CBE Group collection agency - How do consumers perceive this company?

It's CBE Group, who are a collection agency based out of Waterloo, Iowa.

Check out this forum thread for more info.

http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/forums/about8938.html

They are a collection Company out of IA.

CBE Group address:
CBE Group Waterloo office (Corporate Office and Operational Center)
131 Tower Park Drive, Suite 100
Waterloo, IA 50701

CBE Group Phone number: (800) 925-6686

Branch Operational Center
1031 Office Park Road, Suite 6
West Des Moines, IA 50265

It shows on my caller id as the CBE Group Inc. and they never leave a message.

I posted this somewhere else, and I thought it would be fitting here.

I used to work there. It's CBE Group Inc., a collection agency. They collect medical debt and some credit card debt. They can't tell you why they are calling because it's against the law. Trust me, I understand your frustrations but it's their job and the employees get hounded constantly about being more aggressive and not removing numbers unless people say it a certain way and etc. Just keep telling them the person they are looking for doesn't live there and you have no idea who they are. The nicer you are, the more likely they will listen. Even though they have to remove your number if it's wrong, if you're rude most of them won't remove it. Calling in and saying "stop calling me!" and hanging up will get you no where because they don't know who you are or what number they're calling unless you tell them. And the automated calls are terribly annoying, I know. I hated them too. I hated the job and the company. But just understand that it's a job and just like everyone else working there, I did it because I needed a job! The only number I remember is for the medical department because that's where I worked. So if they're calling you and it's a wrong number, call them at 888-887-5430 and tell them the number they are calling and that you don't know who the person is. Even if you know the person they are calling for, but they don't live with you and you don't want to give out any info, then lie and say you don't know them or they will never leave you alone. If they are calling for you because you owe a bill that you can't or won't pay, then you just gotta deal with the calls. You can, however, send them a Cease & Desist letter, and by law they will have to stop calling you. Make sure you include your account number, phone number, first and last name, etc so they can find your account easily. And keep a copy of the letter, date you sent it and the address you sent it to just in case. If I could remember the address, I'd tell ya but it's been so long I don't know. Just call the 888 number I gave you and tell them you want a correspondence address and they will have to give it to you. Hope this is helpful for everyone who comes here!! And just remember, they're people too. If they're nice, be nice back, even if it's the 10th call you've gotten that day from that damned Timothy that keeps calling. If they're being an a*shole, then feel free to be one back. I always hated when other collectors were jerks for no reason.

And I'm not meaning to sound rude or anything, but one thing I hated as a collector was the debtors who thought they knew every state law. As a collection agency, they HAVE to know the collection laws front and back. Continuously calling you is not against the law. Check into it more. There are a lot of privacy laws they have to follow, that's why they ask you to verify a date of birth, address, last 4 of ssn. they have to confirm they are talking to John Doe so they don't accidentally tell Joe Schmo that John owes citibank $4,000. Collections is a hard job. People like to play little games with them, call them every name in the book, and belittle them when they're just trying to do their job. Trust me. Some of them deserve to be called **** and hung up on. But some of them are just trying to make a living.

and a tip - if they call, answer, confirm whatever is it they want to confirm, and just say "I'm sorry, I just can't pay this right now, I'll let you know when I can." That won't be good enough for them, but it'll at least stop the calls for the day. They can only make contact with you once a day, unless of course you request a call back.

And as far as the financial info goes that they request, it's a tactic they use just to see what you're spending money on. If you have cable, they'll tell you to cancel it and pay your bill. If you have $200 of extra money showing up every month, they'll offer you a payment plan of around $284 a month because they think everyone lies about it. The best thing to do it give outrageous amounts so it shows you're negative every month. Then just say "hey, you can see plain as day that I'm broke. See ya!"

I'm speaking as a former collector, and a current debtor. Ironic huh?

[COLOR=Red]****Adult term removed - Jason[/COLOR]

A lot of Phone calls and continuos ringing constitutes harassment according to the fdcpa.

I would answer the phone. Verify that you are indeed the person they are looking for, verify your mailing address and tell them you expect something in writing w/in 5 days. Then end the call. When you receive their dunning letter, immediately DV.

