A structured annuity settlement is a financial vehicle that includes periodic payments, provided that the plaintiff in a personal injury liability lawsuit replaces a cash payment settlement. This type of financial tool can only be configured with a licensed settlement planner. (Settlement Quotes does not create these insurance products.)
A structured settlement is set up by purchasing an annuity through a life insurance company such as Metlife or Monumental Life Insurance Company. This annuity can be a monthly, semi-annual, annual or lifetime payment from the claimant. These periodic payments are tax-free and are a great source of fixed income for an individual after a personal injury liability case.
Many people wonder if they can receive a one-time cash payment after they start receiving their structured settlement annuity payments. The answer is no, you cannot go back to a cash settlement for the total. You do have options however. Settlement Quotes provides services to people in this situation. We will offer you a sum of cash for your structured settlement from other companies.
This is not always the best option for many people. A discount rate will be applied to your structured settlement to calculate your present value of your structured annuity to calculate your cash settlement. Due to the time value of money, you will only receive a partial amount in the lump sum. After a court approval process the lump sum payment will remain tax free.
Quotes Settlement only recommends using this inexpensive option if you have other financial assets that can provide financial support for your family. Many people pay off their debts, send their kids to college, or make a down payment on a house with the money they receive from the factored structured settlement.
There are many benefits to keeping your settlement structured. Quotes Settlement recommends seeking the advice of a financial professional before factoring payments through a structured settlement factoring company. A structured settlement can be used as a source of income when it comes to applying for a loan. This option must be tried first before attempting to receive a one-time payment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Structured Settlement Quotes is dedicated to providing you with the information you need to make an informed decision about the sale of your structured settlement or annuity payments. The following is a list of the most frequently asked questions, followed by detailed answers from our learning center organized by topic:
About Settlement Quotes
What makes Settlement Quotes services unique in the market?
For what types of payments does Structured Settlement Quotes provide price quotes service?
About Selling Your Annual Structured Settlement
What is an annual structured settlement?
Is it legal to sell your structured settlement payments?
What if your structured settlement agreement or annuity policy contains an anti-sale or non-transferable clause?
Can only some of your structured settlement payments be sold or do you have to sell all of them?
What if you have sold some of your structured settlement payments in the past? Can more payments be sold now to registered Certified Structured Settlement Quotes funders?
Do you have to pay taxes on the money received from the sale of your structured settlement payments?
What if you are in bankruptcy and have not yet been discharged?
The sale and transaction with a financier are risk free?
If you are a minor, can you sell your structured settlement payments?
Is It Legally Allowed To Sell Workers' Compensation Payments?
About the Bidding Process
How do you start the bidding process to receive quotes from our certified sponsors?
How long will it be until you receive the quotes?
How many quotes do you receive from Settlement Quotes?
Each of the quotes you receive is a guaranteed offer to buy your structured settlement payments?
Are you obliged to sell if you only request a quote?
How long do you have to accept an offer?
What if you accept an offer and then decide you want to cancel?
When do you find out which certified finance company gave the highest quote?
About the selling process and getting your money
Once you accept an offer, what are the steps to follow to complete the sale transaction and how long does it take to receive payment?
If the sale transaction is not completed for any reason, will you still receive your payments as usual?
About Settlement Quotes
What makes Settlement Quotes services unique in the market?
Settlement Quotes is a market leader in providing the industry for buying and selling structured settlement payments and other annuities in every state.
Settlement Quotes brings together, settlement buyers (Certified funders) to compete for their payments.
If you decide to sell, you have the peace of mind of knowing that the selected Certified Financier is one of the most experienced and respected in the industry to complete the sale and get your money in the shortest time allowed by law.
For what types of payments does Structured Settlement Quotes provide a quote service?
Settlement Quotes provides structured settlement quotes and other insurance annuity payments. Specifically, we can quote the payments you receive:
From an insurance company
As a result of a lawsuit or insurance settlement
Payments of any guarantee or life contingencies
Not as a result of a workers' compensation claim
We DO NOT offer quotes on:
Workers' compensation payments
Payments for a minor
Pensions
Social security payments
TIAA CREF payments
Mortgages
Pre-settlement cases
Settlement of travel expenses
VA disability or pension
Other disability payments
About Selling Your Structured Settlement Annuity
What is a structured settlement annuity?
