CBE Group: How To Remove CBE Group From Your Credit Report
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Summary:
If you have been contacted by CBE Group regarding a debt, you will want to make sure you verify that the debt is legitimate and correct. Otherwise, CBE Group could report bad information to the credit bureaus, which will end up on your credit report. If you do find any errors, you can file a dispute with the credit bureaus, or if you want to pay off the debt, you can try to work out a pay-for-delete agreement with the debt collection agency.
No one wants to have to deal with calls and letters from a debt collection agency, especially if the information they have is not even correct. Believe it or not, mistakes pop up on credit reports all the time, from incorrect dates and dollar amounts to problems stemming from identity theft. In the case of a debt that went to a collections agency, it could stay on your credit report for years. And even if the debt is real and you do pay it off, you’ll want it removed from your credit report as soon as possible.
Fortunately, you do have rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which was updated in November 2021. The good news is that if you find an item on your credit report from a collections agency, including CBE Group, it is possible to have it removed, though the exact process will depend on your circumstances.
Let’s take a closer look at what CBE Group is and what you need to do in order to remove it from your credit report.
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What is CBE Group?
CBE Group, Inc. is a debt collection agency that is based in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The company provides debt collection services to businesses and financial institutions, and it has a long history of working with credit card companies, hospitals, and other organizations to collect unpaid debts.
CBE Group has been the subject of numerous complaints from consumers who claim that the company has engaged in unfair or deceptive practices, such as calling consumers at unreasonable hours or using abusive language. If you are being contacted by CBE Group about an unpaid debt, it’s important to understand your rights and to take steps to protect yourself from potential abuse or harassment.
Debt collectors, including CBE Group, can call you, send you letters, or use other methods to contact you to recoup a debt. However, they must follow the rules outlined under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
Is CBE a collection agency for the IRS?
Yes, the IRS started using three private collection agencies to help collect inactive debts. CBE Group is one of those private collection agencies. The other two are Cost Professional Inc, and ConServe.
How IRS Private Collection Agencies work
The IRS provides the following guidelines for dealing with private collection agencies.
- Before you are contacted by a private collection agency, you will receive two letters.
- The IRS will first send Notice CP40 and Publication 4518. These let you know that your overdue tax account was assigned to a private collection agency.
- The private collection agency then sends their initial contact letter. It has information on how to resolve your overdue taxes.
- Both letters contain a Taxpayer Authentication Number. It’s used to confirm your identity. It’s also for you to verify that the caller is legitimate. Keep this number in a safe place.
Pro Tip
Debt collectors can even try to contact you through social media, but they must follow certain rules: their messages must be private, they must identify themselves as a debt collector, and they must provide you with a way to opt out of receiving further communications from them on that social media platform.
Does CBE Group affect my credit score?
Having an account sent to a debt collection agency can definitely affect your credit score. It can stay on your credit report for up to seven years, which will lower your score and make it harder for you to get a credit card or a mortgage down the road. So if you see CBE Group on your credit report, you’ll want to do everything you can to remove that information right away.
The good news is that you are protected by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which dictates how debt collections can be reported on your credit report. Before they can report a debt to a credit bureau, debt collectors must take one of the following actions:
- Speak to you about the debt, either by telephone or in person
- Mail you a letter or send an electronic communication about the debt and wait a reasonable amount of time (generally 14 days) for a response, in case the letter or email is returned as undeliverable
Pro Tip
It’s good practice to check your credit report periodically to make sure there are no mistakes or surprises. You can get a free copy of your credit report from each of the three main credit reporting agencies once every 12 months by going to AnnualCreditReport.com.
How do I remove CBE Group from my credit report?
Whether the debt is legitimate or not, you can take steps to remove CBE Group from your credit report. In some cases, it may not be possible to remove the information, but it is still worth a try to protect your credit history.
If you want to remove information about CBE Group from your credit report, you can try the following steps:
- Review your credit report to confirm that the information about CBE Group is accurate. You can obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) once per year by visiting annualcreditreport.com.
- If you find that the information about CBE Group is accurate, but you believe it should not be included on your credit report, you can dispute the information with the credit reporting agencies. To do this, you can contact the credit reporting agency in question and provide any supporting documentation that may help to explain the situation.
- If the information about CBE Group is inaccurate, you can also dispute the information with the credit reporting agencies. In this case, you should provide any documentation that supports your claim that the information is incorrect.
- If you are unable to resolve the matter with the credit reporting agencies, you may want to consider seeking legal advice. An attorney may be able to help you remove the information from your credit report or take other steps to protect your rights.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can go about removing a negative item from CBE Group from your credit report.
Request that all correspondence be sent by mail
First, you’ll want to have proof of all your communications with CBE Group in case you need to take legal action or file a dispute later on. You’ll also probably want the annoying phone calls to stop. Contact CBE Group and request that all of your communications be sent through the mail.
