When you’re injured, you’re likely to lose time from work and a steady income. You’ll find, especially as your case progresses, that there are plenty of lenders willing to "finance" your lifestyle, for a "share" of your settlement award.

These lenders offer to pay you a lump sum award now, for payment, plus interest, when your case settles. These are tempting propositions to clients, especially those without incomes, because there’s a significant and immediate influx in income to handle household bills. Moreover, many of these loans also carry the added bonus of the "you payback only if you win" mantra.

The problem is, the loans come with extremely high interest rates (similar to payday loans), which often end up costing the as much, or more, as the original note if the lawsuit continues for awhile.

You should seriously think before you receive one of these loans. Does that mean that you shouldn’t ever take out one of these loans? No. Your attorney should be able to give you an assessment of the value of the loan based on your case. Moreover, sometimes your family/life situation requires some money to survive.