A structured settlement annuity is a contract issued by an insurance company to finance the payment of personal injury compensation over a period of time. It is sometimes referred to as an insurance allowance.
In the event of your death, your beneficiary is guaranteed a tax-free payment or series of payments over a fixed period of time.
Most structured settlements are the result of a lawsuit, with payments resulting from a legal action.
Is it legal to sell your structured settlement payments?
Yes. You can sell your structured settlement or insurance settlement payments.
Most states have a structured Settlement Protection Act. These laws allow you to sell your payments if the following requirements are met:
Full information should be given on the financial terms of your sale.
You have a "cooling off period" after signing the documents you can change your mind and cancel the sale.
You must be informed in writing to request independent professional advice regarding your sale. In some states, you can choose to waive the tips.
The hearing takes place before a judge who considers your case and decides whether or not to approve the sale. The judge will examine your financial situation, what you want to do with the money, and whether it is in your best interest to sell payments.
The judge must issue a court order approving the sale.
What if your structured settlement agreement or annuity policy contains an anti-sale or non-transferable clause?
An anti-transfer clause or anti-sale language does not prevent you from selling your payments.
Some structured settlement agreements or annuity policies contain anti-sale or non-transfer clauses such as:
"None of the periodic payments can be advanced, deferred, increased or decreased, they cannot be anticipated, sold, assigned or encumbered."
Since you must obtain a court order approving the sale of your payments, a judge will review and evaluate your case.
The judges have the power to approve the sale, even if the no-sell clause appears in the structured settlement agreement or structured settlement annuity policy which tries to prevent you from selling your payments.
Can only some of your structured settlement payments be sold or do you have to sell all of them?
You can sell part or all of your payments.
You can create more than one online file with different payment combinations and get more than one set of price quotes in order to better meet your financial needs.
If you only sell some of your payments, your insurance company will continue to pay the payments you still have on time and in good time.
What if you have sold some of your structured settlement payments in the past? Can more payments be sold now to registered Certified Structured Settlement Quotes funders?
Yes. If you have sold some of your structured settlement payments in the past, you can sell the remaining payments that you are still a beneficiary of.
Do you want to know how much your payments are worth? Get a guaranteed price offer set for your payments in less than 24 hours.
Do you have to pay taxes on the money received from the sale of your structured settlement payments?
The money you receive from the sale of your structured settlement payments will have the same tax treatment as the payments you receive from your structured settlement annuity.
If you receive your payments tax free then the money you receive from the sale of your payments will also be tax free.
In most cases, structured settlement annuity payments are tax-free because your pension was established to qualify for tax-free treatment under section 130 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The US Federal Government has taken several steps to ensure that payments received for personal injury damages are tax-free.
Section 104 (a) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code confirms that damages received from personal injury or illness are not considered income and are not taxable.
In 2002, a federal law was passed to protect beneficiaries in the sale of their structured settlement payments. As a result, Section 5891 was introduced into the Internal Revenue Code.
Section 5891 requires that the sale of structured settlement payments be approved by a court in accordance with applicable state law.
Please note that this information is provided as a courtesy only, and does not constitute legal advice. You should seek legal or professional counsel to deal with your specific circumstances.
What if you are in bankruptcy and have not yet been discharged?
We can quote your payments, even if you are in bankruptcy and have not yet been discharged.
If you are in bankruptcy, you will need to notify us before your case is quoted so that we can speak with your bankruptcy administrator or legal representative to obtain additional information.
Our certified funders reserve the right to deduct a commission for additional work in processing cases that have not yet been discharged from bankruptcy.
The sale and transaction with a financier are risk free?
You do not waive any rights in the sale of a structured settlement until the transaction is completed and you have received the full sale price. Furthermore, your case is protected by the court and a judge's order that forces the financing company to carry out its obligations. You are fully protected.
If you are a minor, can you sell your structured settlement payments?
Settlement Quotes does not offer quotes to underage beneficiaries as they have no legal capacity to sell their payments without the intervention of a litigation or a guardian.
Is It Legally Allowed To Sell Workers' Compensation Payments?
It is not legal for you to sell structured settlement annuities that arise from workers' compensation claims. You must keep the annuity until all payments have been completed.
About the Bidding Process
How do you start the bidding process to receive quotes from our certified sponsors?
To start the bidding process,
1- Go to the form above and enter the amounts of the payments, the date and the insurance company. You can enter as many cases as you like with different payment combinations to get the amount of money that best suits your financial needs.
