Hi everyone.  J.G. Wentworth here. 

These are amazing times we are living in.  Never in my memory – and that’s a long time – can I recall interest rates this low.  It’s like money is on sale. 

Never before have we been able to give away more money for payment streams from structured settlements and annuities.  And that’s a good thing for consumers that we’re happy to do. 

You’ve often heard that when mortgage rates are low, it’s a great time to buy a house, even if you aren’t in the market.  Why?  Because you can get much more house for the same payment versus when mortgage rates are high.  The same principal applies to structured settlements and annuities.  So, even if you are not in the market to sell your payments, per se, with rates this low it might be worth consideration.  Why not at least give us a call and find out what your payments are worth. 

The figure might surprise you.  And with rates this low, I’m sure you’ll find the surprise a pleasant one. 

Hi everyone.  J.G. Wentworth here. 

You may have seen or read a news item recently about a bond sale here at the company.  It’s true. We did just sell over $100 million of bonds to institutional investors.  And while I am not going to go into all the complexities of the bond offering, I do want to point out why such sales are important. 

Basically, after we have purchased a lot of structured settlement payment streams from many different customers, we repackage them as bonds and sell them.  By doing this we are connecting structured settlements to bond buyers around the world.  This is a competitive market place where investors compete to buy these bonds.  Competition lowers the rate on the bonds, which in turn, enables us to lower the discount rate we offer customers for their payments.  The lower the discount rate the more cash we can advance a client for their payments. 

So the fact that we are able to go to Wall Street is a very good thing.  It’s one of the factors that allows us to offer our customers low rates and gives us a significant advantage over smaller companies that cannot. 

Just thought you all would like to know. 

Hi everyone.  J.G. Wentworth here. 

I think I mentioned in a previous post that J.G. Wentworth has a channel on YouTube (www.youtube.com/jgwentworth). There’s a lot of interesting things on our channel including the famous J.G. Wentworth commercials and spoofs of our commercials. 

Now there’s something new.  A few of our customers have gotten together and told their stories there.  Of course I remember a lot of our customers because their stories are so vivid.  One I remember best is Charlie B., Orlando, FL, which is the first of our customer testimonials. 

When Charlie and his wife were having their first child there was trouble in the delivery room.  They had a great lawyer, and eventually won a good sized structured settlement.  But winning the suit took years, and by the time Charlie’s and his wife started getting their structured settlement payments, they were deep in debt.  That’s where we stepped in.  We got Charlie and his wife a lump sum of cash for their some of their future payments and in no time, they had repaired their finances. 

Now, Charlie and his wife are getting their full payments again and finally, their life is back to normal again.  It’s a good story and just one of 10 new customer video testimonials.  Take a look and let me know what you think. 

Hi everyone.  Matt Urban here guest blogging for Mr. Wentworth. 

I run the client advance group at J.G. Wentworth.  We purchase a variety of payment streams including lotteries, inheritances and private mortgages.  We spend the bulk of our time however trying to help people involved in litigation to get cash for necessary expenses, a product we call client advance.   

Our experience is that litigation takes a long time.  Longer sometimes than folks can wait.  Through our client advance services, we’re able to help them through a rough patch in their finances while they are waiting for their case to finish up. 

The process is quick and easy.  From the time someone calls us, until the time we can get cash in their hands can be very quick, sometimes just three days.   You wouldn’t think that a pending lawsuit is something that you could borrow money against, but it is.  And as many of our clients will attest, thank goodness that you can.  

Hi everyone.  J.G. Wentworth here. 

Everywhere you look these days you see the news headline that mortgage rates are at historic lows.  They are indeed low. 

While a rising tide lifts all boats, falling interest rates tend to lower all other rates.  We’re no exception.  Right now our rates are at historic lows too.  This means for people with structured settlements and fixed annuities, they can likely get a larger lump sum for their payment stream then they could have gotten a year ago. 

That’s good news, but I wanted to point out something else about our historically low rates.  In general they are lower than most credit card rates.  They are probably lower than most rates associated with overdraft protection offered by banks.  They are, in all probability lower than most of the rates charged by utility companies for keeping balances with them. 

In short, if you need money and have a structured settlement or fixed annuity, we’re a good deal. 

I’m proud that our rates are so competitive compared to other ways to get financing.  It means that not only can we help people when they need it most, but we can do it without costing them an arm and a leg. 

Hi everyone.  J.G. Wentworth here. 

According to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve, the economic recovery is losing steam. 

