Atlanta, November 07, 2007 – Habersham Funding, LLC, an Atlanta-based firm that does business nationally, has been licensed as a viatical settlement provider in New York State. The company received notification of its licensure November 5.

Habersham, which was founded in 2001, provides the funds for life settlements and viatical settlements, which enable seniors who no longer want or need their life insurance to receive an advance cash payment for their policy. The viatical settlement option also is available to some people who are terminally ill.

“Actively participating in the regulatory process and diligently pursuing these licenses is a responsibility we take seriously,” says M. Bryan Freeman, a settlement industry pioneer who is founder and president of Habersham. “We know that, for all parties involved, dealing with reputable life settlement providers that understand the importance of complying with both the spirit and the letter of the law is critical to advancing consumers' rights to sell their life insurance policies.”

“The secondary market for life insurance has undergone a rapid evolution,” Freeman says. “This industry began 18 years ago as a niche service for people who faced serious illness. Today, the industry has come into its own; life settlements are now being embraced by insurance agents, attorneys, accountants and financial planners for everyone from people of modest means to high-net-worth individuals.”

“Having a secondary market for life insurance policies,” he says, “gives the policies liquidity similar to residential mortgages and stocks. And, with the senior population growing rapidly, this means we have an opportunity to work with them and their advisors in the tradable life policies market, currently worth billions of dollars per year – and growing.”

With its licensure in New York, Habersham Funding can now buy life settlement policies in all states and most US territories (including Washington, DC) with the exception of Alaska and Florida.

Georgia native M. Bryan Freeman, a licensed insurance agent for 28 years, is founder and president of Habersham Funding LLC, an Atlanta-based life settlement provider that does business nationally. He has helped people sell their life insurance for 18 years and completed four terms as president of the Life Insurance Settlement Association. He continues on the board of LISA as vice president of Government Relations. Freeman also is the founder of Life Settlement University, which helps newcomers and professionals master life settlements, and is a founding director of Private Bank of Buckhead. www.HabershamFunding.com www.LifeSettlementUniversity.com www.LifeSettlementForecast.com