… but if it saves the industry from itself, and annuitants along with it… then it’s worth it.

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Class Action Suit Announcement

Tue, 28 Jul 2015 21:44:00 GMT

Knowingly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act is a kind of gambling. Some annuitants will give in to constant phone solicitation and give the offending company what they want. The downside for the TCPA offender is that someone may not give in, and worse, will fight back. On July 21 ^st , 2015, in West Palm Beach, FL, a class action suit was brought against Novation Capital / Novation Ventures for alleged violations of the TCPA, including the use of a “robodialer” to assist in the facilitation of sales calls. In other words, the party has ended; annuitants have had enough. Someone is likely to receive a swift slap.

We are not at all surprised that a suit of this kind finally happened. We’re just surprised it took this long! It certainly seemed inevitable to us. If enough annuitants are pushed around, and enough educational material is out there for them to find – it’s just a matter of time before annuitants stand up for themselves. And really, who can blame them? How many of us just love speaking with telemarketers? We don’t. No one does. Even Congress, an institution known for its glacial pacing in all things, almost unanimously agreed, with the passing of the TCPA and its subsequent amendments, that frequent phone calls to one’s phone by companies with no prior business relationship and absolutely no consent by the recipient is unwarranted, undesirable, and constitutes a violation of personal privacy. Therefore, violations of the TCPA are punishable by up to $1,500 per phone call . The penalty for knowingly defying this law, if caught, can be severe.

We at Bentzen Financial make no effort to hide the message to promote ourselves as the small, referral based company, lone-wolfing the straight-and-narrow in this business. We pride ourselves in being alone in our unwavering stance for no high pressure sales calls, no big-time advertising, and absolutely no court scraping. We help annuitants when they want it, not when we’ve called them enough times that they finally cave in. Not harassing them with high pressure sales calls is a given to us. Like you, we will follow the progress of this case with great interest.

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The Real Cost of Advertising: Factoring Rates Unmasked

Wed, 22 Jul 2015 15:51:00 GMT

Advertising: how businesses spread the word about the products and services they offer in the hopes of gaining customers. It ranges from cheap word-of-mouth referrals to massive, expensive , mass-media campaigns on TV, radio, the Internet, and more. For factoring companies, this isn’t as simple as Burger King showing us a juicy new burger from various angles. It’s a matter of stimulating the need for cash. NOW.

We see it in the most popular advertising online: the brilliantly jingled 877-CASH NOW commercials that ran on TV and radio, featuring opera. It was catchy, pertinent, and funny to the point of absurd; in other words, you remembered it. For all factoring needs, JG Wentworth would burst through your skull with dramatic, operatic flair. For structure brokers, this has been an oft-noted irritant post-structure. Those brokers willing to provide referrals regarding which factoring companies they’d recommend for quotes are simply thrown out the window in favor of the direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns of Wentworth and other giants; mostly because the brokers themselves aren’t being contacted anymore for their input. Is this fair? For big factoring companies, certainly; they have the capital to advertise, so why not take advantage of it? But what are the downsides for brokers and annuitants? These are two-fold:

1.) Advertising is expensive . But more than this, keeping staff on hand to handle the influx of inquiries as a result of such expensive advertising is also expensive. This cost cannot be easily absorbed by the corporation and must naturally flow to the consumer; in the case of factoring companies – the annuitants. This results in annuitants getting lower rates of return on their factoring transactions.

2.) It cuts out structure brokers. By appealing directly to potential customers, advertising by Wentworth and other companies has severely impacted the professional and referral importance of structured settlement brokers. Annuitants no longer have a need to contact their brokers or attorneys, in many cases, since they already know who to call if they’re in need (or tempted by) cash now advertising. This distances annuitants from those who know best if factoring a transaction is wise or necessary: the brokers themselves.

So, what can be done to address these issues?

1.) Know who doesn’t conduct mass advertising directly to annuitants. Those who aren’t playing the expensive advertising game aren’t going to pass on costly inflated rates which ultimately short-change the annuitants. Annuitants who decide to factor their structures are going to do so if their minds are made up – wouldn’t it be better for them to get the best rates possible? Annuitants just need to be given the opportunity to speak with someone who knows where to turn beyond what they may see on TV. They should be speaking to their brokers again; and these brokers should be referring to smaller, specialty factoring companies.

