CBE Group Collections Harassment & Abuse

Updated on July 18th, 2024 Author: Sergei Lemberg

Your Free Legal Solution to Ending CBE Group’s Harassment Today 

• Review CBE Group’s bio and how it operates as a debt collection agency. Then, to inform your next legal steps, figure out where you stand legally relative to CBE.
• Next, find out if CBE has breached your rights. Skimming through our FAQs will help you become more comfortable moving forward.
• It’s natural to feel isolated when considering a lawsuit against a large debt collection agency, but remember that there are many others in the same position. Most importantly, you have the federal authority of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA), as well as numerous other consumer protection laws, in your corner.
• Once you feel confident about moving forward, contact a debt collection attorney and begin a free lawsuit against CBE. Remember that you have legal authority over CBE: you have the power to stop their harassment, remove CBE from your credit report, and receive damages, all for free.
• To learn more about stopping CBE’s harassment immediately, reach out to Lemberg Law for a free consultation or to open a suit.
• Still not convinced? Take a look at our clients’ reviews of our extensive success in defending consumers like you against CBE.

Common Violations You May Have Experienced From CBE: 

• Aggressive communication tactics and threats, including dozens of daily phone calls.
• Incorrect, withheld, or incomplete information regarding your debt.
• Attempts to collect non-existent debt, debt you don’t owe, and calling you by mistake to seek payment.
• Refusal to acknowledge already paid-off debt.
• Robocalls.

The above forms of harassment, and many other common collection practices carried out by CBE, violate your rights protected by the FDCPA and other federal laws. If you believe your rights have been violated by CBE, call Lemberg Law today for a free consultation to learn more about opening a case.

CBE Group: Who Are They? 

CBE Groups is one of the largest and most profitable debt collection agencies in the U.S. They are both first and third-party debt collectors. They collect a variety of debt including healthcare, credit card, and telecommunications. CBE has worked with government agencies such as the IRS to collect past-due federal taxes. Currently, they work with the U.S. Department of Education to collect from thousands drowning in student loan debt. While debt collection may appear to be a scam, CBE is a real business. Located out of Cedar Falls, Iowa, CBE employs thousands across the country. Due to their wide-reaching debt collection practices, they have annual revenues in the millions (per Buzzfile).

How To Contact CBE Group

CBE Group
1309 Technology Parkway
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Phone Number: 800-925-6686
Website: http://www.cbegroup.com/

CBE Group: How Do They Operate? 

• CBE Group provides collection services for many businesses and industries: medical/healthcare service providers; cable/satellite telecommunications companies; telephone service providers; utility service providers; retail credit card lenders; private/government-backed education lenders; and government agencies, including delinquent tax bills.
• CBE’s services have four divisions: third-party collection; first-party collection; fraud detection; and batch skip tracing.
  • What is third-party debt collection? According to CBE, this includes primary and secondary collection of delinquent debts using “advanced technology, intelligent work strategies,.. advanced skip tracing resources, and…analytics resources to ensure CBE’s workforce contacts…borrowers efficiently and effectively to help them resolve their obligations and shorten the…recovery timeline.”
  • What is first-party debt collection? According to CBE, this focuses on default aversion by helping consumers repay loans “while avoiding the pitfalls of default.”
  • How do I learn more about CBE’s services? Start by calling Lemberg Law today. The CBE website is designed to trick consumers, and its marketed image as a helpful resource to debtors may be misleading.
• CBE will contact you with phone calls to collect debts and personal information both on their behalf and on behalf of other businesses and industries.

The Basics: What You Need to Know About CBE Group.

• While debt collection and other CBE Group services are legal, you are protected from harassment and other unfair practices by federal consumer laws such as the FDCPA.
• CBE operates on behalf of themselves and other large organizations in dozens of markets. They claim to “stay ahead of the regulatory environment,” but they are not above the law!
• CBE is not interested in helping you understand your rights under consumer protection laws. Both their consumer and corporate websites promote CBE as a resource to help those struggling with mountain debt. However, neither site provides any detailed information about their regulatory compliance policies.
• CBE has a reputation for harassing and bullying customers into paying debts that may not even belong to the customer.
• CBE may call dozens of times daily and use other aggressive tactics to take advantage of consumers. They will use a variety of different numbers to reach you:

Consumers have reported this agency harassing them from the following numbers:

• 916-330-3872
• 501-443-4980
• 980-244-3969
• 401-414-2943
• 401-414-3066
• 401-414-2913
• 800-798-5534

Standing Up to CBE Group: Understanding Your Rights. 

