I see ads on TV and in Thrifty Nickel, The Flyer, Pennysaver, The Greensheet and my newspaper for people advertising settlement loans……

July 2, 2008

There are many sources for you to get a settlement advance. There are brokers and funding sources. Funding sources fund deals for the brokers but they also advertise heavily on TV and in newspapers. Brokers typically don’t advertise on TV because their budgets aren’t as big. I am a broker, by the way.

If you see the following terms, just know they all mean the same thing, getting you money now on your lawsuit: lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding and settlement advance.

Those are all search terms so you will find them heavily inserted into the copy of the the websites to draw your attention via the search engines like Google.

Whomever you use, make sure you know the questions to ask. See my other blog on what to ask.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

What are these LAWSUIT CASH ADVANCE ads on my tv?

June 26, 2008

If you watch tv late at night or during the 9-5 hour you will be approached by many companies promoting lawsuit settlement loans. There are about 4 companies that I am aware of that actively advertise on your tv.

They are J.G. Wentworth, Oasis Legal Finance, Law Cash, and Whitehaven.

They are hoping that you are injured, in a lawsuit and need money now. If you are then you could qualify for a lawsuit advance of anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000 or more.

They provide an 800 number which makes it easy for you to call and you are liekly to actually reach somebody when you call because some of them have an inbound call team of at least 10 people. I have seen it. I visited Oasis once.

You will be asked to give your personal information and then they take it from there. From what I hear of others who have actually gotten funded directly with the companies above, it took them about 2 weeks to get their money. Not bad. But when you called them didn’t you really need your money the DAY BEFORE?

You know how when you call any company, they are always the best, the top in their industry, the biggest provider, etc.? You will find this to be true with them as well. To be fair, I say the same thing.

How do YOU know? Do you really have time to shop all of the presettlement funding sources to see which is the best? No, you needed money yesterday. How can you be assured that you are getting the fastest service and lowest rates offered if you are only dealing with one company? It’s all in the stats.

I started my presettlement funding brokerage 4 years ago. I do not work for any of the companies, but I can submit your request to any of them. I have worked with many of the big companies and because of my experience know who to use and not to use based on service and rates.

When I decide to use a presettlement funding source, I tell them my criteria are the following: LOWEST RATES (or I am doing you a disservice), fast COMMUNICATION (I have found that all my clients want is information and they hate being kept in mystery), and DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO (rare in business unfortunately but important nonetheless).

I have found the best source for lawsuit advances and I am confident that anyone who trusts me to get them a lawsuit cash advance will agree , especially when it comes time to pay it back but that is only if they win!

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, cash advance, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

Choosing the wrong funder for presettlement funding can adversely affect everyone

June 17, 2008

I have recently learned a great lesson at the expense of myself but more importantly my clients. As a broker for lawsuit cash advances, my job is to get plaintiff funding for my clients at the lowest possible rates by a presettlement funding source that will get it done quickly.

I have always had a primary presettlement funding source for my clients who need lawsuit advances. They get the first shot on everything. I have always had a SECONDARY funding source as well. The reason for the secondary one is sometimes the primary doesn’t want to fund a particular request for settlement funding. When this happens I turn it in to the secondary source. Each broker should have a set of criteria that they use in order to determine whether a presettlement funding source is a good fit for them or not.

For me, it has always been 3 things: Lowest rates, fast communication (this one being very important), keep your word once given (rare on this planet but important in business especially). If a litigation funding source will do that, I can keep them busy with new cases steadily because that is what the person who is asking for lawsuit funding wants as well. If not, no matter what justification they give me I look bad and it makes life more difficult for my clients.

