The harassing company pays our fees.
Cedar Financial LLC or CF is a multinational third-party debt collection agency based in Southern California. CF has received complaints alleging violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), including threatening to take actions that cannot legally be taken and using false or misleading language in an effort to collect a debt. If you have been contacted by Cedar Financial, make sure you understand your rights before responding.
They’re legit. According to the BBB, Cedar Financial, LLC is a legitimate collection agency started in 1991 and incorporated in 2009. CF is listed as a collection agency that uses the alternate business name, Cedar Business Services, LLC. Buzzfile has two listings for CF—one for Cedar Business Services, LLC that estimates CF’s annual revenue at $3.1 million and the size of its headquarters staff at 21 employees; and a second listing for Cedar Business Services, Inc., that estimates CF’s annual revenue at $1.5 million and the size of its staff at 10 employees.
According to its website, CF’s mission is “to be the leading international debt collection agency, by providing our clients with top-quality local debt collection representation around the globe, while preserving the integrity and professionalism of our clients and their own customers throughout the debt collection process.”
Cedar Financial website is wide-ranging and provides a lot of detailed information about its business practices. CF’s collection services are split between international and domestic collections. CF’s international division “conducts thousands of investigations in every country spanning Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Australia, North and South America, Asia Pacific and India.” CF is“dedicated to providing clients the most up-to-date financial information to make informed decisions.”
CF’s domestic collections division offers consumer and commercial collections. CF’s consumer collections division employs “experts in the specific laws, regulations and unique file-handling requirements that govern the consumer collection landscape” to provide pre-collection account monitoring; 1st party collection for early delinquencies; traditional third-party collections; and litigation services. CF accepts delinquent accounts from lenders in education, healthcare, e-commerce, and government. CF’s commercial debt collection division services include demand notice service, collections, and litigation services, and also employs “state-of-the-art collection technology and skip-tracing tools to give…their team…an added advantage in the recovery process.”
Cedar Financial FAQ and Consumer Rights pages provide fairly detailed information about consumer protection laws, including external links to consumer resources and enforcement agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Who are we? We are Lemberg Law, a Consumer Law Firm
Lemberg Law is a consumer law firm helping victims of collection harassment and abuse. We are ranked A+ by the BBB. We’ve helped more than 15,000 consumers stop harassment and recover money from debt collectors. Harassed? Abused? Misled by a collector? Call our Helpline today! There is no charge unless we win.
The BBB has closed 16 complaints against Cedar Financial in the preceding three years, with 7 complaints closed in the past 12 months. Most of those complaints allege problems with billing and collection services. As of April 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has closed 19 complaints against CF. Justia lists at least 5 cases of civil litigation involving Cedar Financial.
Cedar Financial, LLC
5230 Las Virgenes Road, Suite 210
Calabasas, CA 91302
Telephone: (818) 224-3800
Website: https://cedarfinancial.com/
It is illegal for a debt collector to make empty threats to sue you or garnish your wages. It is also unlikely CF would sue you for a debt you may not owe or they cannot validate. However, debt collection agencies are known to have summoned debtors to court and garnish wages after a default judgement. Contacting an attorney BEFORE this could possibly happen would be a smart move. We’ve helped thousands of consumers fight back against unscrupulous debt collection harassers. Find out if we can help you too today!
Get Free BBB A+ Attorney. Call 475-277-1600 NOW
Unlawful Debt Harassment? Learn the Law & Sue the Collector.
Absolutely. Here are some Sample Cases
Complaints against Cedar Financial cite attempts to collect disputed debts, often on behalf of for-profit colleges and traffic fines for the government of Italy. In August 2016, a complainant indicated she had been contacted by CF for a delinquent tuition balance from Walden University. The complainant indicated the delinquent item was dated August 2013 in the amount of $7,440.00, but she claimed the amount and the date were inaccurate. She claimed she had begun dealing with the delinquent item in 2012 and that when she had left Walden University, she had had a balance owing of $0.00. She indicated she had documentation proving there was no balance due and that she had contacted Cedar Financial to discuss the error. The representative requested that she send the documentation, but after 4 to 6 months, she did not receive any further reply. Subsequently, she was informed that CF had not received any indication from Walden University that no debt was due, so she contacted Walden University herself. Walden University informed her that that the debt was in collections and that they were unwilling to discuss the matter, so she contacted CF again. At that point, CF had no record of the dispute or of her prior correspondence, so she re-sent the documentation to another representative. At the time of the complaint, she still had not received any reply from CF and had run out of options for resolving the dispute. CF responded by posting their documentation of her collection account. The complainant disputed its accuracy and proposed a settlement just to resolve the matter. No resolution appears to have been reached.
