In Matter of Settlement Funding of N.Y. (195 Misc. 2d 721), petitioner Settlement L.L.C. sought to transfer a portion of Mr. Cunningham's structured settlement worth $ 151,701.75 at a discounted rate of $ 75,000. In denying the application, the court stated: "The effective interest rate of the advance, if it is treated as a loan, is 15.46%. That interest rate is more than two and a half times the current low mortgage interest rate of 4.8% on a 20-year mortgage and approximates the interest rates on unsecured loans and credit card debt . . . Settlement L.L.C. attempts to justify the 15.46% interest rate by declaring that it is entitled to determine the rate at which it will lend money, its interest rate on this transaction falls within the range of what is presently being charged in the 'market' for structured settlement transfers, and Cunningham deems the interest rate acceptable. Assuming for the purposes of the argument that all three points are true, none of them is relevant to the question of whether 15.46% is 'fair and reasonable.' " The court continued (at 724): "The SSPA clearly reflects the Legislature's dissatisfaction with the structured settlement transfer market rates, and its conclusion that payees cannot protect their best interest and thus require judicial supervision. Settlement L.L.C.'s assurance that 15.46% is lower than the interest rates prior to the SSPA's enactment does not logically compel a finding that the market rates have already dropped to the level of 'fair and reasonable.' Finally, the payee's willingness has no bearing on the courts' determination of whether the rate is 'fair and reasonable.' "Settlement L.L.C. has not demonstrated that these loans are, in practice, riskier than other types of secured loans. Settlement L.L.C. gives no concrete basis for expecting to be embroiled in future litigation with Cunningham, his creditors, and/or the bankruptcy court. Settlement L.L.C. makes no specific complaint about the solvency of the structured settlement obligor, Safeco Assigned Benefits Service Company and Safeco Life Insurance Company. While insurance companies have defaulted, Settlement L.L.C.'s general observations regarding potential risks are simply too speculative to justify its demand for 15.46% interest. Indeed, if structured settlements actually are as risky as Settlement L.L.C. suggests, then the courts should immediately stop approving them in the first place. The petitioners have failed to show that 15.46% is a 'fair and reasonable' interest rate." One of only two published decisions issued since the enactment of the SSPA in New York State, both of which were decided in Rensselaer County, the court rejected a proposed transfer as not being in the payee's "best interest" because he was "not in such desperate straits." In so doing, the court stated the following with respect to the "best interest" standard, as applied in an earlier, unreported decision (at 725): "The court recently approved a transfer with an unreasonably high interest rate based solely on the payee's 'best interest.' In that case, the payee desperately needed cash to obtain life sustaining medical treatment for a loved one and had no other legitimate means of raising the money. The court concluded that in the face of a 'life and death emergency' the payee's best interest could outweigh the fact that the transfer terms were not fair or reasonable."