New Hope loan modification company settles with New Jersey

The New Jersey Attorney General's office announced a now-closed loan modification company that took homeowners' cash without providing services will pay a $11.45 million judgment to settle civil charges with the state.

Using a website, New Hope Property LLC, of Bellmawr, N.J., promised consumers help with mortgage foreclosures and took upfront fees from about 2,000 people nationwide, New Jersey state AG spokesman Lee Moore said. In all, the company raked in about $4.5 million.

New Jersey filed suit in March 2009, charging New Hope with breaking the consumer fraud act, state advertising rules and the debt adjustment and credit counseling act. The lawsuit said New Hope didn't refund clients who asked for their money back after getting no help.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is working on liquidating the company's assets and any restitution to consumers will come from those funds, Moore told Consumer Ally.