CBE Group knows they can only take advantage of you when you don’t know your rights as a consumer. You easily learn all you need to know about your position of authority over CBE on this page, and our experienced consumer protection lawyers at Lemberg Law can help you utilize your rights against exploitative debt collection agencies.

How You’re Protected. 

• The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act prohibits CBE from unfair debt collection tactics. This includes abusive and threatening language; the use of false or misleading information to collect debts, and other forms of harassment.
• The Fair Credit Reporting Act regulates how collection agencies like CBE report delinquent debts to credit reporting agencies.
• You are also protected by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Act.

What Laws Must CBE Group Follow? 

• Legal: CBE can collect on first and third-party debts.
• Legal: CBE can call you to collect those debts as long as they adhere to the above laws and regulations.
• Legal: CBE can summon debtors to court and garnish wages after a default judgment.
• Illegal: CBE cannot violate any of your rights as an American consumer, which may include the use of deceptive, unfair, or abusive collection tactics.
• Illegal: While CBE will likely not sue you for debt that they cannot validate or that you may not owe, CBE is strictly prohibited from making empty threats to garnish your wages or sue you.

CBE Group is Calling Me: How Do I Use My Rights?

The best way to make your rights work for you and to stop CBE in its tracks is to work with a lawyer. At Lemberg Law, we have years of experience in the consumer protection process and experience winning fights against CBE. Here is what we can do for you:

• We’ll confirm that CBE has been harassing you or in any other way violating your rights.
• We will prevent CBE from threatening or taking any legal action against you.
• We can then open a lawsuit and stop CBE from hurting you any more than they already have. A lawsuit will end harassment, may remove CBE from your credit report, and can win you monetary compensation.
• The best part is that federal law requires CBE to pay your attorney fees and court costs.

Stopping Harassment Now: Do I Have a Case Against CBE? 

You may be surprised by how well protected you are by the law and how many times CBE may have breached your rights. The best way to figure out your legal standing is to talk to a lawyer.

The FDCPA and other federal regulations stand to protect your rights as a consumer. Consult the following list of common CBE illegal debt collection practices to see if your rights have been violated by the CBE Group. You may have a case against CBE if they have subjected you to any of the following:

• Frequent/repeated weekly calls (over seven calls in seven days).
• Calls at inconvenient times (before eight in the morning or after nine at night).
• Calls when you are at work.
• Calls made to coworkers, family, neighbors, or friends.
• Intimidation tactics including threats of violence, lawsuits, or arrest.
• Threats of negative credit reporting.
• Attempts to collect more than you owe.
• Criminal accusations.
• Use of vulgar or inappropriate language when calling.
• Robocalls.

You Are Not Alone: CBE Group Violations Against Consumers Like You Are Common

If you have debt, whether it is student loans, medical bills, or tax bills, you know that you work hard to fight for your financial security. The last thing you need is a debt collection agency constantly bothering you and threatening to destabilize everything you have worked so hard to build. As an American consumer, you are entitled to your financial freedom, and if collectors like CBE attempt to take advantage of you, you have every right to fight back for free.

CBE markets itself as a company interested in helping those struggling with debt. Its infamous reputation of harassment tells a different story, which you know all too well. Our research shows that CBE relies on aggressive coercion and harassment to extract payment from customers who, in many cases, have already paid off their debts or never owed anything in the first place. These and further violations of the FDCPA and other consumer-protection laws are common, and you have the right and ability to freely stand your ground!

Violations Are Common: CBE Group Complaints Survey: 

• Common complaints include attempts to collect unverified and unowed debts, inappropriate and aggressive communication practices, and threats to take negative legal action. These predatory debt collection practices and others violate the FDCPA.
• CBE has a ⅕ star customer rating on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website.
• BBB also lists 406 customer complaints from the last 3 years and 131 customer complaints from the last 12 months. Complaints allege problems from billing and collections to customer service to advertising and sales.
• BBB complaints allege that CBE wreaks havoc on consumers’ credit reports, despite all debts being paid. These complaints also complain that CBE reports non-existent debts to creditors.
• CBE’s attacks on customers’ credit histories took years to remove from their credit reports and made it difficult for them to qualify for mortgages, car loans, personal loans, and other essential resources.
• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has closed thousands of complaints involving CBE.
• Justia lists over 6 cases of civil litigation involving CBE Group.

