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Government Actions

Summary Judgment Order

The following describes a government action that has been resolved by either a settlement or a decision by a court or administrative agency. If the matter is being appealed, it will be noted below.

Newark, June 222, 2022 - Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI) Commissioner Marlene Caride today announced that the State has obtained a judgment totaling more than $1.9 million against a New Jersey family that defrauded financially struggling homeowners through the sale of sham mortgage adjustment services that provided no meaningful debt relief to homeowners and often made their precarious financial situations even worse.

A lawsuit filed in December 2020 by the Office of the Attorney General, DOBI, and the Division of Consumer Affairs (collectively “the State”) alleged that husband and wife Neal J. Vanderpoel II and Eileen P. Vanderpoel of Medford, and their sons Ryan Vanderpoel of Medford, and Neal J. Vanderpoel IV, of Magnolia, Camden County advertised, offered for sale, and sold worthless loan modification and other debt adjustment services to New Jersey consumers through a web of corporate entities. The corporate entities include Financial Services For America; Financial Processing Services, LLC; Tri-State Financial Relief, LLC; and Mortgage Help and Loan Audits of America, LLC, which are named as Defendants.

The suit, filed in Superior Court in Burlington County, alleged that beginning in 2013 the Defendants defrauded thousands of consumers seeking to prevent their homes from going into foreclosure by conduct that included falsely advertising and selling worthless and unlawful mortgage loan modifications and providing false hope of guaranteed loan modifications.

Burlington County Superior Court Judge Paula T. Dow granted in part the State’s motion for summary judgment on June 28, 2022 and found that the Defendants committed multiple violations of New Jersey’s consumer protection laws and regulations, including charging excessive fees to at least 1,883 consumers, and had collected more than $4.6 million in improper fees since early 2015.

The summary judgment order directs Defendants to pay $1.88 million in statutory civil penalties, as well as to disgorge all funds and property acquired or retained as a result of the scheme, and to pay restitution to consumers harmed by Defendants’ wrongful conduct.  The order also grants the State’s request for appointment of a receiver at Defendants’ expense to assume full control over Defendants’ accounts, render a full accounting, and make restitution. Additionally, the order discharges to the State the full amount of Financial Services of America’s bond under the Debt Act ($48,000), and $50,033 held in two banks accounts belonging to Financial Services of America, as partial payment of monetary relief, and requires Defendants to pay the State’s attorney fees and investigative costs in an amount to be determined at a later date.

The summary judgment order also permanently shuts down the sham companies operated by the Vanderpoels and permanently bars the family from performing any services involving loan modification, debt adjustment, and mortgage compliance in New Jersey.