To be honest, my initial impression was this this was some sort of scam. Just a bunch of lawyers flush with cash, going around trying to take more money out of your pocket if you win a lawsuit. Doesn’t it seem like attorneys get more money than the people who had been the victims?
I had to be careful not to let this natural distrust cloud my view of this service so I went out to do a little research. First, I wanted to know what exactly legal finance is and how is it best used. To give you a idea of what this is, let me tell you a story of what is currently happening to my brother (well at least until I told him about lawsuit loans).
My brother and his friend were recently in a car accident that was completely at the fault of the other driver. They got the police report saying this, and firefighters testimony who directly witnessed the accident and the confession of the other driver. My brother incurred some medical bills in the process, as well as his friend. Given the amount of information in his favor you’d think this was an open and close deal? WRONG!
The insurance company stopped all negotiations and pretty much said ’sue me’. My brother is now in a dilemma because he doesn’t have the money to pay an attorney to get this started and the insurance company knows it. So despite the fact that their customer is clearly at fault in the accident, they aren’t going to do anything. Who said that the insurance companies are “responsible”? Oh yeah, their tv commercials.
Anyway, by the insurance company drawing a line in the sand, they know that most people would stop there not having the money to afford obtaining justice. This is where legal finance and lawsuit loans come into play. Companies that provide this service will review your case to determine the likelihood of you winning and if it looks good, they will advance the funds needed to pay the prosecuting attorney as well as part of your projected winnings. So if you lost time at work, missed a few mortgage payments, or whatever, you can get some of that back ahead of time. Am I the only person that knows people that got hurt, couldn’t work, couldn’t pay their home loan and lost their house because of insurance companies dragging their feet?
The best part of it is that if for some strange reason, they review your case, see that it should be a winner and you subsequently lose, you don’t owe them the money that they advanced you. It is completely forgiven! It that regard it really isn’t a loan at all and you don’t make any payments.
Now you are probably wondering how they get paid and I would say, good question. They are not philanthropists in doing this and they do make good money from taking a portion of the proceeds of the lawsuit. It could be as high as 15% of that amount! That on top of your attorney taking the customary 33% adds up to over half of the money you win!
Before you go ape about this, consider what you would have received otherwise. . .ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I had a car accident 8 years ago where the other driver was determined 90% at fault. Their insurance company squeezed and I couldn’t do anything because I didn’t have the money to take the case further. They fixed my car paid some of my hospital bills but in the end it cost me money and time that I was never able to recover. I wish this was available then!
The moral of the story is now that this services are becoming more prominent, you don’t have to get bullied my the insurance companies anymore. Oh yeah, my brother now owes me a fishing trip for telling him about this!
Tags: lawsuit loans, legal finance, cash advance, loan, insurance