2.) Direct-to-consumer advertising is a fact of life in every business, but this shouldn’t necessarily be one of them. Brokers know the ins and outs of this business far better than annuitants, especially given that it was the broker who put together the structure to begin with. Wouldn’t it be nice to be involved in the process of potentially taking them apart? It may not even be the best thing for an annuitant to do! Brokers input is important. Stay involved beyond the structure. Let annuitants know to contact you before jumping on the cash now bandwagon they see and hear on TV, and refer them to a trusted business with a record of good rates and ethical practices.

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Bottom of the Barrel: Court Scrapers

Fri, 12 Jun 2015 19:12:00 GMT

There’s no question that having transparency in government is a good thing. Access to public records for the purpose of assuring that government is not engaged in immoral, unethical, and illegal activities is a given in this country. What is not a given, however, is the use of public records for purposes other than the watchdog function. For an in-depth look into the privacy side of this issue, visit: https://www.privacyrights.org/ar/onlinepubrecs.htm .

When individuals or companies use access to public records for their own gain, particularly when the goal is to profit from personal identification information (PII), it is a moral, ethical, and legal quagmire. If such information ultimately leads to stalking, it is blatantly illegal. For purely research? Perfectly fine. But what about greed? A short cut for profits? This is a shaky ground for legality. On the one hand, the spirit of the law indicates that court record availability is a matter of government transparency. This transparency is considered desirable in government to make sure it is not violating anyone’s rights. On the other hand, transparency is not meant to permit or enable otherwise illicit activities, such as identify theft, or harassment per stipulations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). But does it permit PII to be used for sales purposes? This is a gray area.

One could argue that any research of court records that includes PII naturally leads to the potential of sales; it’s hard to argue the potentiality of this argument. The primary issue, though, is not whether such information could be used, as it’s quite obvious that it could, but whether it will be used. This is determined by motive. In other words, what motivations would a person or company have to obtain records containing the PII? Given the natural profit motive of free enterprise, the most logical and common response would be because it’ll ultimately result in the company making money. But is the company making money because it’s using the PII explicitly? Or is it merely selling or trading this information? Which is okay? Are either of those options okay?

If sales are going to be conducted by phone, and a reasonable person could conclude that the person on the receiving end of the phone call does not want to be bothered, then the call itself is a violation of the aforementioned TCPA. This is not okay, simply on the basis of legality. Beyond legality, there’s a sniff test akin to the golden rule. Suppose you were on the receiving end of a solicitation that directly resulted from someone getting your PII from a court record. How do you react to the solicitation? Are you hostile? Are you okay with the idea that you will likely receive countless more phone calls as a new norm, even after demanding to be left alone? If your answer is “No!” then consider the effects of court scraping beyond legality and ethics.

Is contact as a result of court scraping a nuisance? Yes. Even salesmen engaged in the practice must acknowledge this. Does it always work? Of course not. Salesmen using information gathered by scraping know that it comes down to a numbers game: out of a large number of calls, only a small minority of them may be productive. That’s just the reality of sales. The difference between this and more traditional methods, however, is that no one signed up to be on a court scraper list. Receiving solicitations by this method purely results from creative greed; the Information Age has made acquiring PII quick and cost effective. For pure cost-benefit it is a natural boon for any company. The downside is that engaging in such activities makes you loathed.

Recall that using PII for stalking is illegal because stalking itself is a criminal activity. Would one classify relentless solicitations directly resulting from looking up PII from court records as a form of stalking? Do these solicitors not obtain information and seek contact without invitation? E-stalking, or stalking using the Internet, is criminal, much as one would stalk someone physically down the street.

Isn’t court scraping merely a more sophisticated method of e-stalking?

