How can a structured settlement buyer find more sellers?

Structured settlement purchasing is a small, heavily regulated market with an unusual marketing problem: the buyer cannot find its customers. Payees are injury victims who receive periodic payments, there is no public list of them, and every purchase must survive a court hearing on whether the sale is in the seller’s best interest. This page covers where sellers come from, what a deal is worth, and the rules that decide whether a lead becomes a funded transfer.

They search, they remember a TV ad, or they come back to a buyer they used before. There is no fourth channel of any size. J.G. Wentworth, which described itself in its 2014 annual report as the largest U.S. purchaser of structured settlement payments, told investors there are “no readily available lists of holders of structured settlements”, which is why brand awareness was critical to its marketing¹⁰.

Public search demand is small. In the Strive analysis of Google Keyword Planner data from September 2025 to August 2026, the category has only 38 distinct terms nationally¹. The broad term “structured settlement” sits in the 1,000 to 10,000 monthly range. The terms with clear selling intent, such as “sell structured settlement”, “selling structured settlement” and “cash for structured settlement”, each sit in the 100 to 1,000 range¹. State-level demand was too thin for any state report to be published¹.

What the data lacks in volume it makes up in price:

Source: Strive analysis of Google Keyword Planner data¹. These are Google’s bid estimates for a click, not cost per lead. The median across all 38 terms is $17.39, pulled down by annuity research terms that rarely signal a sale¹.

Buyers earn the difference between what they pay the seller and what the payment stream is worth when they finance or sell it. J.G. Wentworth described funding purchases through warehouse lines and then securitizing them, and its 2014 securitizations priced at discount rates between 3.86% and 4.24%¹⁰. That spread, minus costs, pays for marketing.

Worked example: one transfer, two ways

Illustrative inputs, not sourced benchmarks, except the tax rate.

• Seller’s remaining payments: $1,000 a month for 120 months = $120,000 undiscounted
• Lump sum the buyer pays: $70,000
• Buyer’s funding cost: 5% a year

The seller’s side. $70,000 today for $120,000 over ten years works out to an effective annual rate of about 12.6%. Florida would require that rate to be disclosed in plain words before the seller signs⁷.

The buyer’s side. Discounted at 5%, the stream is worth about $94,300 to the buyer’s financing source. Gross spread: $94,300 minus $70,000 = about $24,300, before court costs, legal fees, servicing and overhead. Assume $4,000 in deal costs, leaving about $20,300.

Without court approval. The factoring discount is $120,000 minus $70,000 = $50,000. If the transfer lacks a qualified order, federal law imposes a tax of 40% of that discount, or $20,000, on the buyer². That wipes out the profit. Court approval is not paperwork; it is the business model.

Lead value. If 1 in 12 inquiries becomes an approved, funded transfer (illustrative), each inquiry is worth about $20,300 ÷ 12 = about $1,690 in contribution before marketing. That is why bid estimates on selling terms top $300 a click¹: at the $331 estimate and a 10% click-to-call rate, an inquiry costs about $3,300 and is still a loss, while at 20% it costs about $1,650 and roughly breaks even. Your own close rate and court approval rate decide whether paid search works at all.

Sellers often come back. J.G. Wentworth noted that a seller typically does not sell the entire settlement in one transaction¹⁰. A past seller with remaining payments is the cheapest lead you have, but courts look at that history too: Florida requires the application to summarize the seller’s past transfers to the same buyer or its affiliates (four years back) and that buyer’s denied applications for the seller (two years back), plus other buyers’ deals the buyer knows about over shorter windows⁷.

Ranked for a small or mid-size buyer that cannot outspend the national brands on TV.

Search, paid and organic

Paid search is the one place a seller announces intent. Split campaigns by intent: selling terms, “cash now” terms, and annuity terms. Bid on the first two. Treat broad annuity research terms (“single premium immediate annuity”, “annuity payments”) as content opportunities, since their bid estimates are under $9 for a reason¹.

Organic search is a fair fight here because the term list is short. A plain-English guide to the court process in each state where you buy, a calculator that shows the effective rate (as Florida requires buyers to disclose anyway⁷), and an honest page on when not to sell will rank for the few terms that exist and build the trust a court hearing needs.

Google’s personalized advertising policy lists “Negative financial status” among sensitive interest categories with targeting restrictions¹². Do not build audiences around financial distress. Structured settlement purchasing is also not a Local Services Ads category¹³.

Television and direct response

Television built this industry. J.G. Wentworth reported investing about $689.5 million in marketing from 1995 through 2014, cited Kantar Media data that its two brands accounted for about 80% of TV spend by major industry participants since 2008, and said it was heavily dependent on television and internet advertising¹⁰. It spent $68.5 million on advertising in 2014¹⁰ and $43.8 million in 2017, and filed a prepackaged Chapter 11 case in December 2017¹¹. The lesson for a smaller buyer: TV only works with years of spend behind it, and it did not protect the largest spender from a restructuring.

