Thank you:   I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support after my sister’s unexpected death.  Your concern made a big difference for  me and my family.  We had a memorial service for Theresa  and it a wonderful celebration of her life.

We received notes from many people, some whom we have never met.  It helped us cope and was greatly appreciated.

Note about enclosed column:   This is a column I wrestled with writing, since I am in the structured settlement business and did so much to try to reign in settlement purchasers a few years ago.  

Since  I don’t have a vested interest in what Wentworth does (I make the same amount of money whether people sell their structured settlements or not) and have a perspective that other journalists may not have,  I believe it is an important topic to address and one that I will revisit in upcoming weeks.

Today’s column was an introduction to the problem.  Future columns will offer more specific solutions.

Welcome Back, Mr. Wentworth

  “Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.”

  -John B. Sebastian (The theme to Welcome Back Kotter)

I’ve spent over 24 years in the structured settlement business.

Structured settlement  are  a financial planning tool and a way  for injured people to settle claims.  Instead of receiving a lump sum, they can receive tax free payments over time. They can even receive payments for the rest of their lives.

Structured settlements exist to keep injured people from blowing their money. They have other financial advantages, but that is their primary purpose.

I often write about  lottery winners and encourage them  to take annual payments instead of the “cash option.” Too many people get a lottery jackpot and blow it.

Too many injured people take cash instead of a structured settlement and blow that too.

If a person runs through lottery winnings, they can go back to their old life.  If an injured person runs through their money, they can’t. 

Because of my  connection to  lottery winners, I  often have  people say to me, “I hope I can be one of your clients.”  I tell them, “Pray that you are never one of my clients.  My injured clients have gone through hell to get their money.”

They earn every dime they get.

I want money to improve injured people’s lives. That is why I love structured settlements.  Structured settlements help people have a normal life and keep them from running out of money.

Or so I thought.

In 1994, Mr. Wentworth showed up on television telling people to sell him their structured settlements. 

Mr. Wentworth is not Mr. Wentworth at all. He was an actor hired by a company called J.G. Wentworth.

J.G. Wentworth is a leader in what is politely called the settlement purchaser industry.   Kentucky State Representative Harry Moberly had another term. In 1998, he called it a “sleazy industry” during a legislative hearing.

Settlement purchasing is a billion-dollar industry. Moberly called them sleazy, but he did not call them stupid.  They know how to make big bucks. All it takes are  slick ads and lots of injured people.

Moberly sponsored legislation for reigning in abuses by the industry.  Almost every state and eventually the federal government followed Kentucky’s lead.  Moberly became nationally known for his consumer-oriented stance.

Kentucky’s legislation made it possible to sell a structured settlement but only with court approval and in the case of a hardship.

Few people sold their structured settlements after the legislation, and Mr. Wentworth went off television. 

Now he is back--followed by a host of imitators and competitors.  Somehow, someway, they have gotten around the legislation that Moberly and others fought to pass.

There is such a feeding frenzy that one of the companies who SELLS structured settlements now  has an affiliated company that buys them right back. At a big discount.

It was easy for the company to get in business. They had the names and addresses of people to whom they were mailing the checks. They pop in a letter asking if those people would rather buy a car or boat instead.

Several of us worked very hard to get settlement purchasers regulated. After legislation had passed at the state and national level, I thought we had done the job.

I  was wrong.  

Judges were supposed to oversee the settlement purchasing process. World-renown bankruptcy judge Joseph Lee took it seriously, but he is a rarity.  Too many judges are rubber-stamping structured settlement sales. I don’t hear of judges turning proposals down, no matter how slanted or unnecessary they are.

Settlement purchasers have figured out which lawyers are connected to judges and hire them to walk proposals through.

It is not on society’s radar screen until enough people sell their structured settlements, go broke and wind up on welfare.

A good deal for Mr. Wentworth is then a bad deal for taxpaying citizens.

It’s time for legislatures to plug some of the loopholes.   Mr. Wentworth may not be an actual purchaser, but he plays one on television. He and his competitors need more oversight and regulation.

I would like to see a study conducted on how people who have sold their structured settlements  have done. I will bet they’ve done poorly.  When the damage to society is unveiled, Mr. Wentworth won’t be welcomed back after all.

  Don McNay is the award winning  author of The Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher.  You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com.