Encore Life reads like a buyer. The pages talk about getting cash for a policy, a free valuation, and a customer advocate assigned to each case. The footer says something different.

The footer, like many life settlement company websites, clearly states it’s a life settlement marketing company. It refers qualified policy owners to a licensed provider. It is neither a provider nor a broker, and no offer is guaranteed.

So the pitch has a hole in it. Encore markets itself as going through fewer intermediaries so that more of the money reaches the seller, and Encore is an intermediary. The policy still ends up with a licensed provider; Encore sits in between, and referrals in this industry are compensated. The claim describes removing a middleman while adding one.

None of that makes Encore a bad place to start. The disclosure is right there for anyone who reads it, which is more than several companies on this list manage. The company answering the phone is not the company making the offer, and nobody in that arrangement represents the seller.

Windsor is a licensed broker and a fiduciary to the policyowner, which is an entirely different arrangement.