Here’s the only, barely valid excuse heard to date to that question: “Well no, because a person isn’t being solicited to do them harm… just to make money off of them!” Taking harm as the undesirable result of stalking, we arrive at the final point… Does the potential financial ruin of annuitants that are coerced into factoring a portion or more of their payment streams constitute harm? Or must harm be physically inflicted? One might turn this argument around and say, “But no one is forcing the annuitant into factoring his or her structure!” That’s certainly true, but there is the matter of how the annuitant is approached. Did the annuitant, in sound mind and of his or her own volition, seek to do so as a result of unique and pressing circumstances that necessitate factoring a transaction? Or, did a salesman contact the annuitant and use a sales pitch to make such a transaction, regardless of the annuitant’s circumstances? The first scenario is perfectly fine; the second is not. Context in this industry matters a great deal, and as has been said now many times before, ‘selling’ factoring isn’t like selling waffle makers. This is a life changing financial decision that cannot be taken lightly. As many annuitants have indicated during the harassment investigation, no one should have their PII when it comes to their financial situation unless they reach out first. We agree.

Not all those who sleuth court records or retrieve legal documents should fall under scrutiny. We do not advocate for an end to anyone’s ability to search court records; there are many arenas where this is perfectly appropriate and should be left alone. We do advocate the censorship of PII for recipients of structured settlement annuities. In short: leave them alone.

Support annuitant privacy by signing the petition. Click here to sign.

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FactoringEthics.com & StopCashCalls.com

Mon, 30 Mar 2015 17:38:00 GMT

The following is a review and unveiling of each of the two new sites. Both are part of the same movement we’re starting which we call, collectively, the Ethics Initiative. We’ve always believed that business should be conducted in as clean a manner as possible, and have always striven to do so. We are dismayed at the level of prominence that scraping, in particular, has reached in an industry that doesn’t need the bad press; and more importantly, we’re hoping you’ll join us in trying to clean it up.

FactoringEthics.com is dedicated to the collection and dissemination of information directly pertinent to maintaining cleanliness in the factoring industry. Relevant regulations, statutes, etc. are posted and explained in order to arm anyone who wants to prepare themselves for potential harassment by unscrupulous actors in the factoring industry. For example, brokers and annuitants should be aware of and well versed in the existence and application of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act , which is clear regarding the solicitation of potential clientele by phone-using businesses – and really, what business isn’t using a telephone? Violating the TCPA has clear consequences, but like most things in government, the question isn’t the intent or application of relevant regulation, but the enforceability. Simply put: no one can enforce anything if no one’s reporting wrongdoing. As far as the government is concerned, if there’s no squawking, there’s no problem. It’s time to squawk.

Another aspect of FactoringEthics.com that we’re pleased to announce is an oft-overlooked reality of the industry: there are many aliases in use. At first glance one might say, “Wow, what a competitive marketplace!” Well hold on, just because there are a bunch of different names being thrown out there doesn’t mean they’re competitors. This site will collect and expose all factoring companies and their known aliases. We do not seek to rate any of them nor do we seek to dissuade their use, per se – but we do believe that transparency in the secondary market can only help. There’s no reason that legitimate business will be harmed by exposing these aliases. The notion of “Let the buyer beware!” echoes true here; but with this information in hand, brokers and annuitants can both breathe a little easier knowing who’s-who in a seemingly crowded marketplace.

StopCashCalls.com is dedicated specifically to annuitants and brokers who want to have a more active role in standing against anyone who violates the TCPA. We’re working with an attorney to establish a class-action suit against anyone found to be in violation of the TCPA with an annuitant. If you’re an annuitant and you’ve been receiving constant phone calls and you want them to stop – say no more, sign up and provide a testimonial and you’ll be added to the list of people to contact for reference. Only if you’re comfortable taking the next step by joining in the class-action suit will we share your information with any attorney that the Project is working with. You’ll call the shots. We’ll help get you the tools for your freedom from harassment.

If you, a broker, are tired of hearing, both from your clients and through the grapevine, that yet-another annuitant is being harassed non-stop then we implore you to pick up the phone or open your e-mail client and let us know. Only through cooperation can we put a stop to behavior that shouldn’t even be going on in the first place. Scraping can stop. Harassment can stop. Ethics isn’t just jargon to throw around to generate buzz or get web-clicks. Ethical concerns are as serious as anyone’s bottom line – and our stance is that annuitants shouldn’t be taken advantage of to pad a predator’s bottom line.

We look forward to contact and cooperation for the Ethics Initiative as we get the ball rolling.

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Harassment Investigation – Pt.3: What Do We Do?

