Reviews, links, and resources about how to get cash for structured settlements, how to sell a structured settlement, and what to expect from companies that sell structured settlements.

The idea of selling a structured settlement is nothing new. These financial arrangements resolve personal injury or wrongful death claim with agreements to make payments over time instead of in one lump sum. This is very useful in settling lawsuits since extended legal proceedings will drain both you and your finances. Structured settlements are very useful because they allow you to get on with your life while your lawer handles your case.

This helps you get the best possible settlement for everything from slip and fall cases to serious, lifelong injuries. However, they are not limited to catastrophic injuries. The idea that structured settlements typically involve lifelong disabilities is just wrong.

If you are involved in a lawsuit there are services available that allow you to sell structured settlements. They can provide you with large amounts of cash in the event that you need a lump sum to handle a dispute.

Further, under a structured settlement the beneficiary is paid over a period of years in a series of installments with inflexible payment terms. Most typically, the settlement takes the form of monthly payments, periodic lump sums, or a combination of both.

We've estimated that more than fifty thousand structured settlements are sent to the system every year. These settlements produce premiums to annuity. The important thing to remember is that these arrangements are used for the highly favorable tax treatment granted to both claimants and insurers, and that this will lower the cost to insurers.

According to one of the largest brokers of structured settlements, more than fifty percent (50%) of structured settlements involve premiums of less than $50,000. Fewer than thirteen percent (13%) involve settlements of greater than $250,000. Whatever the original conception of structured settlements and the purpose of the tax rules facilitating them, these figures clearly belie any assertion that they are today used principally for catastrophic injuries.

Under the terms of a structured settlement that qualifies for preferable tax treatment, the claimant is prohibited from possessing the right to accelerate, delay, increase or decrease future payments from the structured settlement company. If a claimant's life circumstances change creating a need for additional funds from the settlement, the only way the claimant may gain access to additional funds is to sell a portion, or all, of his or her settlement.

This need has given rise to a secondary market where companies will purchase a portion of the individual's settlement for a lump sum payment. That lump sum reflects the discounted present value of the payments being purchased, using discount rates that presently average sixteen to eighteen percent (16%-18%). These discount rates reflect the cost of capital, the inherent risk involved, and a profit for the companies.

The National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP) is a non-profit trade association composed of companies that purchase structured settlement and other deferred payment obligations. Formed in July 1996, NASP and its member companies support rational regulation to protect the rights of consumers seeking to sell structured settlement payment rights. NASP has adopted a code of ethics, which includes consumer protection and suitability standards, and has created a fraud alert system. NASP is dedicated to providing claimants and their representatives with an efficient, legal and ethical means by which to obtain liquidity from inflexible structured settlement payments. NASP is actively working in a number of states to pass comprehensive legislation that protects the interests of personal injury victims both at the time of settlement, and subsequently should the individual choose to liquidate a portion of his or her structured settlement payments.