Purchased leads

Buying leads can fill a pipeline, but check three things first. The consent must cover calls from your company (see the TCPA guide linked below). The lead must not be sold to five other buyers at once. And the seller must not have been told anything about your rates that your disclosures will contradict.

Professional referrals

Personal injury attorneys, financial advisors and annuity agents meet payees. Be careful with any payment. In its case against Access Funding, the CFPB alleged that a Maryland attorney acted as the “independent” adviser for almost all of the company’s Maryland deals while being paid by the company⁹. The 2021 and 2022 settlement orders bar the company and its principals from referring consumers to a specific individual or for-profit entity for advice on a structured settlement transfer⁸.

This is not legal advice. Talk to a consumer finance attorney in each state where you buy.

Court approval under state protection acts

The CFPB counted 49 states with structured settlement protection laws requiring court approval as of 2016⁹. Texas Chapter 141 is a typical example:

• A transfer is not effective unless approved in advance by a final court order finding it is in the seller’s best interest, taking into account the welfare and support of dependents⁴.
• The seller must have been advised in writing to seek independent professional advice, and must have either received it or knowingly waived it in writing⁴.
• The buyer files the application and must serve notice at least 20 days before the hearing, with the transfer agreement, the disclosure statement and a list of the seller’s dependents⁵.
• The seller can ask to redact identifying information from public filings⁵.
• The seller cannot waive the chapter, and cannot be penalized or forfeit any fee if the transfer fails its conditions⁶.

Some states go further on advice. The CFPB noted that many states, including Maryland, require that a consumer actually consult an independent professional adviser before the court will approve a sale⁹.

Disclosure of the discount

Texas requires a separate disclosure in at least 14-point bold type at least three days before signing. It must show the payments being sold, their total, the discounted present value using the federal applicable rate, the gross and net advance, itemized expenses, any penalties, and the seller’s right to cancel within three business days³.

Florida is stricter. The disclosure must reach the seller at least 10 days before they incur any obligation, show the discount rate used, itemize every commission and fee including referral fees, and state the effective annual interest rate the seller is in effect paying. The court must also find the net amount “fair, just, and reasonable”⁷. Florida defines independent professional advice as advice from an attorney, CPA, actuary or other licensed adviser who is not affiliated with or compensated by the buyer⁷.

The federal excise tax

Section 5891 of the Internal Revenue Code taxes anyone who acquires structured settlement payment rights at 40% of the factoring discount, unless the transfer was approved in advance in a qualified order². A qualified order must find the transfer does not violate any statute or court order and is in the payee’s best interest, and must come from a state court under an applicable state statute, or from the administrative authority with exclusive jurisdiction over the original claim².

CFPB enforcement history

The Access Funding case is the clearest warning for this industry. The CFPB alleged that the company targeted lead-paint poisoning victims, many with cognitive impairments, and did about 70% of its transfers in Maryland, that its lump sums typically represented only about 30% of the present value of the payments, and that it told sellers who took cash advances they were obligated to complete the sale⁹. The case ended with stipulated judgments in 2021 and a consent order in 2022, including a permanent industry ban for the attorney⁸. J.G. Wentworth also disclosed receiving Civil Investigative Demands from the CFPB in 2014¹⁰.

No public source gives a reliable seasonal curve for this market, and the keyword data here is annual. Pull your own: inquiries and funded deals by month for at least two years. Many operators find that demand follows sellers’ life events (a home purchase, a car, medical bills, debt) rather than the calendar, which is one more reason to keep past sellers informed.

• Treating court approval as a formality. Without a qualified order, the 40% excise tax can erase the deal².
• Steering sellers to a friendly adviser. That was the core of the CFPB’s case⁸⁹.
• Calling an advance binding. Texas bars penalties when a transfer fails⁶, and the CFPB sued over that representation⁹.
• Hiding the effective rate. Florida already requires it⁷, and courts approve deals that look fair on paper.
• Targeting financial distress in ads. Google restricts targeting on negative financial status¹², and courts weigh the seller’s welfare⁴.
• Buying leads without checking consent. One bad vendor can create TCPA exposure on every call.
• Spending like a national brand. The largest TV advertiser still restructured¹¹.

• Sellers cannot be found on a list; they come from search, brand and repeat business.
• Selling terms are rare and carry top-of-page bid estimates around $300, so measure cost per funded transfer, not per lead.
• Every deal needs a court order under a state protection act, or the buyer faces a 40% excise tax on the discount.
• Disclose the effective rate, keep advance terms non-binding, and never steer sellers to a paid adviser.
• The CFPB’s Access Funding case is the template for what regulators look for.