In October 2015, a complainant indicated she had been contacted by Cedar Financial regarding traffic tickets she had never received during a vacation in Italy. She had rented a car in 2016, to be picked up in Milan, but when she arrived, she had to pick up the car from a different rental agent. The car was not ready, but she signed the paperwork they gave her, which did not include information about necessary permits she may have been required to carry. She did not receive any notifications of any violations while on vacation. Upon her return, she began receiving notices of violations that were being charged to her credit card. Soon CF began contacting her to collect the past due amounts. At the time of the complaint, she had paid $1,000 in fines and had receive demands for $1,500 more. Also in October 2015, a complainant indicated she had received collection notices from Cedar Financial regarding $434.31 in alleged traffic violations during her vacation in Rome. She expressed her concern that does not have “any legal grounds to collect” these fines for which she had not been previously notified. In addition, she complained that “allowing private US debt collection firms to collect debt on behalf of notably less than perfect foreign governments, without due…process that is guaranteed… under the 14th Amendment and that is also guaranteed all those traveling to the EU under the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 6, is setting a dangerous precedent.” Cedar Financial posted a response stating that because the fines were the result of travel, they were not bound to adhere to the FDCPA.
Federal laws protect you. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) regulates the behavior of collection agencies by prohibiting actions such as the use of abusive or threatening language; harassment; or the use of false or misleading information to collect a debt. The FCRA regulates how collection agencies and creditors report delinquent debts to credit reporting agencies. Additional consumer protection laws include the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA).
But here’s the rub: If you want to enforce your rights, or recover money for violations — you need to sue. These laws provide individuals like you with a means to seek monetary damages in court. For example, the FDCPA allows consumers who have been violated to recover damages of up to $1,000, plus attorney fees and court costs.
Your debt harassment checklist:
“As we discussed on the phone earlier today, this settlement is perfectly okay to me. I need to thank you and all of your cohorts at Lemberg Law to get a project handled so professionally. Please allow Amy, the first person who contacted me from Lemberg, know how much I appreciate her efforts, kindness, and professionalism.”
“My mom and I want to say thanks to the team of Lemberg Law for all the hard work and effort that was taken to take care of the debt collector and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Because of this, the phones do not ring off the hook .”
“We realize that ours is only one little case among many — and a lot more serious — but are heartened by the fact that you accepted it represented us with a professionalism that belied the dollar amount.”
“I just wanted to let you know we received the check from your office on now and I wanted to take some time to inform you that we really appreciate all of your efforts in this matter.”
We can absolutely help. Call us today.
Share your story
Have you had a bad experience with this agency’s debt collectors? Sound off and share your experience with other visitors in the comment box below.
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."
See more posts from Sergei Lemberg
Cedar LLC sent me a letter saying that i have to pay for a traffic violation in Italy in the year 2016 . They say the letter was sent to my home in the year 2016. But I was not in that home when i went to europe on a trip and I didn’t give that address to the rental car agency as well .
But my DL at the time of travel had that old address , but I gave the current address to the rental car agency. Rental car agency made the mistake of giving my old address to Itality Police dept for citation and Cedar LLC is coming after me to collect all the fee for the two years .
Is this legal to have put me on the receiving line for the mistakes made by rental car agency ?
Do I have to pay the extra fee imposed for the delay ?
We received a collection for $222 for a traffic fine in Milan, Italy, from 2015. The original fine was for 45 Euros, sent to us by the Europcar rental company. We paid with credit card to Europcar in August 2015.
After several phone calls to a call center in India, we were told that you can’t pay to the rental company, must pay $222 to the Italian police. When I said I have proof to have paid 45 Euros in 2015, suddenly the original fine for less than 45 Euros was acknowledged and I was to send proof to an e-mail address with a lenghty Indian name. That e-mail was undeliverable. Another call to HQ produced a different e-mail. Collectionsinfo. There was some talk about having to pay the fine to the police directly, not allowed to pay through rental company, but on hearing that I had proof, I was promised a clearing of the case.
So — we’ll see what happens.
I received a traffic violation from cedars regarding a work trip to italy. The issue I have is that it occurred in a restricted zone that wasn’t marked, at least not for the driver of the vehicle. Since the rental was in my name, I ended up with the fine. What recourse does cedars collection actually have regarding my situation? What will occur if I choose not to pay?
Cedar Financial called me in October, 2018, claiming that when I was in Italy in October, 2014 (four years ago!) I got three traffic violations for driving into a restricted zone, and they come to over $1000 now. They also claim that I would have received the notices of the fines from Italy within a year of the supposed offense, as per the law for the violations to be valid, which I did not. For a number of reasons I do not believe that these violations are mine, but it also doesn’t seem like Cedar will accept any documents that would dispute this. My main question is whether Cedar can have this placed on my credit report, since when I rented the car in Italy I did not provide my ss#? If not, what is their recourse if I simply refuse to pay. Thank you.