Hello all,

Read "Former Employee's" post carefully. Now ignore everything he said about hating people who knew the law. You are within your rights to defend yourself; if a collection employee cannot handle it or doesn't like it if you defend yourself under the letter of the law, then that's their problem, not yours. It is unconstitutional to be asked to sit there and take a verbal whipping and be asked not to defend yourself because a collection agent "doesn't like it". Again, that's THEIR problem, if they couldn't get their act together and get a proper education and a real job then it's not your fault.

Furthermore, many states' debt collection acts mirror the federal act in disallowing continuous ringing of the phone. Legally, you can argue that calling you more than ONCE constitutes repeated ringing of the phone with intent to harass. Even more importantly, many states' collection statutes are Deceptive Trade Practices Act tie-in statutes. Meaning? That you can sue ANYONE, not just the collection company, but the agent acting for the collection company, as well as the organization for which they are attempting to collect. That may not sound spectacular but it puts fear into an agent to hear that you can sue them PERSONALLY, and collect from them PERSONALLY, and there's no guarantee any collection agency has to indemnify them--that's their own lawsuit to worry about.

Be sure you mention this to them; unless they're psychotic or argumentative bullies they tend to back off. Violation of the Collection Acts, federal and state, is strict liability, and the DTPA, in addition to expanding the liability from the entity (the collection company and the company you owe to) to the agent also allows for treble damages under the proper circumstances, including economic and mental anguish.

Furthermore, the entity to whom you owe money can disclaim liability if they "have no knowledge" of the violations of the debt collection acts on the part of their collectors. So I suggest informing the company in writing, e-mail or otherwise, and making it clear that they are "placed on express notice" with your letter of the violation, and detailing the behavior violative of the acts. They tend to have attorneys who can affirm this, and even if they don't, you will have a record they were put on notice (so don't delete your e-mail outbox and keep a photocopy of any post-letters for your files).

Finally, don't assume these thugs know the acts "inside and out". These are people with low job skills and even less employability, and are not hired because of their countless advanced degrees. Whereas "former employee" may have been trained properly, there is no assurance anyone else working for any of these agencies has. Avoid hostility but do make it clear that you will not tolerate being harassed, and underscore the fact that any call exceeding ONE can be construed as harassment. You may owe money but under no circumstances have you committed a crime owing money, especially in today's economy. You cannot have a judgment or criminal charges assessed against you without being informed, and in particular owing money is not a crime, unless you meet several other criminal elements, which is not likely in the typical case.

I hope this helps some of you who are suffering at the hands of ruthless collection agencies. They cannot harass you, period. You have every right to research the law and defend yourself under the letter of the law, despite the fact that that irritates collection agents--of course it does, it makes their jobs harder when you don't willingly curl up and die.

Good luck to anyone needing this information reading it, I hope it helps.

Attorney, Thanks for all the information.

Yes, thanks!!

Did anyone ever think that if no one paid Collections, they would go out of business? So what if your credit is tarnished, live with it, they can't take 75,000 people to court!

LOL!! :lol: :lol:

I,just wish they'd check out the phone numbers they call. They keep calling me,then ask for my son's ex wife of 10 yrs.ago.She as remarried has had 2 kids lives 2 hours away.They even asked for her by her new married name dena menz

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I refuse to answer the phone if my caller ID comes up no name, unavailable or a private name private number. If people cannot identify themselves then I have nothing to say to them! I had one person late at night and wouldn't identify himself or did he state his business. I told him that if he couldn't identify himself and where he was calling from and what his business was then I refuse totalk to him and I told him not to call again. That is just so rude how collection agency's do that! Try that next time it works!!!

It is NOT being rude!!! By law they cannot give that information. Do yourself a favor ....answer the phone and find out if they even have the right person or phone. Plus telling them on the phone wont get them to stop either!!

SOAPLADY, I think you might be confused. If a CA calls you, they have to identify themselves when asked. Maybe I'm confused about this, however, so someone set me straight if I'm wrong.

If a CA calls me and doesn't identify themselves, or the name of their business, when I ask them, then they end up talking to a dial tone. Like I'm going to continue a conversation with someone that feels they need to hide their identity? Yeah, right!

They must determine that they are speaking to the consumer in question before they identify themselves as a debt collector and quote the "mini-miranda"

Yes, that's what I thought; however, if it is the debtor they are speaking with then they need to identify themselves and their company?

Per the fdcpa, they must identify themselves.

