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Wilbanks & Associates, Inc. is the brainchild of Scott Wilbanks. Scott was the industry's first marketing representative working for two established viatical settlement companies. In fact, it was Scott's client that was first interviewed on PrimeTime regarding viatical settlements. Unsatisfied with the services individuals received seeking a viatical settlement and not having a trusted intermediary representing their interests, Scott created the first viatical settlement brokerage house designed exclusively to represent the individual seeking a settlement – to insure that their settlement was fair, and to guide them to other professional sources that could be beneficial at this particularly sensitive time.
Wilbanks & Associates collects and verifies specific information on its client's life insurance policy as well as their medical records. It is this information that viatical settlement companies use to determine whether or not they wish to viaticate – or "purchase" – an individual's policy.
With over 12 years of direct experience, Wilbanks & Associates applies this knowledge to modify and refine the life insurance policy, making it most attractive to the industry. Armed with this information, we perform an industry search among the many viatical settlement companies searching for that "needle in the haystack" – a settlement that maximizes the return for their client.
Industry Origins
The Viatical Settlement industry got its start in late 1988 as a result of the AIDS pandemic. Interestingly, three separate companies claimed to have originated the concept of viatication: Living Benefits, American Life Resources and Affirmative Lifestyles. While their mission statements were developed from differing motivational factors, they had one thing in common: each organization understood that people who have been diagnosed with a catastrophic illness are burdened with a host of unexpected expenses that increase stress at the time when the individual should be reducing it.
They conceived a financial tool that relieves the financial burden from the individual diagnosed with a catastrophic illness by finding a new use for an old-product-life insurance. Simply put, these companies would "purchase" life insurance owned by people with catastrophic illnesses for an amount that they perceived to be equal to the face value of the life insurance policy discounted to today's dollars.
In 1988, approximately $2 million exchanged hands through this new market. The following year, that amount increased to approximately $35 million. Within five years, there were over 50 companies operating in this industry, with over one $1 billion exchanging hands annually.
In short order, regulations, guidelines and laws were established to dictate how viatical settlement transactions took place and to create general protective devices for individuals who wished to explore this transaction.
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