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 16:29:00 GMT

Sharks, piranhas, vultures, predators. These are just some of the choice words that annuitants have had for some businesses in the industry. Part one of the harassment investigation dealt with the tactics employed by these unscrupulous businessmen and women and part two with the reactions of the annuitants and their families. Taking those into account, how can we, as an industry, not admit that scraping is a dire problem to be dealt with? Are we all to be lumped in with the sharks, piranhas, vultures, and predators? Must we all conduct ourselves and our businesses as these others do in order to stay competitive? Must we simply accept that further victimizing annuitants and their families is the moral price of working in this industry? We cannot agree.

The factoring side, or secondary market, began because of a very real possibility for those with structured settlements and annuities: sometimes life throws you a curve ball. Sometimes those monthly payments aren’t good enough to cut it anymore; unexpected expenses arise that go beyond the means provided by the payment stream available to them. So what’s left? They need to factor either a part or all of their structured settlement or annuity to make ends meet. Sometimes this isn’t the case at all – sometimes someone believes that the money is an opportunity to do more with their lives – and that is entirely their prerogative… provided of course that they can convince a judge. These are very real and legitimate reasons for this side to exist, but one thing must always be remembered: these people deal with us, factoring types, because they feel they must.

All of our companies, beyond providing us a means to support our families, were founded to help those in need, not to harm. Annuitants are not wallets and bank accounts for us to raid, they are people who need their funds for one thing or another; people with stories, from heartbreaking to dumbfounding, that many of us hear every day – it’s the human part of the business equation, and the part that’s being victimized. Our jobs are to help get annuitants through it all, be it following a traumatic event or simply to help pay the bills. It is not our place to prey upon them. So, what can we do about it?

The industry can voluntarily stop scraping and known scrapers in their tracks. If this was so simple, though, this investigation would have been unnecessary. The industry can police itself better; do business with those with clean records and squeeze out those who resort to unethical means. Alternatively, a much harder line can be taken.

The tactics of scraping are illegal, especially when it is deemed harassment. Litigation to punish offenders could be taken, but will this change anything or merely drive offenders to greater secrecy, or perhaps even more unscrupulous means of obtaining business illicitly? Maybe, maybe not. It’s worth looking into, surely, given the willingness of some annuitants to provide records of contact. But what else can be done?

In the words of several annuitants: “the information should be private, and I (or we) should be left alone. If I want to do business with someone, I’ll seek them out – they should just leave me alone.” The industry has had success approaching problems with Congressional input in the past and we can do so again. Legitimate business is maintained and annuitants are saved from endless hassle and harassment. This not only can be done, but should be done.

Consider the image that the annuitants who fall victim to this garner towards the industry. Do we want the industry’s reputation to crumble under the weight of perceptions of crookedness and predatory behavior? Or do we want to maintain a modicum of respect, both for ourselves and for our clientele, by addressing the problem that scraping represents?

Scraping should not be an option left on the table. The means are already illegal, but the means are only available due to lack of privacy protection afforded annuitants who go through the legal process. These protections should not, in actuality, be necessary given the way the legal system works – but due to the rising prevalence of predatory business practices, it seems necessary.

Should government have to get involved to help both businesses and annuitants? No, it should be left to do whatever else needs to be done. The government shouldn’t have to divert any time or attention to a matter of what is essentially internal business ethics. But, if the industry can’t be trusted to conduct itself properly, then someone or something must step in to assist.
Is there another alternative? Of course. The formation of an industry watchdog, like in other industries, could potentially work. However, what enforcement mechanism is there? What could possibly be done? A sharply worded letter? A fine? Companies that violate the TCPA are subject to a $500 – $1,500 fine already, and this does not seem to dissuade the harassing behavior by itself. So, we’ve decided to work with an attorney willing to take on a class-action suit. If you have any clients who are willing to stand against their harassers, we encourage you to make contact with us and we will refer you to the attorney in question.

Ideally, all offenders would “see the light” and conduct themselves appropriately, but that is farce and fantasy. The problem exists and the offenders profit far too much off of continuing, no different than drug smugglers or snake oil merchants of old, despite the risks. We must either make the risks far too great or simply nullify the ability for them to get the information required for scraping to occur.