Yeah so that part about telling them they have the wrong number thing is bogus! my brother moved out 3 years ago and they call atleast 2 times a day and ask for him. and i keep telling them HE DOESNT LIVE HERE ANYMORE! And they still call so i dont know where that person got that garbage to say to them. nothing works because everything is computerized and the computer makes the phone calls thats why there is a 5 sec pause after you answer the phone and say hello 10 times!

Send them a full cease comm and inform them the person they seek does not live at that address. Sue them if they continue to harrass you. Rinse and repeat when it's sold to the next JDB.

how do i know what bill they are collecting for if nobody tells me

How do they know who they are speaking to if you don't tell them? They will give out their name and the name of the company but its against law for them to give out the exact matter why they are calling till you can verify who you are due to privacy laws. Besides, a lot of times they will have the wrong number. If you tell them they have the wrong number they are obligated to remove your number and NOT call back.

so sorry that not everyone is perfect like you and can't be an attorney cause its just so easy for people to go out to the money tree in their back yard and be able to pay for an overpriced education like you[samebox:dc08582710="paulmergel"]you must be a collector.just about everything they said was right on.he was talking about bottomfeeders for the most part.besides that was a while ago so why respond if you aren't the type they described?[/samebox:dc08582710]

We don't have any debt, but we still have been getting daily calls from CBE Group. It's not a wrong number thing, I've always answered the phone and it was for my boyfriend - we live together. We've never spoken to them; he's actually never been around whenever they've called so we can't, since only he can speak to them since it's his name on the debt. We think it's related to some bogus bills from when we moved several years ago; our internet provider continued to bill us for several months at the old address, even though we had cancelled service. My boyfriend thought it was resolved. Apparently, it was not. Now, jumping ahead here, how do we get rid of CBE? Because even though the debt is bogus, it doesn't seem to matter. It will be very easy for them to produce our contract with the internet provider, but we have nothing binding that states an end date of that contract since someone at the internet co. dropped the ball and didn't cancel the account. Assuming that this is what they are calling about, how do we prove ourselves innocent? Because even though they are supposed to prove that we owe money, it honestly doesn't seem like it works that way if it's gotten this far because of someone's typo.

Re: CBE Group Harassment

Dear Senator,

Please be aware the the CBE Group, located in your state is continuing to erroneously harass people over the telephone.
I was recently one of many people that this company calls night & day, and on weekends. They would call me & not leave a message.
When I called them, the asked for my phone number. When I reluctantly agreed after receiving more of their harassing calls, I was told they had the wrong number for the wrong person.
This company should do more research before unleashing their computer controlled telephone system on innocent citizens.

I look forward to your response.

Thank you for your time,
Marc Buursink

1. I have to respond to a previous statement about debt collectors, if they don't like their job then pay for a real education to get a real job, I worked as a debt collector until just very recently WHILE I am going to college. It is another job just like any, and honestly it really offends me that you would insinuate that someone who would work there wouldn't go to school or anything like that.

2. I understand everyone is quite upset with these calls. The reason they get many wrong numbers is because they receive very limited information from the companies that hired them to collect. Many times they receive old phone numbers and even mailing addresses. They are trying their best to get a hold of the right person to get the debt resolved. They will try the number already provided by the company that hired them, but if that doesn't work then they will do what is call skiptracing and a computer program looks through thousands of numbers and addresses and places what it believes to be the right information into the acct. If you answer the phone and just let them know that it is a wrong number per FDCPA they have to remove it on that first statement of a wrong number. If you don't get a chance to answer just call them back and let them know that they had the wrong number, if they ask you for the number all they need it for is to make sure that they pull up the right info so it can get removed immediately. Unfortunately it is people who remove the numbers and people make mistakes so occasionally they will remove the number but forget to take it off of the dialer for that day so if they call you back it was purely by accident, they will fix it and they will never call you again. I promise.

