frequently-asked-questions | Frequently Asked Question

Structured Settlement Quotes is dedicated to providing you with the information you need to make an informed decision on selling your structured settlement or other annuity payments. The following is a list of commonly asked questions and the answers followed by our detailed learning center organized by topic:

About Settlement Quotes

What makes Settlement Quote’s service unique in the industry?

Settlement Quotes is a market leader in providing a marketplace for the purchase and sale of structured settlement payments and other annuities in every state.

Settlement Quotes assembles, vets and certifies settlement purchasers (Certified Funders) to compete for your payments.

If you choose to sell, you have the peace of mind that the selected Certified Funder is one of the most experienced and respected in the industry to complete your sale and get you your money in the fastest time permitted by law.

What types of payments does Settlement Quotes provide price quotes?

Settlement Quotes provides quotes on structured settlement and other insurance annuity payments. Specifically, we can quote your payments if they are paid to you:

From an insurance company
As a result of a lawsuit or insurance settlement
Either guaranteed or life contingent payments
Not as a result of a workers compensation claim

We do NOT provide quotes on:

Workers compensation payments
Payments due to a minor child
Pensions
Social security payments
TIAA CREF payments
Mortgages
Pre-settlement cases
Viatical settlements
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 fund the payment of damages for personal injury over a period of time. It is sometimes referred to as an insurance settlement.

It guarantees you in the event of your death, your beneficiary, a tax free payment or a series of payments over a fixed period of time.

Most structured settlements are the result of a lawsuit—they are payments resulting from a court action.

Is it legal for you 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:

You must be given full disclosure about the financial terms of your sale.
You have a “cooling off period” after you sign documents to change your mind and cancel the sale.
You must be advised in writing to seek independent professional advice regarding your sale. In some states you can choose to waive the advice.
A hearing is held where a judge considers your case and decides whether 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 interests to sell payments.
The judge must issue a court order approving the sale.

What if your settlement agreement or annuity policy contains anti-sale or anti-assignment language?

Anti-assignment or anti-sale language does not prevent you from selling your payments.

Some settlement agreement or annuity policies contain anti-sale or anti-assignment wording such as:

“none of the periodic payments may be accelerated, deferred, increased or decreased and may not be anticipated, sold, assigned or encumbered.”

Since you must get a court order approving the sale of your payments, a judge will review and evaluate your case.

Judges have the power to approve the sale, even if there is language in your settlement agreement or structured settlement annuity policy that attempts to prevent you from selling your payments.

Can you sell just some of your structured settlement payments or do you have to sell them all?

You can sell some or all of your payments.

You can create more than one case file online with different payment combinations and get more than one set of price quotes so as to best meet your financial needs.

If you only sell some of your payments your insurance company will continue to pay you the payments you still own as and when those payments are due.

What if you have sold some of your structured settlement payments in the past? Can you sell more now to the Certified Funders registered with Settlement Quotes?

Yes. If you have sold some of your structured settlement payments in the past you can sell any remaining payments to which you are still a payee.

Want to know how much your payments are worth? Get a set of guaranteed price offers on your payments in less than 24 hours.

Do you have to pay tax on the money you receive on the sale of your structured settlement payments?

The money you receive from selling your structured settlement payments will have the same tax treatment as the payments you receive from your structured settlement annuity.

If you currently receive your payments tax free the money you receive from selling your payments will be tax free.

In most cases your structured settlement annuity payments are tax free because your annuity was set up to qualify for tax free treatment under section 130 of the Internal Revenue Code.

The U.S. Federal Government has taken several steps to insure that payments received for damages from personal injuries will be tax free.

Section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code confirms that damages received for personal injury or sickness are not considered income and are not subject to tax.

In 2002 federal legislation was passed to protect payees in the sale of their structured settlement payments. As a result, Section 5891 was added to the Internal Revenue Code.

Section 5891 requires the sale of structured settlement payments must be approved by a court in accordance with the relevant State statute.

Please note that this information is provided as a courtesy only and does not constitute legal advice. You should seek legal or other professional advice to address your specific circumstances.

What happens if you are in bankruptcy proceedings and have not yet been discharged?

We can quote on your payments even if you are in bankruptcy proceedings and have not yet been discharged.

If you are in bankruptcy proceedings you will need to let us know prior to having your case quoted so that we may speak to your trustee in bankruptcy or legal representative to obtain additional facts.

Our Certified Funders reserve the right to deduct a fee for additional work in processing cases that have not yet been discharged from a bankruptcy.

Is the transaction and dealing with a funder risk free?

You do not give up any rights when selling a structured settlement until the transaction is completed and you are fully paid the selling price. Furthermore, your case is protected by the court and a judge's order requires the funding company to perform its obligations. You are fully protected.

If you are a minor child are you able to sell your structured settlement payments?

Settlement Quotes does not offer quotes to annuitants who are minor children because those persons do not have legal capacity to sell their payments without the intervention of a litigation or personal property guardian.

