Pre Settlement Funding

May 28, 2024 by Paul Coppola

Learn All the Pre-Settlement Funding FAQs

Much is written about pre-settlement funding and its role in the legal landscape. Although many questions are answered, plaintiffs might want to avoid having to sift through pages of information to answer their questions. In this post, we examine common pre-settlement funding FAQ fielded at Fair Rate Funding and discuss their implications. Many of these topics are discussed in more detail on this site, so feel free to click the links for a deeper look.

How Do I Qualify?

Eligibility for pre-settlement funding requires the applicant be:

18 years of age – applicants must be the age of majority in order to enter into binding lawsuit funding contracts.
Have a valid civil claim – pre-settlement funding agreements sell a portion of settlement proceeds in a pending legal claim or lawsuit.
Be represented by counsel – plaintiffs wishing to receive lawsuit funding must have an attorney representing them in their lawsuit and legal fees based upon a successful outcome (contingency fee retainers).

Applicants which satisfy the above are eligible to apply for settlement funding.

How Long Does It Take?

Lawsuit funding companies understand that plaintiffs need money immediately. Thus, the lawsuit loan process is designed to get money into the hands of plaintiffs as quickly as possible. That being said, how long for a lawsuit loan depends on a couple of factors.

The most important time variable involved collecting relevant paperwork from your attorney. Attorney cooperation is a pre-requisite for lawsuit loan approvals. This means attorneys must forward useful documents for review and usually hop on a quick phone call with a lawsuit funding underwriter.

In some instances, the process moves quickly and applicants are “funded” within 24 hours. This is especially true when attorneys have a working relationship with a funding company. In others, compiling necessary documents and/or scheduling a short phone conference takes more time. The good news is that you can help yourself get lawsuit funding quickly by working with your lawyer(s) to move the process along.

What Else Does My Attorney Have to Do?

In addition to forwarding documents and speaking about the case’s merits, your attorney must also typically sign an “Acknowledgment of Counsel.” In this form, your lawyer acknowledges the sale of part of your recovery and often ensures you understand what you are signing. In fact, we strongly recommend you consult with your attorney about the language contained in the funding contract and before you sign any legal document whatsoever.

How Much Funding is Available?

How much legal funding you will receive depends upon the strength of your lawsuit and the extent of your damages. If you search the pre-settlement funding FAQ page on most funding company websites, you will find that as a general rule, companies offer 10% – 15% of the underlying case value. The company approximates the likely settlement value after all information is considered.

Regardless of how much legal funding is available, we recommend you only take an amount that reflects your immediate needs. Although our lawsuit loan rates are among the lowest in the business, lawsuit loan cost can be expensive. Instead of cashing out for the maximum amount available, simply get the cash you need to pay your expenses while you wait for the case’s conclusion.

What are Typical Lawsuit Loan Rates?

Lawsuit loan rates can be confusing. But they don’t have to be. When plaintiffs shop for lawsuit loans, they might find many company websites fail to mention lawsuit loan rates. Reputable lawsuit loan companies however, will offer this information freely. Many will provide lawsuit loan rate pages discussing not only lawsuit loan rates, but also how the contracts are structured and what other costs may be associated with these transactions.

As a general rule, you can expect to pay 18% every six months for a lawsuit loan. Unlike traditional loans or other lawsuit loan alternatives, the money is not repaid until the case is resolved in your favor and out of the recovery itself.

Low Price Guarantee

To ensure you get the best possible terms, applicants might want to consider a company which offers a lawsuit loan price guarantee. In an effort to obtain more plaintiffs to help, some companies will guarantee the lowest possible terms. Most are written as some variation of:

If we approve your application for a cash advance and another legal funding company sends you a written contract to advance the same amount at a lower total cost, we will beat that deal or pay you $250 guaranteed!

Price guarantees protect the consumer. But they are a win for funding companies as well since in theory, origination costs are minimized by the practice.

If You Have Any Questions, Call 888-964-2224

WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU!

What Happens If the Case is Lost?

Lawsuit loans are structured as an assignment of property rights in lawsuit proceeds. They are an asset sale, although the value is not yet determined. So if a lawsuit is lost, the lawsuit loan is not repaid since what was purchased has zero value.

Lawsuit funding investments carry some risk of loss. Lawsuit loan pricing reflects this risk. While some lawsuits lose, most don’t. It is the winners that carry the cost of the losing cases.

The bottom line is that if there is no recovery, there is no repayment – period.

How Do I Shop for Lawsuit Loans?

Choosing the right lawsuit funding company may seem daunting. Despite the large amount of players in the market, not all provide stellar service and competitive pricing. It’s easy to get lost in the sea of information.

Fortunately, you’ve landed in the right place because Fair Rate Funding offers:

The lowest interest rates — guaranteed;
No hidden fees;
Clear and concise terms;
Adherence to Lawsuit Loan Best Practices;
A quick and easy application process; and
Live people answering your calls.