3.DLS in regards to your question about your boyfriends bogus debt from the cable company. I would be really irritated if I were in your situation. Completely understandable. He needs to dispute the debt in writing to the CBE group and explain why he feels he doesn't owe it. While they are verifying that with the original creditor they will not contact you. I will warn you though if the original company comes back and says that he still owes it they will contact you again. It does no good to continue to dispute it with CBE or any other agency. Depending on the amount and your ability to pay, I would recommend at that point to go ahead and take care of the balance and then go right back to the original company and dispute it with them and seek a refund. I know it is like shooting in the dark, but that is the best way to get a 3rd party agency to stop contacting you about something you really don't feel like you should owe, and that way you can deal with the company who originally charged you and make sure your voice is directly being heard by them. Like I said though, I would understand if you don't want to do that. My only other advice if you don't want to pay it is to send a dispute letter, and a Cease and Desist letter. They will have to verify the charges and they will never be able to contact you again while it is with that agency. The only time they would contact you is when the charges are done being verified they will call you or write you to let you know what they found out and that would be it. Unfortunately once it leaves their agency, which it will after about 6 months, it will go to another agency and you will have to complete the whole process over. It is a never ending process. That is why I recommend just paying it generally.

I hope this helped.

Can they garnish your wages?

not without a court order.alot of bottomfeeders threaten that,but they would have to sue and win.to the ex-collector nice post except for the last part.i will exercise my rights forever if i have to.just pay generally?that is how bottomfeeders stay in business.with thinking like that.otherwise nice post,good info.

Collection agencies rarely collect on anything. They may harrass you at will with our weak wristed court system. The best thing to do is get a real human on the line and use a boat horn to get their attention. Just be sure to put on ear defenders or ear plugs before you send out the blast. Be advised that this method will cause hearing loss so you might want to warn the person on the other end of the line. I rarely get a second or third call. It's not illegal to own or operate a boat horn. Let the collectors know who's boss.

Add this phone number to the list of harrassing calls received from CBE Group - 202-870-5976

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these eefers r sly they call me from a computer phone at the exact minute of the day 925 am mst and 847pm mst then im put on hold for 5 to 10 mins. on my cell phone mins so i have resorted to giving them a very special beavis and butthead ring tone now i laugh and play all day with my 2 favorite buddies. at the end of the day i come home turn on the computer take a shower then i go to donotcall.gov and file a complant telling them how they act like kim jon ill or adolf they really did ask me for my social security number, name address ect. thats illigal fraud next im calling the local county attourneys office because im trying to get em a new place to live in the cross bar hotel and one more thang that works a little faster for donotcall.gov you can call em with your key pad at 1-888-382-1222 just b a dictater to them if they get u off guard to them play their game i have great credit and i want to c their complant in writing first before i go to the local countys attourneys office but i wouldnt even say that remember play their game

yeah im catching on your cbe group

I settled a debt w the guys and now they refuse to give me a letter showing that the account has been paid! What can i do to make sure i get this!

Do you have anything in writing to document the settlement agreement?

I did get an agreement ltr stating that if I pd a certain amount it would setl the debt. I paid it and now 30 days ltr being that they told me to wait 30 days then call back for it I get a justin on the pho who claims be a compliance officer sd that they do not issue those kind of ltrs. i want a ltr to snd to the credit agency and to have proof that the acct has been paid! What do I do?

Yes i do the faxed me a settlment ltr aftger we agreed on a dollar amount that thry told me to wait 30 days and to call back to get a ltr of satisfation i called on thursday and i spo ke to justin who claimed to be a compliance officer after i spoke to a rep than a manager justin claimed they do not issue settlement ltrs. I want a ltr to confirm i no longer owe the debt for my records and to forward to credit agencies. What do i do?

Most collections agents aren't "thugs". They're real people, with families and bills themselves. They don't know who you are, and believe it or not most of them don't really care whether or not you pay the bill they are trying to collect. They, just like you, simply don't enjoy being called names and lied to all day long. It is a stressful thing to be involved in having delinquent debts, and it just sucks that it has to happen. Trying to play the "I'm going to sue you" game or the "you are in violation of this or that law" game is most often a waste of time. When you are really frustrated because of something causing you to not pay a debt, and someone calls you to ask you to pay it, naturally it's really easy to just vent all your frustrations on this person. Most often this is what starts the hostility and leads to things like an angry collector doing or saying something mean or harassing.

P.S. - Harassment can be anything you want it to be. It's defined in FDCPA as anything that the consumer feels is harassment. If you don't like what they're doing and think it's harassing, it's harassing and you can tell them that.

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A recent court decision found that debt collectors may not violate one provision of law (FDCPA says debt collectors must identify themselves as such) in order to comply with another provision of law (it also says they may not disclose debts to third parties).