Your Authority Over CBE Group: The FDCPA. 

At Lemberg Law, we know your rights under the FDCPA and have won thousands of cases of debt collection violations for our clients. We want to help you put an immediate end to harassment, threats, and harm done to you by CBE. Additionally, we can win you monetary compensation, help get your credit report back on track, and do it all while CBE pays your legal fees.

The FDCPA: A Brief Summary. 

The FDCPA is a federal law that regulates the debt collection practices of agencies like the CBE Group. This law prohibits CBE from using illegal debt-collection tactics against you. The FDCPA gives you and your family the right to avoid harassment, threats, and other harmful practices carried out by CBE against consumers. If such violations occur, the law empowers you to work with an attorney to stop the CBE Group at no cost to yourself.

Your Rights Under the FDCPA. 

• The FDCPA prohibits numerous illegal debt collection practices.
• All FDCPA-covered collectors (CBE Group is covered) must tell you certain information regarding your debt to validate the collection. This information includes personal details, information about CBE Group, CBE’s contact information so that you can reply, an itemization of your debt, and more. CBE Group must tell you this information according to the FDCPA. It is important to understand the nature of your debt so you can hold CBE accountable for its practices under the FDCPA.
• The FDCPA applies to CBE. Therefore, they must reveal any required information to you and follow the law of the FDCPA.
• The FDCPA restricts CBE’s freedom to contact you for collection. CBE may violate your rights under the FDCPA in many ways: call now to find out if you have a case.

Stopping CBE Group: How to Use the FDCPA to Your Advantage.

• While CBE Group may seem large and intimidating, the FDCPA makes your rights untouchable as an American consumer. In the face of the FDCPA and other federal laws protecting you, CBE doesn’t stand a chance when you’re backed up by the right lawyer who understands and respects your rights better than they do.
• The FDCPA generally requires that CBE cannot contact you if you are represented by an attorney. Instead, they must contact your lawyer. Put an end to CBE’s harassment now.
• Maintain records of your phone calls with CBE, and when they have tried to contact you. Keep track of what you discussed regarding your debt, and what documents CBE has sent you. These will help you support your case under the FDCPA.

Stopping CBE Today: Your Legal Options. 

Call now to sue CBE Group for harassment: stop injustice and gain monetary compensation for no legal costs. You will be well defended by Lemberg Law and your rights as a consumer.

While CBE’s operation of first and third-party debt collection is legal, they are known to violate consumers’ rights. If you believe that you are being harassed, threatened, or otherwise having your rights violated by CBE, don’t wait. They may take legal action against you, negatively impact your credit report, find a way to unfairly collect on debt you don’t owe, or increase their tactics against you.

What to Know Before Taking Action: 

• You can sue CBE Group for free. The FDCPA gives you the right to sue a debt collector for harassment.
• If CBE violates your rights, you can win up to $1,000 in compensation. Additionally, CBE must cover your attorney fees and court costs.
• If CBE is negatively affecting your credit reporting, or if they are threatening legal action against you, time is of the essence. Call today to learn more about your options.

The Benefits of a Lawsuit Against CBE Group: 

• No legal costs.
• An immediate stop to harassment.
• Extensive monetary damages paid to you.
• CBE removed from your credit report.
• A smooth legal process facilitated by the top consumer-protection lawyers here at Lemberg Law.

What a Lawsuit Against CBE May Look Like

Here are some sample cases filed in federal court:

In May 2013, in United States District Court for the Southern District of California, a judge issued a decision in a case alleging CBE had violated two provisions of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In this case, the plaintiff alleged that beginning the year previous to the court case, she had begun receiving “without her consent, numerous ‘autodialed’ telephone calls to her cellular telephone for which she alleged she incurred charges.” She stated further that CBE Group used an automated telephone dialing system (ATDS) to make the calls, which the TCPA defines as an “automatic dialing system which has the capacity to produce or store and dial numbers randomly or sequentially.”