This is a call to action for all concerned to stand up and do something about the threat to legitimate business and our clients that scraping represents. It cannot and should not be allowed to continue. Combined and coordinated efforts will yield positive results for all of us, not just our company, and not just yours. Free, fair, and ethical business can and should rule the day.

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Harassment Investigation – Pt. 2: What the Clients Say

Wed, 07 Jan 2015 21:27:00 GMT

Previous posts have gone in-depth into the means that some companies use to go after annuitants, but scant attention has been paid to what the annuitants themselves have to say. As you can imagine, few have many nice things to contribute given the lengths that are taken to try and extract money out of them. They generally feel angry, bitter, and helpless.

Frequently, annuitants who have provided testimonials ask: “Why don’t they stop contacting me?” especially since every single one of them has demanded contact stop. Some know that the harassment is illegal and approach it in this way: “Why do they break the law?” they ask; just for potential profit? “Do they not know what we/I have gone through?” Others aren’t aware of the illegality of it, but still get the feeling that something’s wrong. They know they shouldn’t feel harassed and want contact to cease – they just aren’t aware of how to do it or why it started to begin with. We in the industry do know why; we know it simply comes down to money, and we know it started because they aren’t perceived as victims who are being further victimized by constant and unwanted contact, but clients who contribute to the bottom line. In other words, these people have been reduced to profit margins. But why does this matter? Businesses must turn a profit – and of course, no one disagrees with this, not even the annuitants. One annuitant who provided a testimonial, a salesman himself, commented (at length) that the tactics are – using a creative use of expletives – ultimately amateurish. He dealt with the harassment by threatening, consistently, to sue the offending companies. Thankfully, he was left alone after resorting to this tactic, though it is unfortunate that he had to resort to it in the first place. Anyone who must resort to illegitimate means for their profits clearly isn’t secure enough in their legitimate business to play fair.

Listed below are a variety select quotes from annuitants that raise important issues in and of themselves. Beyond the singular quote listed, please note that these experiences are far from unique. Nearly all of the annuitants that spoke echoed similar feelings.

These stories go on and on, but for sake of brevity, we’ll cut them off there. There are a few other stories that aren’t quotable due to the highly emotional – and therefore somewhat difficult to transcribe – nature of the conversations, but here are summaries of two:

An annuitant’s father, the primary caregiver for an otherwise troubled son, and the annuitant’s sister, both receive contact on the annuitant’s behalf. On two occasions this went above and beyond the typical means. For the father, an entire packet of information was taped to the front door of his home when he wouldn’t answer the door. For the sister, a medical professional, a representative went to her place of business to get a hold of her, and through her, the annuitant. The family’s response to this unwanted contact was unanimous dismay and disbelief; they didn’t anticipate that level of harassment.

Another annuitant, partially disabled in mind and body as a result of the incident which resulted in her structured settlement, receives calls around each meal of the day. Answering every phone call is difficult due to her disabilities, and having to go and answer the phone so frequently, dreading that it may just be another unwanted call, is overwhelming. It’s a constant stress and source of anxiety which negatively affects her more than the average person as a result of the existing neurological disabilities. Each phone call and subsequent argument to stop causes stress that she not only shouldn’t have to deal with, but can’t . She, like so many others, desperately try to screen calls to try and prevent the endless stream of contact. There is no good reason why this annuitant, her family, or any others should have to be subjected to this torment.

So what can we, as an industry, do about it? What should we do about it? This will be examined in detail in the next post.

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Harassment Investigation Results – Pt.1: Scraping Tactics

Tue, 18 Nov 2014 22:08:00 GMT

As noted in our preliminary findings report, the original intent of the investigation was purely to look into harassing phone calls; it was too limited in scope and therefore the investigation was adjusted appropriately. Annuitants’ testimonials are clear: they believe they are being ruthlessly and systematically being targeted for someone else’s profit. But how are these people being reached? What makes contact harassment? Let’s explore this in more depth. All clients and companies exposed by these clients have been made anonymous for these posts.