They have "cleverly" violated FDCPA if they are attempting to collect on a consumer debt. Repeated calls, repeatedly refusing to identify themselves as debt collectors, or by name when asked, are repeated FDCPA violations, and also abusive.

If you keep getting hang-up calls from them, then they are using an autodialer to call a cell phone, which is a violation of FTC and FCC (and some state) autodialer rules, whether they are debt coll
A recent court decision found that debt collectors may not violate one provision of law (FDCPA says debt collectors must identify themselves as such) in order to comply with another provision of law (it also says they may not disclose debts to third parties).

They have "cleverly" violated FDCPA if they are attempting to collect on a consumer debt. Repeated calls, repeatedly refusing to identify themselves as debt collectors, or by name when asked, are repeated FDCPA violations, and also abusive.

If you keep getting hang-up calls from them, then they are using an autodialer to call a cell phone, which is a violation of FTC and FCC (and some state) autodialer rules, whether they are debt collectors or not.

ectors or not.

Getting several calls a day from CBE Group for someome I did not know, and calling back the numbers on my caller ID didn't work. I took a bit of the former employee's advice. I called this number for Main Office 1-800-925-6686. I spoke calmly and politely to rep. Responded to her greeting like I would have anyone else. "Hello (reps name), my name is Ruth and I need to let you know about a wrong number." Took a few minutes but she was as polite to me as I was to her and said that my number would be removed from the list. Thanked me for letting them know. We even chatted a bit at the end of the call.
Now it's "wait and see" as far as the calls stopping, but I believe that they will.

Hello. I have been receiving calls from this tel# that seem to be linked with the CBE (704-970-1936) collection agency, at least based on comments I read over the Internet. I missed a call this morning but I don't think they will call back again today, at least not until the evening. In any rate, what should I tell them when I pick up the phone given that I am not aware of any debt to any credit card company or otherwise? Is it possible for a person, business, or institution to "make up" a "debt" and apply it to some random person? I hope not but that would be real creepy. Based on some of the comments here, I must cooperate with them or else they will not provide me with any specific info. as far as why exactly they are calling me... is that correct? Is it safe for me to even confirm who I am with them? Would they consider that "admitting" a "debt" that I don't even have? Assuming they got the correct name, does it mean I somehow ended up in trouble without even knowing? I guess if they ask for the wrong person I just let them know and hope that will be the end of it. I also added my #s to the Do Not Call Registry as a result but I don't know if this would cover them. Was I suppose to get any written material concerning a debt prior to such phone calls from a collection agency? Can a collection agency call a person without that person ever being informed of a debt from the person, business, or institution they are said to owe money to? I would greatly appreciate if anyone could provide answers to these important questions as it may assist me in figuring this out and helping me once they call again (and I'm pretty much sure they will as they called my # 4 times during 3 different days thus far) Thanks a lot, take care, and good luck to anyone who has a debt! PS I feel that it is a form of harrasement because now I am worried about a debt I don't even have, and in these harsh economic times its not a comforting feeling, even though I believe that its a mistake and this matter will be resolved once I speak to them and hopefuly get the information that led them to call me from the first place.

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i love how they just called me, asked for me by name then hung up... real class

;)Send a dept validation letter to c b e group certified mail return receipt , they have to sign for it. they can not contact you durring the 30 day validation period, untill they verify they must stop collection attempts and calls. they most likly will give up or sell it off again

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786-279-4776 just started calling today.
I auto answer with a great acoustic of Hotel California - 7 minutes long distance. I have had them wait for 4 minutes before they hang up.

Any one in the area code want an auto dialer, since you are not a company then you should be able to keep calling until they change their number. If they are answering your call, they are not calling someone else and LOSING money.

A word about Credit Bureaus. They are profit making corporations like McDondals. They gather information about individuals and sell it to businesses. If a Credit Bureau wants to sell a faulty product and businesses want to buy it, I consider it their problem. I am not going to volunteer to help then correct it. I don't volunteer to help McDonalds put out a better hamburger and I'm not going to volunteer to help a Credit Bureau put out a better product. Any credit denied to me because of a Credit Bureau Report is just a loss for the business who bought the report. I can live without most credit and most other Americans also. In fact, most of us live better without credit and save more money.
Sincerely, Senior Citizen