How Do I Learn More?

Our lawsuit funding representatives are standing by ready to answer any questions. We are ready to help you get access to the financial support that you need to pay your bills.

Why Choose Fair Rate Funding

You obviously have a choice in who you use for legal funding. We offer:

Simple and Easy Process – Approval only on strength of your case.
Risk – Free Proposition – Only repay if you win your case.
Rapid Approval and Funding – Approvals often within 24 hrs.
Up Front Pricing – Absolutely no hidden fees.

Give us a call and learn about your options. We are here to help and are at your service.

Thank you for your interest in Fair Rate Funding.

Thank you for your interest in these pre-settlement funding FAQ and lawsuit loans.

Apply Now

July 13, 2016 by Paul Coppola

Avoiding Lawsuit Funding Hassles

Lawsuit funding requires attorney cooperation. Lawyers and their support staff must compile and forward relevant documents, engage in the underwriting process and sign off on funding agreements. Although some attention is required, the amount of time plaintiff firms must devote to the process can be minimized. In this post, we examine how attorneys can best avoid lawsuit funding hassles.

Legal Loans – Part of the Practice

Lawsuit “loans” are cash advances on pending lawsuits. They are a response for clients’ immediate need for cash during the litigation process. Injured plaintiffs need financial support, especially since they often are unable to work due to injury. State ethics rules prohibiting attorneys from advancing money to clients removes one potential solution.

While lawsuit loans are only one possible solution to plaintiffs’ cash flow problems, many plaintiffs choose lawsuit loans to bridge the gap between filing suit and its conclusion. Lawsuit loans are specialty financial transactions. As such, they require particular expertise in practice. Like all businesses, things don’t always run smoothly. But while problems can and do occur, solutions are also available.

A Common Situation

A routine lawsuit funding application requires legal staff to compile paperwork and send it to the funding company for processing. In some instances, certain documents might not be available. This is not surprising because although a funding company requests the information, the firm simply may not need it yet.

lawsuit-funding-hassle — lawsuit-funding

One common example of this is a complete medical file. Many law offices wait to compile medical records until the client is done treating. In this way, the medical records are requested once, eliminating the need for multiple requests. This practice doesn’t negatively affect the case, since most personal injury cases are not settled until after plaintiff finishes treatment. Settlement value is impacted by an injury’s permanency (maximum medical improvement). If plaintiff is still treating, experts are unable to determine the injury’s severity and permanency.

Not having a full medical file can hinder a lawsuit funding underwriter‘s ability to estimate a potential settlement value. And since that value determines what amount of funding is offered to the client, not having the information sometimes results in a denial of the funding request.

Resulting Hassles

Handling desperate client calls is a difficult situation and always challenging. On the one hand, lawsuit funding should not hassle the law office. On the other hand, lawyers strive to be attentive to their clients’ needs. Each successful case is not only revenue for the firm, but the client becomes a potential referral source for future business.

Some people are just looking for a reason to complain. Not being able to provide information required for the funding process, even though the documents are not immediately necessary, is simply one reason for client dissatisfaction.

Solving the Hassle

Obviously, the idea is to remove lawsuit funding hassles from personal injury firms who want to spend as little time as possible on the process AND secure the best possible funding terms for their clients. There is a way to accomplish this, but it involves some up front leg work, a little bit of experience and a dash of faith.

The solution is to create a relationship with a reputable legal funding team who is intimately aware of the challenges facing plaintiff firms. Establishing a working relationship with a lawsuit lender is a symbiotic relationship. The firm refers their clients who need funding directly to a funding company. In return, the funder provides quick and efficient service, the best possible funding terms, and an understanding that if a case should not resolve as expected, compromises will be entertained in the interest of settlement. Transparency is how mutually beneficial relationships are built. It also allows attorneys to take the hassle out of the legal funding process.

At Fair Rate Funding, we want to be an asset to your firm. If you have any questions or seek any information regarding lawsuit loans in general, please contact us online or give us a call. We are here to help and are at your service.

Thank you for your interest in the lawsuit funding business and how attorneys can benefit from lawsuit funding.

Apply Now

May 29, 2015 by PMCESQ

Lawsuit settlement funding companies field hundreds of questions each day. One frequent question asked by plaintiffs is “Why do lawsuits take so long to finally a settlement?”

Of course, there may be many reasons. One major reason relates to the complexity of litigating a personal injury lawsuit. Indeed, both plaintiffs and defendants must jump through many “hoops” in order to prove or defend a lawsuit.

Lawyers attempt to represent the best interests of their clients and navigate the applicable laws and rules in order to protect them. They know what the procedures are and follow the rules to move things along as quickly as possible. Without attorneys, plaintiffs would be lost in a sea of rules and regulations, much of which they could not possibly understand without proper training.

