People notified that their information was involved in the NJ Lenders data breach may qualify to claim a flat $40 with no documentation, or up to $2,500 in documented losses, from the class action settlement. Claims closed October 1, 2026, and the final approval hearing was scheduled for October 16, 2026.
Current Status
Claims are closed. Claim Forms had to be submitted online, or postmarked if mailed, by October 1, 2026, and the deadline to opt out or object passed on September 16, 2026. The final approval hearing was scheduled for October 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time in Passaic County, New Jersey. As of October 20, 2026, the official settlement website had not posted a final approval order or any ruling from that hearing, and no payment date had been announced.What Changed Recently?
The claim window closed on October 1, 2026, and the October 16, 2026 final approval hearing date has passed. Before the hearing, the settlement website posted the notice of motion for final approval and class counsel's motion for attorneys' fees, costs and service awards. As of October 20, 2026, no final approval order had been posted, and the site still listed October 16, 2026 as the hearing date.The underlying case is Castenie et al. v. NJ Lenders Corp, Case No. PAS-L-001210-26, pending in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Passaic County. The lawsuit alleges that during an August 2025 targeted cyberattack on NJ Lenders' computer systems, certain files containing Private Information were accessed, and that those files may have contained personal information such as names, Social Security numbers, and other non-public personally identifiable information. NJ Lenders denies that it did anything wrong, and the court has not decided who is right. According to the notice, both sides agreed to settle to avoid the costs, risks, disruptions, and uncertainties of continuing the case.
Mortgage lenders and the vendors that serve them hold exactly the file types attackers want — loan applications with Social Security numbers, income documents, and account details. The same pattern shows up in the EMM Loans data breach settlement, another lender case with an open claim window, and in the pending SitusAMC mortgage-services breach settlement, which has no claim form yet.
Free settlement alerts
Get notified when new class actions open to claims
Join thousands of readers who get the latest class action settlements you may qualify for — delivered straight to your inbox.
Who Qualifies?
The court defined the Settlement Class as all persons who received direct notice that their Private Information may have been impacted in the Data Incident. In practical terms, membership follows NJ Lenders' own notification list: if the company mailed or emailed you a notice about the August 2025 incident, you are in the class, and you should also have received a settlement notice carrying a LoginID and PIN plus a credit monitoring enrollment code.Excluded from the class are NJ Lenders' directors and officers, governmental entities, and the judge assigned to the action, that judge's immediate family, and court staff. Anyone who validly opts out is also excluded and gives up the settlement benefits. If you are not certain whether you are a class member, the official settlement website's contact page is the place to confirm it.
How Much Can You Get?
Every Settlement Class Member may claim credit monitoring plus one of two cash options. You may claim only one total cash payment.Credit monitoring — one year of CyEx Financial Shield Complete for all Settlement Class Members. The notice describes it as including $1 million of financial fraud insurance and monitoring for fraud or identity theft, unauthorized financial transactions, and personal information associated with high-risk transactions, with access to a fraud resolution agent if something suspicious surfaces. Enrollment codes have already been sent to class members, and activation instructions follow after the settlement receives final approval. If you no longer have your enrollment code, the settlement website explains how to request a replacement.
Cash Payment A — Documented Losses — up to $2,500 for actual, documented, unreimbursed out-of-pocket losses caused by the Data Incident. The losses must have occurred between August 18, 2025 and October 1, 2026. The notice lists losses from identity theft or fraud, fees for credit reports, credit monitoring, or freezing and unfreezing credit, the cost to replace IDs, and postage to contact banks by mail. You must send documentation such as receipts showing what you spent or lost; a personal certification, declaration, or affidavit does not count as reasonable documentation on its own, though you may include one to add context to the records you do submit. Expenses already reimbursed by a third party are not eligible.
Cash Payment B — Alternate Cash — a one-time $40 payment instead of Cash Payment A. The notice states that no proof or explanation is required for this option.
The notice does not disclose a common settlement fund. Class Counsel will ask the court to approve up to $280,000 in attorneys' fees and litigation costs, and service awards of $2,000 for each class representative; the notice states that NJ Lenders pays both, so neither comes out of a pool that would otherwise go to class members. The $40 and $2,500 figures are the caps written into the settlement rather than estimates, but any payment still depends on the court granting final approval.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Filing online requires the LoginID and PIN printed on the notice that was sent to you. That is an administrator-issued credential, so this settlement is proof-required even if you take the $40 option that needs no receipts — a person who never received a notice cannot simply log in and file. If you cannot locate your LoginID and PIN, the settlement website explains how to request them by supplying your full name and mailing address.If you are claiming Cash Payment A, you additionally need documentation of the loss itself: receipts, statements, or similar third-party records showing the amount you spent or lost and tying it to the Data Incident. A signed statement describing the loss is not enough by itself.
The credit monitoring benefit has its own identifier — the enrollment code that was mailed to class members — but that code is separate from the claim portal's LoginID and PIN.
What Is the Deadline?
