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There are some key things to look for to help ensure that you get a good deal on your pre-settlement legal funding. The first is to look for a company like High Rise Financial that is a member of the Alliance for Responsible Consumer Legal Funding (ARC). This is an industry group dedicated to helping preserve pre-settlement legal funding as a financial option for personal injury plaintiffs who are struggling financially while their case proceeds.
ARC promotes regulations and business practices that help plaintiffs like you make informed decisions, by providing a transparent and safe process.
Best Practices
Some of the best practices to achieve a transparent and safe pre-settlement legal funding process include:
- A detailed written contract that explains the amount of funding, our fees, and how you pay us back
- Non-recourse funding only (In other words, you don’t have to pay us back if you lose your case.)
- The plaintiff always controls the litigation of their claim
- The recommendation that you seek legal counsel before signing a pre-settlement legal funding agreement
- Not intentionally overfunding a plaintiff
- No false advertising
- No payment of commissions or referral fees to lawyers for referring plaintiffs
In addition to looking for pre-settlement funding companies that require all of this, you should also look for financial agreement terms that are favorable to you. That includes:
- NO fee to apply
- NO credit check
- NO monthly payments on your legal funding amount
- NO interest
- NO hidden fees
What to Avoid
While it’s good to know what to look for in pre-settlement funding, it’s just as important to know what to avoid. Here are two red flags in particular:
No Lawyer? No Problem
Any company offering a lawsuit loan or litigation funding should not tell you that you don’t need a lawyer. Personal injury cases can be extremely complicated, so you should definitely have a lawyer to help you navigate the system and negotiate with the insurance companies.
And if you don’t have a lawyer review your financial agreement, you may be signing away more than you bargained for. At High Rise Financial, we only fund personal injury plaintiffs who are represented by a lawyer. Your lawyer will review our agreement, and if they don’t think it’s a good deal, they can advise you not to sign it.
Shady companies have no such requirement.
Interest
You want to avoid any legal funding agreement that charges interest on the amount you owe. This is most common with lawsuit loans, which have all of the trappings of a loan, including compound interest.
These interest rates can be very high, (as much as 40%). And if your case takes a long time to settle or go to court, you could end up owing more than twice the amount you borrowed.
To apply for free, call (877) 735-0016
Your Pre-Settlement Legal Funding Amount
Our goal is two-fold: to provide you with enough pre-settlement legal funding to meet your expenses until your case settles, but not to provide you with so much that you have to pay out nearly all of your eventual settlement to us and your legal team. We want to ensure that you have money left to take care of yourself and your family.
That is why, if you are approved for legal funding, it will only be a portion of your predicted settlement. We will give you enough to help cover your immediate expenses.
Factors We Consider in Deciding Your Funding Amount
When you apply, we contact your lawyer to gather most if not all of this information. This is because they should have all the necessary documents to back up your claim. Factors we consider include:
- How and where your accident happened
- How severely you were injured
- Whether you will make a full recovery or are permanently disabled
- Who you are suing (whether it’s an individual, corporation, or government entity)
- Your current and future medical bills
- Any current or future lost wages
- If you are the main breadwinner for your family
- If you are suing for punitive damages
- If it’s a wrongful death suit
Our underwriters take all of this information and run the numbers through an industry calculator. They also compare your case to similar cases in your state and examine the settlements or awards in those cases. Then, they come up with a predicted settlement or award and tell us how much of a portion we can offer you.
Then, we come up with a written offer for you and your lawyer to review and sign. The offer will spell out the amount of funding you will receive, plus our one-time, flat-rate fee that you have to repay us the full amount when you win your case. It will also include a clause stating that if you lose your case, you don’t have to pay us back.
You are under no obligation to sign the agreement. But if you and your lawyer do sign, we can have your funds to you within 24-48 hours.
Apply Today for Pre-Settlement Legal Funding
When you apply for pre-settlement legal funding with High Rise Financial, you’ll be happy to know that there is no application fee. In most cases, our turnaround time for approval is within one hour, so you’ll know right away if you’ve been approved.
To get started, fill out the form on the Apply Now page, and our team will be in touch shortly. If you have questions, please call our office at (866) 407-6404. While we’re based out of Los Angeles, we work with personal injury plaintiffs from all around the country.
Call or text (877) 735-0016 or fill out our form to apply today for free.