The standard and most frequent forms of contact are direct mailings and phone calls. For many, though not all, direct mailings are the most annoying simply due to the volume of mail received on a weekly basis; for those annuitants who have only just left the courtrooms the mailings are on a daily basis for months on end. These mailings are the “Gotcha!” checks that look and are occasionally perceived as free money. We in the industry know this isn’t the case, and our company has taken steps to warn annuitants to be careful with these mailings – but as previously mentioned, some annuitants don’t understand this. Some, either due to misunderstanding the mail or out of sheer desperation, will cash these checks. The results for these people are disastrous; not just in terms of getting money or expecting to receive more afterwards – even when they don’t end up getting any at all – but psychologically. We work in the industry and understand all of the jargon; many of these annuitants – these people – don’t. The mailings, despite being effective sales tools, are too much for many annuitants. Beyond the harmful effects for those who end up cashing in the checks they’re getting in the mail, from a practical standpoint they are largely ineffective. Nearly all testimonials from clients note that whenever they see mail that seems like it might be about a structured settlement or annuity, they simply make a bee-line for the garbage can and toss it in. It seems about as effective as the political mailings we are all being inundated with during the mid-term election season.

Phone calls are troublesome territory for annuitants. For many, they take the appropriate approach to unwanted solicitations and request to be removed from the calling list for the respective company. At this point, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act is clear that the person shouldn’t be contacted again for at least a period of five years. Do the phone calls stop? For the vast majority of the time, absolutely not. Testimonials frequently cite that despite repeatedly telling companies to stop calling, they do anyway. The salesman might change, but the companies don’t. This is textbook corporate harassment. If this wasn’t troublesome enough, clients have gone on at length regarding the kinds of tactics employed by these various representatives. This ranges from a typical sales pitch of feigned familiarity and friendliness to shouting that they’re being ripped off and should do business with them. For the friendlier pitch, one client testified that she repeatedly received a call from a man at company X. He was told not to call back and respected this for about a month. The next month he called and claimed that when they had spoken the month prior he was given an indication that she may be interested in their company’s services. She explained that this wasn’t the case and to stop calling, that she wasn’t interested in selling her annuity to them. Calls of this type occurred once a month for several months until the representative finally stopped. Despite the friendliness of these solicitations, it must be remembered that it is still harassment since she repeatedly told this person, and the company he represented, that contact was not desired. Beyond the legality of the situation, it is simply unethical and has effects beyond the immediate offender. If our industry continues with these practices then it is our entire industry that will ultimately suffer, and it begins with those that continue to conduct themselves exclusively in legitimate business practices. Here is another example, far less friendly, than the first: another annuitant, one from years past, still to this day receives calls and mail. When he does receive calls, he states that many of the sales reps are “borderline belligerent” and just won’t get off the phone. He has resorted to threats of suing them for harassment since they have kept calling for so long. These sorts of measures should not have to be taken by any annuitant anywhere. This same annuitant went on at length about how “no means no” and that he isn’t in the habit of changing his mind, no matter how much harassment he suffers as a result. We at Bentzen Financial agree. No does mean no.

Other tactics reported to us include the following, which we have come to expect as standard fare per testimonial:

The standard fare is unacceptable and unfair not just to the annuitants, but to the businesses that are not otherwise engaged in these practices. How is legitimate business expected to flourish if such a practice like scraping is allowed to continue? The short answer is that it can’t. The only logical conclusion is that if one is to try and compete with the dark side, one must join it. Thus we come to a case mentioned in the preliminary findings report: where an annuitant was harassed not just by phone and mail, but also directly from a representative on Facebook.

This is easily one of the most astounding cases that we have come across. Her testimony is standard, otherwise: constant mailings and phone calls. Representatives are told to leave her alone but they refuse to do so; warnings and demands to stop are frequent. The most persistent representative admitted to searching through all of Facebook for the annuitant by last name until he found her. He then attempted his pitch again. The annuitant was so disturbed by this man’s refusal to take the hint that she took a photo of her desktop, including the Facebook message, and forwarded it to us – after promptly refusing him once again. The representative, the company he worked for, and the contents of the message were plain to see without any attempt at veiling it. So brazen was this particular attempt that it is difficult to do this story justice without attaching the picture submitted to us; for privacy reasons, however, this is withheld.

These are the tactics employed by the scraping pariahs of our industry. Part two of these investigation results will be released soon and will delve into what the annuitants themselves have to say about their experiences; what they think, feel, and want to see happen in the industry given their experiences. Check back soon.

