What Services do Structured Settlement Brokers Offer?

If you are thinking about accepting a structured settlement or already have, whether as the result of being injured by a negligent party or from lottery winnings, you probably have some idea as to services offered by a structured settlement broker.  However, in addition to buying out settlement money, you may be surprised by the various services that structured settlement brokers offer.  Because you are in this position, it would be to your benefit to know what all a broker could assist with so if you needed services you would have all the right information.

If you are thinking about accepting a structured settlement or already have, whether as the result of being injured by a negligent party or from lottery winnings, you probably have some idea as to services offered by a structured settlement broker.  However, in addition to buying out settlement money, you may be surprised by the various services that structured settlement brokers offer.  Because you are in this position, it would be to your benefit to know what all a broker could assist with so if you needed services you would have all the right information.

For starters, a structured settlement broker is also known as an annuity broker.  This professional has gone through very specific training in the areas of negotiation and facilitation for scheduled payouts pertaining to a monetary settlement associated with a lawsuit.  As mentioned, most brokers assist people who have become badly injured because of a negligent person or company although they do assist in cases of winning large sums of money as in the lottery.

As part of the services for a structured settlement offered by a broker they would work with the money that was agreed on to settle the case outside the court system.  In other words, while a lawsuit for your case may have been initiated, you and the responsible party may decide with the assistance of attorneys to settle on a dollar amount.  With this, court proceedings for a jury trial would stop and you would then choose a lump sum payout or scheduled payments in the form of an annuity.  As you can imagine, a settlement greatly lowers court costs and attorney fees.

You also want to consider other benefits regarding services for structured settlement that brokers offer.  Remember, even if you were to conduct a tremendous amount research, the broker has years of experience and the exact expertise needed for this situation.  The broker would be responsible for establishing the payout schedule of the agreed upon settlement.  Although it is common for payments to be received monthly, if the broker sees need for more frequent payments he or she would help accommodate the change.  The broker also has the ability to arrange for increases, as well as periodic large payouts if you were faced with some type of unexpected emergency.

As you can see, services provided by structured settlement brokers are critical to your financial care but probably one of the most important services is to determine the amount of medical costs you would face as a result of the injury.  This would include not only immediate and short-term costs but the amount you would likely pay for ongoing care for life.  The reason this projection is so vital is that the amount of the annuity payments set would be based on that information.  Of course, the broker would also add in cost of living expenses for life.

We want to stress that unlike other financial professionals, the services for a structured settlement broker are provided by a professional in an elite group.    In fact, when conducting a search for brokers of this kind within the United States, you would discover only a very small number.  The amount of training required is intense and the process for obtaining a license is quite significant.  For these reasons alone, many financial experts never pursue this career.

For the services of a structured settlement provided by brokers, licensing of an Errors and Omissions policy is mandated.  That means this person would have the qualifications, training, and authority to work on the behalf of one or more insurance companies.  Remember, the payments from your structured settlement are a type of insurance policy so when looking for a broker having someone who has expertise in the financial arena is simply not enough.  Finally, the following brokers have solid reputations for fairness and integrity.

•    J.G. Wentworth – www.jgwentworth.com
•    Peachtree Financial – www.peachtreefinancial.com
•    Ringler Associates – www.ringlerassociates.com
•    Bridge Settlement Corporation – www.bridgesettlementcorp.com

Along with the brokers listed above, the United States Department of Justice has developed a list of individual attorneys who specialize in the arena of structured settlement brokerage services.  This full list is available by visiting the link here.