News Release

New Jersey Department of
Banking and Insurance

Acting Commissioner Richard J. Badolato

For Immediate Release:
August 4, 2015

For Further Information:
Ed Rogan or Marshall McKnight (609) 292-5064

TRENTON - Department of Banking and Insurance Acting Commissioner Richard J. Badolato today announced that the Department recovered more than $15.7 million for consumers in Fiscal Year 2015, which ended June 30. 

“The Department’s mission is to protect consumers and promote the growth and stability of our regulated industries and we take both parts of that mission very seriously,” said Commissioner Badolato. “On the one hand, we work closely with our regulated industries to lessen regulatory burden and cut red tape, but if our insurance companies or banks violate State laws and harm consumers, we hold them accountable and do everything in our power to make consumers whole.”

The Department recovered $15.02 million from insurance companies and approximately $684,000 from banks, real estate licensees and related licensed financial institutions such as mortgage lenders and brokers and real estate agents and brokers from probes into consumer complaints and enforcement investigations.

Insurance consumers received the payments for infractions that included claims processing delays, improper claims handling, denials of claims and premium refunds due to flawed ratings.

Banking and Real Estate consumers received the payments mostly as refunds of fees wrongly collected. Financial institutions made the payments as a result of investigations into specific consumer complaints and errors found during routine regulatory compliance examinations.

The Department has more than 200,000 Banking and Insurance licensees which includes insurance companies, insurance producers, banks, mortgage lenders and brokers. In Fiscal Year 2015, the Department fielded over 60,000 phone inquiries and handled more than 8,000 consumer complaints.

Consumers who would like to make an inquiry on an issue can call 1-800-446-7467.
Consumers who have an issue that they cannot resolve with a licensee can file a complaint in writing here: www.state.nj.us/dobi/consumer.htm.