This happened recently with my secondary presettlement funding source and now I have clients needing second advances and I have to move them to another company. I wouldn’t mind using the same company because there is a cost associated with switching them but this particular funder asked me to never speak to them again. Why? because I gave them a report card on how they were doing during a request and they couldn’t confront it. They failed miserably at communicating with me. I went 4 days without communication on a case and always felt with this company that I had to push things along. They also failed miserably at keeping thier word. When I started with them, they claimed fast fundings and a 48 hour turnaround. Not true. I told them so and this was their reaction:

They said I was the problem. I agree that I am the problem if I ask a company to do the 3 things above and they can’t. I refuse to lower my standards for anyone. In the world of litigation funding, the client has many options, the funding brokers have many options. I am choosing a different company to be my second option for plaintiff funding. My first source is VERY SOLID.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

Lawsuit advances on Employment Discrimination cases

June 11, 2008

Employment discrimination cases are a growing sector of the annual inventory of new lawsuits. I get the question often from those who find me on the web if presettlement funding is available on this type of case.

The answer is yes. Although they are much more sophisticated type of lawsuit, they still qualify for plaintiff funding. In fact, I successfully funded one last month. The plaintiff received a $5ooo advance and was very happy. The attorney was pleased as well because if their plaintiff couldn’t have afforded to go much further, then they both would have had to settle and take a lower amount than what they could have gotten if they held out.

It is horrible that employment discrimination exists. It is great that settlement funding exists to help those who are going through a lawsuit because of it.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, lawsuit advance, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

You get back 10 times what you send out.

May 30, 2008

I have been really focusing on and using in my lawsuit funding business the law of attraction. Some might feel that this subject is played out; but if it is true and it works, then shouldn’t we all focus on it daily?

In the world of presettlement funding I am looking for people who need cash before the settlement. I rely solely on referrals. How am I to expect referrals if I am not GIVING referrals or something that others might find resourceful?

I am guilty of sending to law firms on a monthly basis letters asking them to send me their clients who needed a lawsuit advance. In fact I did this for over 2 years! If you were an attorney, would you get sick of my letter arriving each month with nothing other than a request? If your plaintiff needed a lawsuit cash advance, are you going to refer them to the broker who does nothing but request things of you or the broker who GIVES to you referrals and valuable resources?

That has all changed since meeting my keep in touch expert. She first had me read a book called Book Yourself Solid. Then she shared with me a resource called Send Out Cards. This resource has changed the way I do business and changed the way my firms feel about me.

In keeping with the idea of “sending out to give”, I am STRONGLY recommending to all of my friends, colleagues and law firms that they use this system so they too can get back 10 times what they send out.

Please call 866-652-0699 if you have any questions regarding my keep in touch system.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, attorney funding, attorney loan, law firm loans, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

How do the contracts differ on lawsuit cash advances?

May 20, 2008

Each funding source in the world of pre settlement funding has their own way of writing a contract that is to be signed by the attorney and plaintiff. There are now two distinctly different contracts and I wanted to outline the differences of them so that you can always make the best decision on your lawsuit advance.

The first one (literally) is a monthly compund “interest” structure. I use interest in quotes because I advance money on lawsuits not loan it. So on the monthly compound “interest” structure in addition to your cash advance you can add $200 approx. as a processing fee plus if you have a broker you will have to add their commission (rates vary). All of those three combined become the principal and each month it is charged a fee and that compounds until the settlement. Most companies stop the compounding at year 4 and most of the plans I have seen show that the most you would pay back on your lawsuit cash advance is 4 times what you were advanced.

The second type of contract is called the flat fee contract. It involves multipliers instead of a percentage rate. For example, let’s say in months 1-6 the multiplier is 1.4 and your case settles in month 3. To figure out what you pay back, MULTIPLY 1.4 times your advance and that tells you your payback. The benefits to the second type of contract is that there are no fees, no commissions and it usually is lower than what you would pay on the monthly one.

Again each company offering “lawsuit loans”, “presettlement advances”, “settlement cash advances”, “plaitiff funding”, has their own way of doing contracts and be sure to ask before getting to the contract phase.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, cash advance, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

Educational Video on Lawsuit Cash Advances

April 24, 2008

I found this link to a generic video that explains what plaintiffs experience when trying to get lawsuit funding on their settlement.

I think you will enjoy it as well, here it is: LAWSUIT CASH ADVANCES!

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under cash advance, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding | Leave a Comment 

CASH IN 24 HRS!

