The Problem:
Injured workers often have a waiting period to receive workers’ compensation benefits. This often causes a short-term cash crunch. The injured worker needs a loan. After the waiting period, there’s usually workers’ comp benefits coming in. Therefore, the workers’ comp claimant can pay back the loan, especially if the lender understands the nature of workers’ comp cases.
The Business
Workers’ comp benefit loan company. The injured worker gets an immediate loan on the future compensation benefits forthcoming. The loan gets paid back on a certain schedule, over time. You, the lender, can be relatively confident you will be paid back.
Doableness
This idea has been done a million times over. It’s a loan. Someone needs money in the immediate future. They will have their own source of funds in the future. In this case, they will have their own source of funds in the near future. That makes it similar to a payday loan.
It’s a case of taking the same thing and marketing it differently.
My Thoughts
Many of my recent ideas have been applying new marketing to an existing product. I’m not sure if that means my creativity is exceedingly high or exceedingly low.
I originally had the idea while working with my father’s law firm, to whom I’m still a non-legal-work-handling consultant. I didn’t utter the idea because lawyers and loans are a bad mix. A lot injury lawyers, in the past, loaned clients money based on future settlements, many charging for this in some way. That’s completely unethical.
My father’s firm employs a Maryland workers’ compensation lawyer. She and I put a lot of good workers’ comp content on the web. Somewhere in that process I had the idea. It’s been marinating in a folder in my email.