Are you legally permitted to sell workers compensation payments?

It is not legal for you to sell structured settlement annuities arising from workers compensation claims. You must keep the annuity until all of the payments are made to you.

About the Bidding Process

How do you start the bidding process and receive your quotes from our Certified Funders?

To start the bidding process,

Go the form at the top and input your payment amounts, dates and insurance company. You may enter as many cases as you want with different payment combinations to get the amount of money that best suits your financial needs. OR
Contact one of our customer service experts at 1-888-665-1257 and he or she can assist with inputting the information necessary for our Certified Funders to bid on and compete to buy your payments. Once the bids are received, one of our customer service experts will call you to review your case.

How long does it take before you receive the quotes?

We are usually able to get back to you within a few hours (up to a maximum of 24) with firm offers to buy your annuity. You may receive some, or all of your price quotes, in as little as 1 hour.

How many quotes do you receive from Settlement Quotes?

We will share with you the top quote we receive from our Certified Funders. The number of quotes we receive will depend on the number of participating Certified Funders at the time you enter your case onto the Settlement Quotes Web Site.

Are each of the quotes you receive a guaranteed offer to buy your structured settlement payments?

Yes. The price quotes you receive are guaranteed offers to buy your structured settlement payments.
We guarantee:

You get a superior price from each of our Certified Funders up front, without hassle.
You will get your guaranteed price quote fast---in less than 24 hours and often in as little time as 2 hours.
Each price quote constitutes an offer to buy your annuity payments which remains open for acceptance for 24 hours after posting in order to provide you time to decide. If you do not accept an offer within 24 hours from the date the offer is posted, the offer may still be valid or may be revoked or amended in the discretion of the respective Certified Funder on a case by case basis. You are advised to contact Settlement Quotes at 1-888-665-1257 to confirm the availability of such offers if the 24 hours period has expired.

Are you obligated to sell if you request a price quote?

There is no obligation for you to accept an offer to buy. You may decide that you do not wish to sell your annuity in which case we will close your file until further notice from you.

How much time do you have to accept an offer?

Each offer provided by our Certified Partners is open for acceptance for a period of 24 hours following posting. To accept just contact us by phone at 1-888-665-1257 and notify one of our customer service experts that you accept and wish to proceed with your sale.

What happens if you accept an offer and then decide you want to cancel?

You should not indicate your acceptance of an offer until you are sure you want to proceed with the sale. However, even if you do accept and receive sale documents, there is generally a “cooling off” period in which you may change your mind and cancel the transaction. The cooling off time period is clearly stated on either the Disclosure Statement or Sale and Assignment Agreement you receive as part of the sale documentation.

When will you find out which Certified Funder provided the highest price quote?

You will be notified by email or telephone who the successful Certified Funder is immediately upon your acceptance of an offer to buy. You can have peace of mind that each Funder is vetted by Settlement Quotes and certified to be reliable, trustworthy, and competent to complete your transfer and get you your money in the fastest time permitted by law.

About the Sales Process and Getting your Money

Once you accept an offer, what are the steps involved to complete your sale transaction and how long does it take to get paid?

At Settlement Quotes we understand that your financial goals depend on completing your sale transaction and getting paid in the fastest time permitted by law.

Once you have accepted an offer and confirm that you want to proceed with the sale the successful Certified Funder immediately starts the sale process as follows:

First call within 2 hours—you will receive a call from a customer service expert on behalf of the Certified Funder within 2 hours from acceptance. At that time our expert will inform you of which Certified Funder was the successful bidder and provide you with their contact information.
Legal Documents within 24 hours—you will receive your legal documents from the Certified Funder within 24 hours. A Notary Public representative will meet you at your home or other convenient location to review the sale documents with you, answer any questions that you may have and get you signed up.
Court Process within 30 days—Our Certified Funders will complete the mandatory court process as soon as legally permitted. This could mean as little as 30 days depending on the State.
Immediate Access to your Money—you get paid your money by direct wire transfer of immediately available funds into a bank account of your choice immediately upon completion of the legal process.
Expected time to completion—From price quote to funding the entire transfer process can take as little as 6 weeks, depending on the State in which you reside.

If your sale transaction does not get completed for whatever reason will you still receive your payments as usual?

Our Certified Funders process your structured settlement sale transaction at no cost to you.

In the unlikely event your sale is not completed for whatever reason:

Neither Settlement Quotes nor the relevant Certified Funder will charge you any fee or penalty. This promise is set out in writing on the sale documentation you receive.
You will be entitled to receive all of the annuity payments you had contracted to sell as and when they fall due.
Your insurance company will continue to pay you all future payments as if you had never entered a transaction to sell.

You will not have any further obligation to either Settlement Quotes or the relevant Certified Funder.

Structured Settlement	Lottery Payments	Other Annuity	Worker's Compensation