A structured settlement annuity provides guaranteed payments over a designated period — for several years and even for a lifetime. Structuring your settlement is an important decision that will affect your client's, and perhaps your financial future. That’s why it’s important to carefully evaluate the insurance company guaranteeing your client's structured settlement (and/or your deferred fee) and find the best option for them.
All structured settlement annuity insurance companies are NOT created equal and it is therefore very important that the proper due diligence is performed on the company who will administer the structure, which is WHAT WE DO!
We use the questions below to help guide your client during the decision-making process.
1. How long has the insurance company been active in the structured settlement market?
Long-term financial products like a structured settlement annuity should come from long-term providers that have a diverse mix of business. We only work with insurance companies who have been consistently offering structured settlements for many years and have industry expertise.
2. What are the insurance company’s credit ratings?
We ask for the insurance company’s credit ratings or look for them on the company website. Credit ratings are strong indicators of an insurance company’s financial stability and their ability to provide guaranteed future payments.
Credit ratings are shown as a letter or series of letters, such as Aa3 or B. There are four major insurance company rating agencies: A.M. Best, Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch. Because each agency has its own rating scale, the same insurance company could receive different ratings from the various agencies. Please visit the rating companies’ websites for definitions of their rating scales.
3. What is the size and strength of the insurance company?
We ask for the insurance company’s Financial Quality statement or look it up on their website. We can assess the insurance company’s total assets versus their total liabilities. Total capital, often defined as capital plus surplus, is another key metric. Both assets vs. liabilities and total capital are important indicators of an insurance company’s financial strength, stability and their ability to provide you with guaranteed future payments.
4. What is the insurance company’s general account investment portfolio
composed of?
The insurance company’s guarantee is only as good as their financial quality and strength. We ask for information about how the company is investing their assets to ensure that they can meet the long-term guarantees that structured settlements provide. We find out how much of their general account portfolio is invested in bonds and the respective bond quality.
5. What kind of support will you receive from the insurance company after the structured settlement has been issued?
We have worked with all the insurance companies in the structured settlement annuity business for over 20 years and we know who the good, bad and ugly are with respect to customer service. Of course all the companies simply say how great they are at customer service but you can only know the truth by actually working with them, which we have for many years!
The insurance companies that issue structured settlements that we prefer to work with are very large companies, which is great for a financial stability perspective but not so much from a customer service perspective! This is definitely one area where we help claimant's on an ongoing basis. Since we have been in the plaintiff focused structured settlement business for over 20 years claimant's whom we may have worked with many years ago and who need assistance with their structured settlement annuity policy and we are the only ones that they call for help.
Very common areas in which we assist claimants are the reissuing of their annuity policy, helping them change their mailing address, beneficiaries or bank accounts. We put them in touch with the customer support contact at their structured settlement insurance company who issued their policy and are happy to do so! Most importantly we FOLLOW UP until we know that the claimant's need has been addressed. This may seem like a very small thing, however, it leads to a happy client and more REFERRALS for you without you having to expend a single cent of marketing expense or time! THIS IS HUGE!
For OVER 20 YEARS we have been Michigan's PREMIER and ONLY PLAINTIFF FOCUSED STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT CONSULTANT!
Please contact us at (734) 433-1670 or cyril@whitehousellc.com and let us help you and your clients maximize your hard earned settlement dollars!
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