This has potentially far reaching implications for families in terms of jobs, spending, meeting mortgage payments and other monthly expenses.    As a specialty finance company, folks sometime wonder about our financial health.  I’m here to say it’s just fine.  We’re well financed with more than enough capital at our disposal to meet our funding commitments. 

And that’s a good thing. 

Because now more than ever, consumers with structured settlements and annuities are depending on J.G. Wentworth to help them out when there finances take an unexpected turn. All you need to do is give us a call and say you need help, and we’ll be there, ready as ever.

Hi everyone.  J.G. Wentworth here. 

You know the question I get the most frequently is, ‘Should I sell my structured settlement payments?’

I always answer pretty much the same way by saying that everyone’s situation is different and what works for one person may not at all work for another.   That’s a pretty general answer, so then I like to list out what I think are some pros and cons are for each course of action. 

The Pros of Selling Your Payments

• You get your money when you need it
• Your future payments are not eroded by inflation
• Selling your payments does not create a debt
• There are generally no tax consequences

The Cons of Selling Your Payments

• You reduce or eliminate a future source of income
• Other sources of funds may be easier to access
• You receive the ‘present value’ of your payments when you sell them, which will be less than aggregate sum of your payments. 

Whether the pros or cons have it is, again, highly subjective.  Your structured settlement was crafted with great care to anticipate future needs.  Accordingly, the decision to sell some or all of your payments should be made with equal care.  

Hi everyone.  Jonathan Agner here, Director of Education at J.G. Wentworth, guest blogging for Mr. Wentworth. 

Director of Education is a big title, but to me, it comes down to one word.  Culture.  A big part of my job is to work with new recruits and get them up to speed on the culture here at J.G. Wentworth.  In doing this I try to get across the concept of empathy.  Most often people call us because they are facing a big challenge financially.  And let’s face it, you need to be empathetic with their situation if you are going to be helpful.  That’s the first step, and if you can’t bridge that gap, the customer is going to feel it, and at the end of the day, nobody is going to be happy. 

As an adjunct to my duties in education, I work on recruiting.  That’s another important job.  Of course I’m looking for that one important quality, the ability to empathize, but I’m also looking for someone who can understand structured settlements and annuities.  They’re complex, and it takes someone with strong analytical skills to get comfortable with the fundamental concepts. 

I love my job.  At J.G. Wentworth, we know that in terms of the market for buying structured settlement and annuity payments, we’ve only just scratched the surface.  There’s a big market out there and lots of folks need help.  And I’m putting together a team of account reps who can help them meet the financial challenges they face.  

Hi everyone. J.G. Wentworth here. 

You know we spend a lot of time talking about selling structured settlement and annuity payments to help folks out of a jam.  For many people, their structured settlements and annuities are the only large financial asset they have. 

But not everyone who wants to sell payment streams from their structured settlement or annuity is in a jam.  Some of our customers just want to have fun, or finance the experience of a lifetime. 

That was the case with a recent customer, who we’ll call “Simon”.  He had a structured settlement, and I guess the regular payments were important.  But not as important as a good adventure.  What Simon really wanted to was participate in something called the World Cup Trek (http://www.nomadicnation.org/world-cup-trek), a nearly 12,000 mile road rally from Berlin to Capetown South Africa.  The drivers started in June with the goal of driving into Capetown in time for the finals of the 2010 World Cup.

To compete in the rally and make his dreams come true, Simon needed cash.  And so that’s just what we got him.  Even though they never made it to Capetown, Simon had the adventure of a lifetime.  You can see a short video about the race at http://vimeo.com/13356974.

To me, what’s important about this story is that we helped finance a dream come true for one of our customers.  Maybe you’ve got something you really want to do.  Why don’t you give us a call to talk about it?  Maybe we can make your dreams come true too.

We continue to hire new account reps and work on getting in tip-top form to handle all the business we’ve gotten from new customers. 

But it’s not just the company getting into shape.  We’ve got a group of employees preparing to run in the upcoming Philadelphia Marathon. 

I was happy to foot the bill for the creation of Team Wentworth at this event.  As you may know, our company has a long tradition of marathon running.  We’ve taken teams to London, New York, Dublin, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.  Over the years I’ve found fielding a company team helps build leadership skills, a sense of unity and group accomplishment.

Also, I like to think there’s a customer service benefit too.  Yes, a healthy body equals a healthy mind.  But heck, after our employees run 26 miles, helping customers with their structured settlements and annuities will seem easy!