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Preliminary Results of Annuitant Harassment Investigation

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 17:02:00 GMT

Bentzen Financial has, for some time now, received reports from former annuitants that have done business with us that they feel they are being harassed by others in the industry. Once the liquidation of their structured settlements or annuities are approved, annuitants are immediately contacted to try and squeeze more business out of them – at least, with regards to factoring. Unfortunately this also occurs once an annuitant has put together a structured settlement. This is the scraping phenomenon that has overrun the entire industry. Due to the reports of harassment of our former clients, we felt it necessary to conduct a formal investigation. To that end, we have tasked an independent academic to conduct the investigation and produce a report of findings. Preliminary findings have been produced and already further serve to demonstrate the deleterious effect that scraping has on the industry.

The original focus of the investigation was specifically on harassing phone calls, but after speaking with many on (just!) the Bentzen Financial client list, it seems as though this was too limited in scope. Nearly every annuitant who has completed a testimonial reports the extraordinary degrees that several companies in the industry – several names come up constantly – have gone to try and secure their business. Representatives of these companies are frequently referred to as “sharks,” “vultures,” and “predators” of one kind or another. It is clear that the annuitants feel as though they are being further victimized by unscrupulous businesses with unethical practices, commonly asking why these solicitations don’t stop despite repeated confrontations and, in some cases, pleadings.

Many of these annuitants note that there tends to be a time lag between when they pick up the phone and when a person on the other line responds; this is typically indicative of the use of auto-dialing machines which are strictly regulated by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (1991). Calls to cell phones, for example, are strictly prohibited – and are frequently done anyway. More troublesome, however, is the fact that all affected annuitants report telling solicitors to stop calling – and none complied for the mandatory five (5) years as stipulated by the TCPA. Adding insult to injury, the solicitors often do not identify themselves or their organizations, preferring to rely upon salesman tricks and faux friendliness, with some even going so far as to state or imply that they work for Bentzen Financial. There are numerous reports of overreach, such as by relentlessly contacting spouses, children, and other relatives using whatever means possible. Unfortunately this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg; some reports include harassment by salesmen on Facebook, misleading sellers into believing they represent another company that may have a better working relationship with them, or even going to their homes and places of business seeking them and their families in person. The general consensus is that annuitants should not be contacted by anyone they have not sought out themselves. Even companies that have done business with annuitants in the past are often reported as carrying out harassment after initial business is concluded. This is how the industry’s reputation takes a hit: even those companies whom clients decided to deal with are engaging in actions that many annuitants feel as though are predatory.

A final and consistent complaint that annuitants report is that the sheer amount and frequency of direct mailings with “Gotcha!” checks being sent to them is overwhelming. While most annuitants know that these checks are essentially traps for companies to try and get more money out of them, some lack sufficient understanding of how the industry works and get caught up in what seems like a blessing of free money. There is no free money and there is no such thing as a free lunch. It is simply unacceptable that some annuitants, many of whom are struggling financially, are further victimized in this manner – be it due to their own ignorance or desperation.

The preliminary findings do not paint the industry in a positive light. Scraping, now associated with harassment, is dangerous to the industry and legitimate business. For the industry to survive and flourish it cannot continue such an unethical practice. The complete report is being put together. Its findings will be noted in a future post.

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Scheming Companies Prey on Annuitants, Ignore Federal Regulations

Wed, 10 Sep 2014 20:19:00 GMT

There are limited statistics relating to the factoring industry and the numbers of transactions being done. That being said, some of the largest companies are public and/or securitize so we can extrapolate from that information that roughly 1,000 cases per month are being factored. If you are only receiving an inquiry or two from past clients a year, how can this be?

A part of the reason is “scraping,” which is an industry term that refers to searching court records for annuitants. With every factoring transaction, there is a corresponding court record in the public domain that has all the particulars of the case. The factoring companies then use sophisticated search engine tools to find these cases and locate the annuitant. They then bombard them with solicitations to sell any remaining payments. We’re not talking about junk mail like you get from mortgage companies promising to lower your payments, but incessant phone calls and even cases of sales associates arriving at the annuitant’s doorstep with contracts in hand. To come out on top in this game you have to be aggressive and persistent. Each new case is like a gazelle carcass on the Serengeti with hyenas circling. The aggressive eat while the timid go hungry.