Typically, lawyers meet with their clients, then communicate with the other side’s attorney. After investigation, the lawyer and client will decide what course of action to take – one of which is whether to file a formal complaint or to try to settle without going through the court system.

If the plaintiff decides to file a complaint, the fun has just begun. In most civil actions, such as personal injury cases, court rules call for the parties to exchange pertinent information about the case. This is the part of the lawsuit known as “discovery” and could take years to complete depending on the type of case, length of treatment, etc.

In some personal injury cases, a judge sets forth a schedule of deadlines. Each one represents an important step that must be followed. Most of the time, these dates are anywhere from 30 to 60 to 90 days apart. During the process, both parties answer written questions asked by the other side called interrogatories. They must be answered truthfully and by a deadline. After that, lawyers are allowed to talk to witnesses for the other side, but only with the other attorney present. These sessions are called depositions and they are often delayed due to the scheduling conflicts of attorneys, clients, and/or expert witnesses.

Sometimes lawyers disagree about different procedures they must follow. This can result in another delay because matter must be presented to a judge for a decision. In some jurisdictions, it could delay the proceedings several months just to present the specific issue to the court.

Once discovery is complete and as the trial date approaches, the parties attend a special meeting called a pre-trial conference. The purpose of this meeting is to map out a how things will proceed. Many final issues as to the admissibility of evidence for example, are decided at this time.

Afterwards, the trial ensues and will most likely take a least a week to decide. Then post trial motions are heard and depending on the circumstances, an appeal may be heard, since both parties have the right to appeal.

Even when all of these steps are concluded, there is a certain amount of time that must pass before plaintiffs receive their money. Sometimes the recovery is paid in a lump sum. Other times, it is structure to be paid in installments.

Lawsuit Settlement Funding Bridges the Gap

With all of the intricacies of litigating lawsuits, it is no wonder why settlements take more time than one would expect. One question naturally arises from this process: What are litigants to do if they encounter financial difficulties while the case progresses?

Plaintiffs often find other means of financial support. One such solution is lawsuit settlement funding.

Lawsuit settlement funding is a financial transaction where a plaintiff sells a portion of the future proceeds of his/her lawsuit in exchange for cash now. When the case is settled or otherwise successfully resolved, the lawsuit settlement funding is repaid to the funding company.

Lawsuit settlement funding should not be confused with a loan, although sometimes lawsuit settlement funding is referred to as “lawsuit loans” or “settlement loans”. The term “loan” implies that the money must be repaid at some point in the future.

Alternatively, the lawsuit cash advance (lawsuit settlement funding) is non-recourse, which means that if for ANY reason the lawsuit is not successful, the lawsuit settlement funding is not repaid.

Clearly, lawsuits can take time. When plaintiffs need lawsuit settlement funding to meet financial obligations, Fair Rate Funding is there to help. When you qualify for a settlement loan, we provide you with money. After the trial is over, or if the case settles during the litigation process, the money is repaid. There are absolutely no up front costs to pay and no restrictions on the money’s use.

Thank you for your interest in the lawsuit settlement funding business.

September 16, 2014 by PMCESQ

A victim of an accident at East Durham, New York at the Zoom Flume Water Park will focus on his recovery after he sustained severe injuries recently requiring multiple surgeries.

A local pastor was injured while riding a water slide. He was part of a local youth group visiting the attraction. The Department of Labor for New York State has not yet resolved the cause of the accident. It is believed the victim traveled at full speed down a water slide and into a pool that was not adequately filled with water.

The victim, when he eventually recovers, will undoubtedly consider filing a lawsuit against the water park company in order to gain some financial compensation for the cost of his injuries, lost time from work, medical costs and other damages.

Personal injury lawsuits can take time however, and the victim may soon find himself in financial trouble. When plaintiffs are unable to work, monthly and other expenses quickly exhaust a person’s financial reserves.

Unfortunately, defendants and insurance companies understand the financial strain that can result from a severe personal injury. In some cases, they will use this stress to their advantage by offering less than fair value as a final settlement. The hope is the victim will have no choice but to take the money or risk such hardships as losing a home or car. In many instances the tactic is successful.

Lawsuit funding seeks to level the financial playing field between personal injury plaintiffs and defendants (insurance companies). Lawsuit funding, also known as settlement funding, is when a company advances a portion of the settlement proceeds of a lawsuit before it settles. This way, plaintiffs are not forced to accept low ball settlement offers.

In return, plaintiffs pledge a portion of the settlement when the lawsuit is finally resolved. These “lawsuit loans” are non-recourse which means if the case is not successfully resolved, there is no repayment of the advance. As such, lawsuit funding is a risk free proposition for plaintiffs who are in need of immediate cash to suit their needs.

There are no credit checks with lawsuit funding, nor are there any upfront costs or fees. The money can be used at the client’s discretion without any restrictions whatsoever.

https://www.thedailymail.net/news/article_8b633b6a-300a-11e4-9a73-0019bb2963f4.html