A joint NSSTA and NCL podcast points to Maryland, where reform cut predatory factoring transactions by more than 99 percent in one year.
WASHINGTON, June 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Following HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment on the structured settlement factoring industry, the National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA) and the National Consumers League (NCL) today pointed to a joint podcast conversation calling on state attorneys general and legislators to adopt the consumer protection model that reduced predatory settlement factoring transactions in Maryland by more than 99 percent.
The structured settlement is a court-approved arrangement that provides long-term, tax-free periodic payments to people who have suffered serious injury or the loss of a family member. Factoring is a separate, secondary industry in which companies purchase the future payment rights of those recipients at a steep discount. NSSTA and NCL have worked together on protecting settlement recipients from factoring abuses for more than a decade.
A model that works
Under reforms championed by then-Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, the state required factoring petitions to be heard in the recipient’s home court, mandated specific judicial questioning about the recipient’s financial circumstances and prior transactions, and tightened review standards. In the year before those guardrails took effect, Maryland courts approved approximately 1,800 factoring transactions. In the year after, that number fell to six.
“If you put the proper restrictions and protections in place, people with a structured settlement — who often do not understand these financial transactions — will not give away all their future payments for pennies. That is what Maryland accomplished, and it can be done in every state.”
— Sally Greenberg, CEO of The National Consumers League
The protections recipients still need
In the joint conversation, NSSTA Executive Director Eric Vaughn and NCL CEO Sally Greenberg outline a state-level reform agenda built on protections that have already been tested in court and codified in law. The agenda includes mandatory local venue for factoring petitions, a defined set of judicial questions covering prior transactions and household financial circumstances, restrictions on aggressive solicitation, and protections for the personal information of young recipients whose court records are routinely scraped by factoring companies the moment they turn eighteen. Similar protections are now being advanced in Ohio, Oregon, and California.
“Structured settlements are designed to protect people through the most difficult chapter of their lives. The guardrails we are calling for do not change that arrangement. They make sure that if a recipient is approached to sell those payments, the court that hears the petition is the one closest to the recipient, the judge has the information needed to ask the right questions, and the recipient has the time and the independent advice to make a real decision.”
— Eric Vaughn, Executive Director, National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA)
A long partnership on consumer protection
NSSTA and NCL have collaborated for more than a decade on state-level structured settlement protection acts, judicial education, and public awareness. The two organizations worked together on the Maryland reforms and have since supported similar protections in Virginia, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
Listen to the conversation
The full episode, published May 29, 2026, is available now on NSSTA’s YouTube Channel. Listen to the full episode.
About NSSTA
The National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA), founded in 1985, represents approximately 1,200 structured settlement professionals dedicated to long-term financial security for people who have suffered serious injury or the loss of a family member. Members operate under a published Code of Ethics. NSSTA does not refer cases or recommend individual consultants; the public can search the member directory at nssta.com/member-search.
About the National Consumers League
The National Consumers League (NCL) is America’s oldest consumer advocacy organization, dedicated to protecting and promoting social and economic justice for consumers and workers since 1899. Headquartered in Washington, DC, NCL provides government, businesses, and other organizations with the consumer’s perspective on key issues, including financial, data privacy, food safety, health, and medication information.
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