Everyone has seen the commercials – “Get cash now for your structured settlement payments!" Have you ever wondered what the real deal was with those companies and how you can make money from your structured settlement? Of course you can sit around and wait for checks to show up, but what is the real lowdown on selling structured settlements?



Basically, the companies that advertise paying you for your structured settlement are in the market to buy structured settlement payments. Currently, you probably get a check every few months. What those companies do is buy the rights to your payments and give you a lump sum in return. The structured settlement is transferred to the buyer and they receive payments on it instead of you. However, the amount they pay you is less than all those payments add up to or else they would not make money on the deal.

Structured settlement transfers are much like transferring many other assets, although there is a little more red tape. More than likely you received your structured settlement as part of a lawsuit or settlement on a claim, so there are a certain number of legalities that must be dealt with. For the most part, though, it is basically paperwork to be prepared and signed.

The buyers of structured settlements have several clients, so they receive a great deal of money from payments on settlements they have bought. In the long run, the payments add up to more than they paid the original owner(s), so it is profitable for those willing to wait it out. Because inflation steals a portion of the value of the structured settlement as well as the additional time it takes to collect the money, the cash payouts on a structured settlement with some companies may be considerably lower than others.