Viatical Settlement Companies: What To Know (& How To Choose One).

Cancer is a serious illness that is physically exhausting, emotionally draining, and financially debilitating, thanks to the medical expenses associated with treatment. For seniors and individuals of all ages, getting through cancer is truly a battle.

Viatical settlement companies can help life insurance policyholders with the financial aspects of this experience. Essentially, viatical companies and life settlement providers purchase life insurance policies for individuals with life-threatening illnesses for a fair price. They give you a lump-sum settlement, typically in the form of cash payment, in exchange for your life insurance policy. Working with viatical settlement providers or viatical settlement brokers to sell a life insurance policy offers a long list of benefits and aids insurance policyholders in several ways.

One of the top reasons cancer patients turn to life settlement brokers and buyers is because they need a substantial amount of immediate cash to cover the costs that are associated with cancer in a short amount of time.

Viatical settlement companies are one of the few resources within the life settlement industry that put a large amount of interest-free cash into viators’ accounts, freeing them of premium payments to life insurers. Getting money from your life settlement instead waiting for a life insurance policy payout can help you cover medical bills now in order to give you the financial stability you need.

Once the transfer of the policy is complete, the viatical company becomes the policyowner, thus paying its premiums. Once the insured passes on, the viatical settlement companies or investors are then entitled to the net death benefit.

Another advantage of third-party viaticals is that you can use the payment however you want.

Instead of paying future premiums to a life insurance company, sellers can use the funds from the life settlement company to cover medical bills, pursue alternative treatment, get caught up on bills around the house, pay off a home, or take care of a variety of other expenses. A viatical settlement is a great option for people that need immediate access to money but don’t want to go through the process of a reverse mortgage or relying on their retirement fund or another type of investment in order to cover medical transactions and other costs.

Many people opt to use life settlements to facilitate spending more time with their families. The cash value of a life settlement should be spent on activities with loved ones. The money from a settlement can allow the policyholder to take time off work or retire early if they are still working.

Perhaps they want to move to where you have family members. Or, if a family member is taking care of them, they can use the funds that would have otherwise been spent on premium payments to allow the family member to time off work or retire early, whichever is in their best interest. In other situations, many people choose to take a family vacation or to simply spend some quality time together without worrying about insurance premiums or other money-related concerns.

Just thinking about your life expectancy and the phrase “death benefit” can be exhausting, even if you have an existing life insurance policy. Cancer patients reap the benefit of reduced stress by working with a life settlement provider.

That can be essential for healing but also just for feeling more mentally calm and relaxed. Being ill is stressful, and as the bills pile up, the stress builds even more. While money can’t solve everything, it can help to lessen the financial side of the stress for the insured.

A viatical broker can thus give you the peace of mind you need to move forward as an ill person with the knowledge that a lump-sum payment covers any medical advances necessary to your treatment and other transaction costs. For older people or those living with a severe diagnosis and abbreviated life expectancy, that solace can be particularly crucial to making the most of your life.

Call to speak with one of our counselors about your financial options and the list of necessary qualifications today – your consultation is 100% FREE.

Many people have never heard the phrase viatical settlements within the insurance industry. When they first hear about the life insurance settlement industry, they think that these purchaser companies and their services will be confusing and hard to understand. They aren’t sure how much money they will receive through the payout, they don’t know about eligibility requirements, and they aren’t sure how to determine the policy’s value and what the best price to sell it for.

Luckily, life settlement companies are extremely easy to work with and make the whole life policy selling process fairly simple. They guide you through the life settlement process, collecting any medical records, death benefit information, or additional paperwork needed.

Additionally, they help you determine if the viatical settlement transaction is in your best interest, provide high net quotes quickly, and get you the best offer for your settlement as fast as possible. For example, suppose the seller’s life expectancy is many years from now. In that case, they may suggest waiting to go through the life settlement process until the policy seller truly needs a life settlement transaction.

Because of insurance laws, there are also tax benefits of working with settlement companies and brokers. Unfortunately, in many cases, when an owner of a life insurance policy cashes out the life policy using other options, they usually face tax consequences such as paying income tax or estate tax on the income. These tax consequences are the same faced by institutional investors in the stock market all across the United States, and cut into the proceeds and decrease the amount of money you have available to you.

In contrast, with a life settlement, the entire settlement is tax-free, meaning you owe no additional funds to any financial institution or financial professionals. The Supreme Court determined that an insured person is well within their rights to sell their insurance on the secondary market. In fact, the secondary market and life settlement process are highly regulated, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners reports very few complaints about the life settlement market from consumers.

In the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic in New York and around the globe sparked the true birth of life settlement company popularity. State laws in some of the following states of Minnesota and North Carolina, among thirty-one others, have mandated waiting periods before the life settlement process can even begin, further showing the due diligence helping regulate life settlement companies.

If you’re looking at different viatical settlement companies and trying to find a viatical company to work with, American Life Fund is here to help. We strive to make the settlement process as easy as possible for our clients, and our advisors will guide you through the life settlement process every step of the way. Get started by seeing if you qualify, or call us today at 877-421-0148.

For more information, see our blog on viatical settlement taxation