Lee Berman Talks Viatical Settlements with Julie Moran on The Balancing Act®

Lee Berman on The Balancing Act® airing on Lifetime Television®
explains what viatical settlements are.

Lee Berman made a guest appearance on The Balancing Act® airing on Lifetime Television® where he sat down with show host Julie Moran to go over some information about viatical settlements. Berman is the Director of Marketing and Vice President of Policy Services at Asset Funding Corporation and he answered some questions about viatical settlements. In case you missed it, check out this recap:

Why are so many people in the population not prepared and/or not equipped to handle the financial burdens that accompany life threatening illnesses?

I think that there are two reasons for that, number one is that no one can really be prepared and can expect to be diagnosed with something like cancer, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, so there’s no way to prepare for that financially. The second thing is I think people just don’t realize when you have this type of diagnosis and you’re going through treatment, financially, you’re not going to be in the same place as you were before. For many people they have to miss significant time from work, the income doesn’t come in anymore, but they still are required to make their house payment, their car payment, put food on the table.

What are viatical settlements?

A viatical settlement is basically the sale of an existing life insurance policy from the policy owner to a third party for cash. Every case payout is less than the death benefit but more than the cash surrendered value of the policy.

What is Asset Funding Corp. doing to make viatical settlements a viable option for those with life insurance policies who are dealing with life threatening illnesses?

For over ten years, we have been working with people who’ve been either diagnosed with this type of illness, or their family members, caregivers, or their financial advisers to make a viatical settlement an option for them. And what we do is either directly or through our website, we provide the tools to do an evaluation of the policy, look at things like their premiums, the history, rules of the policies, as well as their medical conditions. By gathering all this information, we can give them options, we can educate them about the options in their policy, they might have options they’re not aware of, and one of those options very well could be that Asset Funding Corporation can make them an offer to actually buy the policy from them and get them that much needed cash.

Do all life insurance policy holders qualify? How does that work?

In order to qualify for a viatical settlement, you do have to be diagnosed with one of these illnesses we’re talking about, like cancer, Lou Gehrig’s, something fatal, heart disease, AIDS. A perfectly healthy person in their 40s or 50s would not qualify.

What should be the primary reasons for considering this type of option?

For most people in this situation, the financial stress that they are going through is the most important thing and what we strive to do is get them the cash they need to relieve that financial stress, put the cash in their pockets to help them pay for, again, all these day to day expenses that they’re dealing with.

Are there common misconceptions regarding this financial tool?

Yes, there are a number of misconceptions in what we do. The first is that most people think that you have to have been given a terminal diagnosis in order to qualify and that’s just not true. You can have a longer life expectancy than less than one or two years to qualify for a viatical settlement. The second is that most people think you need a permanent or whole life insurance policy in order to sell a policy; in fact, the majority of the policies we buy are term policies or group policies, a group policy being one through your job.

As the use of viatical settlements has increased over time, how has the approach evolved?

Well the viatical settlement industry really started in the late 70s and early 80s when the HIV and the AIDS epidemic started in our country. And at the time, people were looking for additional money to pay for treatments that weren’t covered by their health insurance. And selling a life insurance policy became a good option for them but over the years, the industry has expanded into illnesses such as cancer or heart disease and kidney failure.

What advice would you give people who are considering this?

The most important thing is to get educated, not only on your current financial situation and the assets you might have, but also what your options are. What we offer at Asset Funding Corporation is a complete evaluation of the life insurance policy to let them know what all of their options are with the policy, including if they have the option to sell the policy. And at that point, they can make an educated decision and do what’s in their best interest and the best interest of their family.

If you would like to learn more about viatical settlements, please call 800-542-9513 for more information.