- File a Claim Form online: October 1, 2026 (passed)
- Mail a Claim Form with supporting documentation: postmarked by October 1, 2026 (passed)
- Opt out (exclude yourself): postmarked by September 16, 2026 (passed)
- Object to the settlement: filed with the Clerk of Court by September 16, 2026 (passed)
- Final approval hearing: October 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (date passed; no ruling posted as of October 20, 2026)
The notice specified Eastern Time for the hearing but gave no cutoff time or timezone for the claim deadline itself.
How Do You Take Action?
Claims were filed through the online Claim Form at the official settlement website, NJ Lenders Data Settlement.com, using the LoginID and PIN from the notice, with a choice of Cash Payment A or Cash Payment B and documentation uploaded for documented-loss claims, by October 1, 2026. A printable Claim Form was also available for filing by mail; mailed claims had to be completed, signed, and postmarked by the same date, with supporting documentation attached.An Opt-Out Request had to be signed, identify the litigation by name and case number, state clearly that the class member did not want to be part of the settlement, and be postmarked by September 16, 2026. Opting out preserved whatever right a class member may have had to sue NJ Lenders individually, but forfeited the cash payment and the credit monitoring.
Objecting is different from opting out: an objection tells the court why it should not approve the settlement, and only class members who stay in the class can object. Objections in this case carried an unusually long list of required contents — including the grounds, a signature, the identity of any counsel, and a history of prior class action objections by the objector and counsel — and had to be filed with the Clerk of Court by September 16, 2026.
What Happens Next?
The final approval hearing was scheduled for October 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time in Courtroom 322 of the Passaic County Superior Court in Paterson, New Jersey, for the court to decide whether to approve the settlement, rule on the attorneys' fees and costs request and the service awards, and consider any timely objections. As of October 20, 2026, the official settlement website had not posted a ruling, and the next milestone is the court's decision on final approval.If the court grants final approval, payments are distributed after any appeals are resolved; the notice states that it is not known whether appeals will be filed or how long they would take. No payment date had been announced as of October 20, 2026. Credit monitoring activation instructions are also sent after the settlement becomes final.
Watch Out for Scams
A court-appointed administrator never charges a fee to release a class action payment and will not ask for banking passwords or a "processing fee" by text or phone. File only through the official settlement website linked on this page, and be skeptical of any message that arrives with a payment link you did not request. For context on how these cases work and what else is open right now, see our explainer on the data breach class action and our running list of open data breach settlements. If you are weighing whether to stay in, our guide to opting out of a class action covers what you keep and what you give up.Sources and Verification
- Castenie et al. v. NJ Lenders Corp — Official Settlement Website
- Court-Authorized Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement
- Settlement Agreement
- Printable Claim Form
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is included in the NJ Lenders data breach settlement?
The court defined the Settlement Class as all persons who received direct notice that their Private Information may have been impacted in the August 2025 Data Incident. Excluded are NJ Lenders' directors and officers, governmental entities, and the judge assigned to the action, that judge's immediate family, and court staff.
Can I claim both the $40 cash and the $2,500 documented-losses payment?
No. The notice states you may claim only one total cash payment. Cash Payment A reimburses documented, unreimbursed out-of-pocket losses up to $2,500, and Cash Payment B is a flat $40 that requires no proof or explanation. Credit monitoring is separate and available to every class member alongside whichever cash option you pick.
Do I need a Login ID and PIN to file an NJ Lenders claim?
Yes for online filing. The claim portal requires the LoginID and PIN printed on the notice you were sent. If you cannot locate them, the settlement website explains how to request them by providing your full name and mailing address. A printable Claim Form can also be downloaded from the settlement website and mailed in.
What losses count toward the $2,500 NJ Lenders documented-losses payment?
The notice lists losses from identity theft or fraud, fees for credit reports, credit monitoring or freezing and unfreezing credit, the cost to replace IDs, and postage to contact banks by mail. The losses must have occurred between August 18, 2025 and October 1, 2026, must be supported by documentation such as receipts, and cannot already have been reimbursed by a third party. A personal certification, declaration, or affidavit on its own is not accepted as reasonable documentation.
When is the NJ Lenders settlement deadline?
Claim Forms had to be submitted online, or postmarked if mailed, by October 1, 2026, and that deadline has passed. The deadline to opt out or to file an objection was September 16, 2026.
When will NJ Lenders settlement payments be sent?
No payment date has been announced. The final approval hearing was scheduled for October 16, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, and as of October 20, 2026 no final approval order had been posted on the official settlement website. The notice states that payments are distributed only if the court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved, and that it is not known whether appeals will be filed.
What does the NJ Lenders credit monitoring benefit include?
Every Settlement Class Member is eligible for one year of CyEx Financial Shield Complete, which the notice describes as including $1 million of financial fraud insurance and monitoring for fraud or identity theft, unauthorized financial transactions, and personal information associated with high-risk transactions. Enrollment codes were already sent to class members, and activation instructions follow final approval.
Is NJLendersDataSettlement.com the official settlement website?
Yes. NJLendersDataSettlement.com is the court-authorized settlement website for Castenie et al. v. NJ Lenders Corp, Case No. PAS-L-001210-26 in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Passaic County, and the settlement is administered by Simpluris. NJ Lenders denies that it did anything wrong, and the court has not decided who is right.