We’ve always encouraged our clients to add their phone numbers to the Federal “Do Not Call” registry but recently discovered from a competitor that the list is ignored by scrapers. I was told that annuitants are harassed so frequently that they do not write down who is calling and from where so they will never be able to recognize repeat offenders. Additionally, most of these repetitive callers have several different company names that they use. These companies, some who exclusively scrape, all attend NASP meetings and, in fact, some of the worst offenders are longtime members of NASP and are serving or have served as president.

At Bentzen Financial, we do not scrape court records, nor do we actively solicit past clients into repeat transactions. To the contrary, we always warn clients that these hyenas will be calling and give them suggestions on ways to make them stop.

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Is It Really a Loan?

Wed, 27 Aug 2014 17:09:00 GMT

Considering the entire buzz around a new bank-funded structured settlement loan and all the subsequent questions I have gotten about it, I thought it appropriate to give this product an initial review even though I don’t yet have an actual contract to examine. So far, what stood out to me most in the bank’s promotional material was the great lengths they went to differentiate themselves from conventional factoring companies. They really go all out in selling their product as a bank loan and not a factoring transaction, making it appear that getting liquidity out of a structured settlement is as simple as applying for a car loan. They even suggest that you promote this product to your attorney clients as the solution to their concerns about factoring. So is this product as innovative and revolutionary as they claim or mostly semantics and marketing spin? To start, I have a hard time believing that this loan process is as simple and straightforward as they suggest. Foremost is the fact that a structured settlement annuity cannot be used as collateral for a loan. That begs the question as to whether a five-star rated bank would provide large, unsecured loans to annuitants? That’s highly unlikely, especially in light of the fact that most annuitants come to us with significant debts and less-than-stellar credit. These two statements in their advertisement reveal the bigger picture to me:

Based on my knowledge of factoring, I immediately thought: if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. Here’s why:

This leads me to believe that what they’re actually doing is factoring the annuitant’s payments as both collateral and payment for a so-called loan. How is that a radical departure from the status quo? To me, it all sounds like just another duck… perhaps a slightly different species of duck, but still a duck nonetheless.

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Unanswered Loan Questions

Sat, 02 Aug 2014 17:09:00 GMT

The promotional material for this new structured settlement loan product left me with several nagging questions and concerns, as follows:

I will update this post with a detailed analysis after I review an actual contract document. Stay tuned.

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The Reality Concerning Structured Settlement Loans

Wed, 30 Jul 2014 17:08:00 GMT

If you look past all the marketing hype, I believe that you will also see that this new structured settlement loan product appears to be little more than a modified factoring transaction. I suspect that the main feature that differentiates this so-called loan from the status quo is some provision in the transfer agreement that allows the annuitant to repay the bank prior to maturity, restoring the remaining portion of the factored structured settlement used as collateral and payment for the loan. An early repayment option sounds compelling and revolutionary; however, experience tells me it’s all just window dressing, whereby, the reality is that very few to none will exercise this option. I say this because in my twelve years as a factoring broker, I have worked with hundreds of annuitants and not done a single transaction with one annuitant that I believe would have had the will, resources or ability to repay one of these loans.

Another concern is that they glossed over the fact that this transaction will probably be an expensive and time consuming undertaking, even if it can technically be called a loan. Legal fees, insurer transfer fees, and court costs add up to thousands, not to mention any additional bank origination fees. That’s why I always counsel credit worthy annuitants with more liquid collateral to first look to conventional funding sources for short term loans due to the transaction cost savings. That leaves those with few other means to consider these new factoring-backed loans as a viable liquidity option. The irony is that these same annuitants likely have little ability to repay any loans taken out on their structured settlements. It follows that all these loans become nothing more than standard factoring transactions if nobody exercises the early payment option and the factored annuity covers the loan obligations until maturity.

The reality is that there is no real disadvantage to a traditional factoring transaction when done correctly by an experienced and reputable firm. The vast majority of our clients are just trying to keep their heads above water and I just can’t see any being interested in more loan debt. Our policy is to work with annuitants to gain just enough liquidity from their structured settlements to pay their obligations and move forward, not lending them money that they likely can’t repay.

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