April 23, 2008

Damn them. The others in the lawsuit finance business are killing it for the rest of us. They are giving help a bad name and making you skeptical of help. They are making it harder for me to help you - the plaintiff. They are lying to you and making me look slow. They are undeserving of your business. They make you mad and you might even think this business is a scam! You then call me and this is how I find out about these liars.

WHY DO THEY ADVERTISE “CASH IN 24 HRS”?

They do this to trap you in their web so that once they FINALLY get you approved for lawsuit funding (usually for a lower amount then what you needed) you have no other option but to get funded through them.

They also do this because they don’t know how to write ad copy to get your attention any other way than to lie.

They have no consideration of you which is why they don’t mind lying to you. Their viewpoint is, “Ah, if they need the money bad enough they’ll wait!”.

Do not reward these people, they only get stronger and get more resources so that they can lie to even more people through more ads!

I had a workers comp case this week get funded in the same day. That was once in 4 years! The only reason that happened was because everyone was playing the game together as a team and made this their priority. This is not an everyday occurence.

Choose your lawsuit cash advance and lawsuit funding broker wisely.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, cash advance, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | 1 Comment 

ATTORNEYS: Why should you have a broker to refer your clients to?

March 29, 2008

Over the past 4 years in meeting attorneys, it astounds me to find that over 95% of attorneys that I met didn’t have a broker to refer thier clients to when their clients needed a lawsuit cash advance or structured settlement.

Some of them had the position of “we just let them find it for themselves”. Some of them do not want to be responsible for referring them to a broker. Some have never met a broker. There are also some attorneys who absolutely hate the idea of lawsuit cash advances so they of course do not make a broker accesible to their clients and usually try and block the transaction from happening.

I know that having a broker to refer their clients to is helpful for many reasons. First, is that it makes them look resourceful. Their clients think of them as a counselour so they ask them all kinds of questions, especially financial ones. They look good in being able to make a referral. Second, even if they hate the idea of lawsuit cash advance but the clients persist and want it, wouldn’t it make sense to have a broker who could get their clients the lowest rates and best service rather than having the client search out any option? I surveyed my clients and asked them ONE QUESTION: “When you needed this money, would you have taken a high interest rate if I offered it just to have the money?” They all said “yes”. This told me that it would be better for the attorney to have a reource and control whether the clients got ripped of or not. Most people searching for lawsuit cash advances take the first offer out of desperation without considering the interest.

I visited a firm yesterday in Dallas and the Case Manager told me that I was a loan shark and that they try and steer their clients away from these deals. He was trying to make me feel bad for helping people. So I asked him “does it make sense to not have a resource to refer your clients to when they absolutely have to have the money so that they get the lowest interest rate?” He said “no”. Case in point.

I didn’t address his accusation of loan shark BECAUSE I DO NOT LOAN MONEY. I advance plaintiffs money. I am very glad to help people when no one else will. My testimonials page proves that my clients see this as valuable.

Are you going to let your clients get ripped off because you didn’t have a broker to refer them to?

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, cash advance, divorce settlement, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | 1 Comment 

Lawsuit cash advances on Slip and Fall cases (Premises Liability)

March 27, 2008

I get referred a fair amount of premises liability cases. These among the medical malpractice cases can be some of the hardest to fund. Of the cases that get declined, premises liability cases have the highest decline rate in my 4 years of doing this.

To avoid getting declined, there are three factors that need to be present. The first is that the liability must be clear and strong. The defedant has to undeniably be liable. The stronger the liability, the more likely you are to receive an advance. The second factor are damages. That is, how you were affected by this either physically, economically, mentally, etc. In some states that have been crushed by tort reform this can be limited. However, the basic rule is that the more serverely injured you are (not just physically but economically) the better chance you have of getting an advance on your slip and fall case. The third and final factor is the strength of the defendant’s ability to pay. This is usually an insurance company so the policy limits and the company can make a big difference here.

If you have those three factors working for you, there is a good chance you will be able to get a lawsuit advance.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, cash advance, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, lawsuit funding, litigation funding, plaintiff funding, presettlement funding, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

Next Page »