Litigation

Rhonda Bentzen's latest whine is, save one, her 10th straight post on the factoring vig subject since early December. She has defined herself as "vig lobbyist" by her own writing. I repeat my question again...

WHY is a factoring broker or factoring company so concerned about whether a broker takes a fee or not? Is Bentzen's business all about the tort victim, or is it about the broker?

I've discovered that Bentzen is not the only "game in town", nor is her word and, as Andrew Cravenho, Matt Bracy and David Springer aptly confirmed, if brokers are taking a fee (disclosed or undisclosed) the tort victim gets less. If another company is willing to work at $500 profit will Bentzen beat them? Is Bentzen consistently willing to go into the 8-9% discount rate range?

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The "Vig Lobbyist" now says "The referral fees that John is crusading against are trivial compared with the marketing costs and overhead the ?cash now? companies have to recover when quoting a deal." To prove her apples and oranges comparison, how about Bentzen providing an audited accounting statement of all the commissions and referral fees she paid in 2007 so that tort victims and lawyers know the exact dollar amount that has been paid. As has been proven, ANY amount that Bentzen, or any other factoring company, pays to a broker reduces the amount paid to a tort victim who is in debt.

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The "Vig Lobbyist" hasn't read the Structured Settlement Clean Vendor List FAQ . To get on the list one simply needs to complete and sign the Structured Settlement Declaration on Business Practices Related to Structured Settlement Factoring Compensation and send it in. This is an open ended grass roots project and so far 22 individuals have been principled enough to step up to the plate.  In less than 2 months the Structured Settlement Clean Vendor Project has more structured settlement professionals than the Society of Settlement Planners has after 6 years!

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The "Vig Lobbyist" added that she pays vig to attorneys to the recent revelation that 90% of her referral sources are on the take. Sources who attended the recent AAJ Winter meetings in San Juan related that factoring of structured settlements is a MAJOR concern for trial lawyers and the topic was a recurring discusson. In my opinion there are alot of structured settlement brokers and settlement planners on the vig who have grossly miscalculated by ignoring this while in engaging this often covert activity.

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Professionally, my problem with the "Vig Lobbyist" is her big mouth.  Let's leave it at that.