OR
2- Contact one of our customer service specialists at 1-888-562-1268 and he or she can help you enter the information necessary for our certified financiers to start bidding and competing to buy your payments. Once the offers are received, one of our customer service specialists will contact you to review your case.
How long will it be until you receive the quotes?
We are usually able to get back to you within a few hours (up to a maximum of 24) with the company offering to buy your annuity. You can receive all or some of your quotes, in just 1 hour.
How many quotes do you receive from Settlement Quotes?
We are going to share with you the top quotes we receive from our certified sponsors. The number of citations we receive will depend on the number of certified funding participants at the time your case is entered on the Settlement Quotes website.
Each of the quotes you receive is a guaranteed offer to buy your structured settlement payments?
Yes. The price quotes received are guaranteed offers to purchase your structured settlement payments.
We guarantee:
1- You will get a higher price from each of our Certified Financiers in advance, without problems.
2- You will receive your guaranteed quote quickly --- in less than 24 hours and, often, in the shortest time of 2 hours.
3- Each quote constitutes an offer to purchase your annuity payments that remains open for acceptance for 24 hours after publication in order to provide time to decide. If you do not accept the offer within 24 hours from the date of registration, the offer is frozen and may remain valid or may be revoked or modified at the discretion of the respective certified financier on a case by case basis. It is recommended to contact Settlement Quotes at 1-888-562-1268 to confirm the availability of these types of offers, if the 24-hour period has already expired.
Are you obliged to sell if you only request a quote?
No. There is no obligation to accept an offer to purchase. You may decide that you do not want to sell your annuity in which case we will close the file until further notice from you.
How long do you have to accept an offer?
Each offer provided by our certified partners is open for acceptance for a period of 24 hours after publication. To accept, simply contact us by phone at 1-888-562-1268 and notify one of our customer service specialists that you accept the offer and wish to continue your sale.
What if you accept an offer and then decide you want to cancel?
You should not indicate acceptance of the offer until you are sure you want to proceed with the sale. However, even if you accept and receive sales documents, there is usually a "cool down" in which you can change your mind and cancel the transaction. The reflection time period is clearly stated either in the sales compliance certificate or in the Assignment Agreement that you receive as part of the sales documentation.
When do you find out which certified finance company gave the highest quote?
You will be notified by email or phone of the successful Certified Funder immediately upon acceptance of an offer to purchase. You can rest assured that each Funding Entity is examined by Settlement Quotes and certified to be reliable, trustworthy and competent to complete your transfer and get your money in the shortest time allowed by law.
About the selling process and getting your money
Once you accept an offer, what are the steps to follow to complete the sale operation and how long does it take to receive payment
At Settlement Quotes we understand that your financial goals depend on completing your sales transaction and getting paid in the shortest time allowed by law.
Once you have accepted an offer and confirm that you wish to proceed with the sale to the winning Certified Funder, the sale process immediately begins as follows:
1- First call at 2 hours. You will receive a call from a customer service expert on behalf of the certified finance company within 2 hours of acceptance. At that time, our expert will inform you that Financial Certificated was the successful bidder and will provide you with the contact information.
2- Legal documents in 24 hours. You will receive the legal documents from the Certified Financier within 24 hours. A Notary Public will wait for you at your home or other convenient location to review the sale documents with you, answer any questions you may have, and sign the sale.
3- Process in court within 30 days. Our Certified Financier will complete the court process as soon as legally permitted. This could take about 30 days, depending on the state.
4- Immediate access to your money. You will get your money directly by bank transfer into an account of your choice immediately after completing the legal process.
5- The expected time from price quotation to financing and the entire transfer process can take about 6 weeks, depending on the state in which you reside.
If the sale transaction is not completed for any reason, will you still receive your payments as usual?
Our certified funder will process the sale transaction of your structured settlement, at no cost to you.
In the unlikely event that your sale is not completed for any reason:
1- Neither Settlement Quotes nor the corresponding certified funder will charge you any fees or penalties. This promise will be recorded in writing in the sales documentation that you receive.
2- You will have the right to receive all the payments of the annuity that you had agreed to sell as they mature.
3- Your insurance company will continue to pay all future payments as if it had never entered into a sales transaction.
You will have no future obligation to Settlement Quotes or the applicable certified funder.
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