You don’t really want a lawsuit cash advance, you want something else!

December 21, 2008

As your broker I am smart enough to know that when you are looking for a lawsuit cash advance or lawsuit funding you are really looking for something else. You are looking for a solution but it goes even deeper. The problem is different for each of you.

Some of you are getting ready to lose your house. Others are getting evicted. I have also dealt with people who want to leverage a higher settlement offer from their defendant. Do you have money for food? Many don’t. The problems are almost without number. The solution is the lawsuit cash advance. But it goes deeper.

By getting lawsuit funding or a lawsuit cash advance you aren’t just looking for the solution. You are looking for what solving the problem does for you. How it makes you feel, what it allows you to do.

When you are considering getting a lawsuit cash advance make sure the broker or settlement funding company understands what you are really trying to do.

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

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 

PARALEGALS! Why are you putting up with this?

May 28, 2008

I had a VERY good conversation with one of the paralegals of a firm that gave me my first referral over 3.5 years ago. She spoke of her experience with me vs. her experience when her clients - the plaintiffs go directly to a funding source to get a lawsuit cash advance on their settlement.

She began by saying that most funding companies or at least their particular staff are very disorganized because they would ask for certain documents and then 2 days later ask for more. In order to service her client she had to drop what she was doing and meet the request. She said that wasted about 30-45 minutes total.

She then said that many companies are now asking the staff to fill out an application. I asked her how she felt about that and she was appalled that any company would even ask her to do that. Is that really what paralegals ought to be doing? Shouldn’t the funding source staff do that? She said they go deep on the questions when all they need to do is review the documents that she sends them. I would bet my future lives that this ticks off most paralegals and probably the attorney even worse since doing that isn’t practicing law.

When I informed her of the rates of a particular company that many of her clients get advances from because this particular company advertises heavily on T.V. in her area is now charging 50% for the first six months she flipped out! I asked her why she was letting her clients get a higher rate when for over 3 years with that firm I have always gotten better rates than what are offered by “that” company she said “I didn’t know”. PARALEGALS - CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED, having a presettlement funding broker that you trust is very helpful if you don’t want your clients to pay more interest than they should.

Guess who hears about when it comes time to settle? I can help you if this is happening to you or your firm. Truthfully I took a loss on this conversation. Evidently I am not the only person in there funding their clients. I hope because of this conversation with her this changes. I have a feeling it will! Note, I have used even recently “that” company but my primary source is not them. I will turn the case into “that” company when my primary source denies a request for settlement funding.

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under Blog, cash advance, lawsuit cash advance, 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 

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 

Divorce Cash Advances: What are the qualifications?

April 10, 2008

In order to be eligible for a cash advance from your divorce settlement you need to have an active or pending divorce and there need to be assets such as a house or bank accounts that are being fought over. Your credit doesn’t matter unless you are in a bankruptcy that isn’t closed because we ar not loaning you money. We are advancing it based on the proceeds from the case. The funding companies need to have a risk which is why they want the case to be pending. This sounds crazy doesn’t it? You would think they would want a low risk investment. Not in the world of divorce cash advance. The rates are higher than the traditional world of finance because if you lose your case, you do not have to repay. Because they aren’t loaning you money and they are taking a huge risk by advancing you money before the settlement, they charge more than what you have normally experienced in bank and such. The final part is that none of your assets are at risk, the money comes from the settlement. Hope you found this interesting!

Posted by Rob Thomas | Filed Under divorce settlement, lawsuit advance, lawsuit cash advance, settlement funding | Leave a Comment 

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