She also stated that CBE used the ATDS “to place telephone calls to her cellular telephone and/orused an artificial or pre-recorded voice message system, to place telephone calls to her cellular telephone.” The TCPA prohibits the placement of commercial calls to mobile telephone numbers without the consent of the account holder, or using an ATDS, or leaving pre-recorded or artificial voice messages on cellular telephones. As a result, she charged CBE with negligent violations of the TCPA and knowing or willful violations of the TCPA.

Attorneys for CBE attempted to convince the court to dismiss the case based on 6 arguments. First, CBE Group argued that the plaintiff had brought the case in a court that did not have the proper jurisdiction or authority to make a decision. Although the plaintiff did not reside in Southern California, she argued that because CBE does business in Southern California, the court had the authority to hear cases brought against them. The court asked the plaintiff to conduct a further investigation to determine the extent to which CBE has business dealings in its district. CBE also attempted to argue that the TCPA does not apply to debt collection agencies. Although the court acknowledged that there may be exceptions in which some collection agencies may not be regulated by this law, neither of them applied to CBE, so this objection was dismissed.

CBE also tried to argue that the plaintiff had not stated a valid claim against them, but the court disagreed. Because the plaintiff’s complaint included a clear statement of the alleged violation, the court dismissed CBE’s objection on this count. CBE also tried to argue that the plaintiff failed to allege any injury as a result of the violation, but the court stated that the law does not require her to show proof that she was charged for any of the calls, so the court again dismissed CBE’s objection. CBE also requested that the court prevent the plaintiff from filing a class action lawsuit, but the court denied the request.

As a result, the court denied CBE’s request to dismiss the claim in every respect except the jurisdiction of the court. With regard to that objection, the court instructed the plaintiff to refile the complaint with evidence supporting her claim that the Southern District of California was an appropriate venue.

Press Releases of Lawsuits Brought On By Lemberg Law

November 23, 2015.  There is a student loan epidemic in this country. Student loan debt exceeds credit card debt. And more students are getting into more debt than ever before.

Our client has student loan debt. CBE Group collects on behalf of federal student loans. There are rules about when a student loan debt has to be paid off, and rules about when a borrower’s wages can be garnished. One of those rules is that a borrower has to be continuously employed for 12 months in order to have their wages garnished.

This collection agency threatened to garnish our client’s wages if the student loan debt was not paid. However, our client hadn’t been continuously employed for 12 months, so CBE Group wasn’t legally allowed to garnish his wages.

The case, which was recently filed in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, charges CBE Group with violating the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by engaging in harassing behavior; using false, deceptive, or misleading representation in connection with the collection of a debt; by threatening to take legal action that could not be legally taken; by employing false and deceptive means to collect a debt; and by using unfair and unconscionable means to collect a debt. It asks for statutory damages of $1,000, plus other relief.

November 14, 2015. On behalf of our client, Lemberg Law recently filed a complaint in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana. The case, against CBE Group, charges the debt collection agency with violating federal law and asks for $1,000 in statutory damages, plus other relief.

Wrong numbers are bothersome. A steady stream of wrong number calls can really disrupt your life. Our clients, a married couple, say that CBE started calling their landline in May. After receiving several calls, our clients called CBE to figure out why they were calling. The debt collector the spoke to said that he was trying to reach a woman that the couple did know. Our clients told the debt collector that they didn’t know the woman and asked them to stop calling. This debt collector told our clients that their number would be removed from the collection agency’s system. That didn’t happen, though, as they called more than 20 more times.

This lawsuit charges that CBE Group violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by engaging in harassing behavior; by contacting our clients for purposes other than to confirm or correct location information; for contacting our clients without being asked to do so; and by using unfair and unconscionable means to collect a debt.

About the Author:

Sergei Lemberg is an attorney focusing on consumer law, class actions related to automotive issues, and personal injury litigation. With nearly two decades of experience, his areas of practice include Lemon Law (vehicle defects), Debt Collection Harassment, TCPA (illegal robocalls and texts), Fair Credit Reporting Act, Overtime claims, Personal Injury cases, and Class Actions. He has consistently been recognized as the nation's "most active consumer attorney." In 2020, Mr. Lemberg represented Noah Duguid before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case Duguid v. Facebook. He is also the author of "Defanging Debt Collectors," a guide that empowers consumers to fight back against debt collectors and prevail, as well as "Lemon Law 101: The Laws That Lemon Dealers Don't Want You to Know."

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