You can contact CBE Group at the following address:
Corporate Office and Operational Center
131 Tower Park Drive, Suite 6
Waterloo, IA 50701
Ph# 1-800-925-6686
131 Tower Park Drive, Suite 6
Waterloo, IA 50701
Ph# 1-800-925-6686
Request a debt verification letter
When CBE Group collects a debt, the company is required by law to provide certain information about that debt within five days of its first contact with you. This is known as a debt validation letter, and it should include the following information:
- The name and mailing information of the debt collector
- The name of the creditor to whom the debt is owed
- The account number associated with the debt
- An itemization of the current amount of the debt — including interest, fees, payments, and credits — since a particular date that you may be able to recognize or verify with records
- The current amount of the debt as of when the validation notice is provided
- Information about your debt collection rights, including how to dispute the debt
The notice must also contain a returnable form that allows you to declare that you are disputing the debt for one of the following reasons:
- The debt is not yours
- The amount is wrong
- Other (you will need to supply additional information)
Once CBE Group sends you a validation notice, you have 30 days to request a debt verification letter that proves the debt is in fact yours. At that point, the debt collector must stop trying to collect payment until it verifies that the debt is yours.
If it turns out that the debt doesn’t belong to you, you’ll need to send a dispute letter to CBE Group and the credit bureaus. Once they receive the necessary proof, they should remove the debt from your credit report immediately.
Pro Tip
Any time you send a communication to a debt collector, credit bureau, or other agency, use certified mail and request a return receipt. That way, you’ll have a record proving that you sent the information and that it was received.
File a dispute with the credit bureaus
If you believe that you do not owe the debt or that CBE Group has failed to validate the debt, you can file a dispute with the credit bureaus. Each credit bureau has its own process for dealing with disputes. In any case, you will need to provide documentation of the error, so be sure to prepare all of your paperwork in advance.
To start the dispute process, you can visit the website of each credit bureau or mail your dispute forms to the following addresses:
Equifax
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
P.O. Box 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374
Experian
P.O. Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
P.O. Box 4500
Allen, TX 75013
TransUnion LLC, Consumer Dispute Center
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
P.O. Box 2000
Chester, PA 19016
You may also be familiar with another option known as a 609 letter. This refers to Section 609 of the FDCPA, which states that if the credit bureaus can’t produce certain records required to verify a debt, then they must remove that debt from your credit report.
Some people view this as a legal loophole — the assumption is that if you mention obscure records, the credit bureaus won’t be able to produce them. However, there is no evidence that a 609 letter works any better than the regular dispute forms, so it may not be worth spending money on a 609 letter template.
Check the statute of limitations
One way that a CBE Group debt item may be removed from your credit report is if the statute of limitations in your state has expired. If that is the case, the collector cannot pursue legal action against you.
A debt collection company knows that these time limits are in place, so they may encourage you to make a payment as soon as possible because it will reset the statute of limitations. Be sure you don’t make any payments unless you are sure it’s absolutely necessary.
Work out a pay-for-delete agreement
If you truly owe the debt claimed by the debt collector, you can try to work out a pay-for-delete agreement with CBE Group. This agreement states that as long as you pay all or part of your debt (which could be half or even less), the debt collection agency agrees to remove the collections account from your credit report. Here is an example of what that might look like:
“In exchange for paying [dollar amount] on this account [account number], CBE Group will remove the account from my credit report with the three major credit reporting bureaus.”
To enter into a pay-for-delete agreement, you will send a formal letter to confirm the arrangement and ask for written confirmation from CBE Group.
Check your credit report
About 30 days after you have made your payment or filed your dispute, you should check your credit report to see if anything has changed. Note that it may take a few months for items to be removed or for your scores to change.
If nothing has changed after 30 days, it’s time to file a complaint against CBE Group. You may also want to consider getting a law firm involved.
How to file a complaint against CBE Group
Hopefully, it won’t come to this, but if you feel like CBE Group has been unfairly harassing you or has otherwise violated the law, you can file a complaint against the company with several agencies.
- File a complaint with the FDIC. The FDIC handles debt collection complaints related to FDIC-supervised banks.
- File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. This will help get the word out to other consumers who are being similarly harassed.
- Find your state’s regulator. Many states have their own version of the FDCPA. You can look up your state’s regulator in the State Bank Directory of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.
Pro Tip
If you feel that a debt collector has violated the law and you want them to stop calling you, you can employ this 11-word phrase to stop debt collectors: “Please cease and desist all calls and contact with me, immediately.”
FAQs
Is CBE Group legitimate?
Yes, CBE Group is a legitimate debt collection company that is required to obey state and federal laws regarding how and when to contact you about debt.
What kind of company is CBE Group?
CBE Group, Inc. is a debt collection agency that is based in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The company provides debt collection services to businesses and financial institutions, and it has a long history of working with credit card companies, hospitals, and other organizations to collect unpaid debts.
Does DRS affect your credit score?
Yes, an item from CBE Group on your credit report could affect your credit score. What’s more, it could stay on your record for seven years, unless you take immediate steps to remove it.
Will CBE Group try to sue me or garnish my wages?
It is possible for CBE Group to sue you, even over a small amount of debt. If you do not respond to the lawsuit, a judge could order you to pay the debt, which could result in your wages being garnished. Your best bet is to take all communications from CBE Group seriously and respond to them immediately.
Key Takeaways
- Having an item from a debt collection agency on your credit report could hurt your credit score for up to seven years.
- You are protected from abusive practices by debt collection agencies under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
- If you would like to remove CBE Group from your credit report, you can file a dispute or try to work out a pay-for-delete arrangement with the company.
- You will want to request all communications in writing, request a debt verification letter, and check the statute of limitations on debt collection in your state.
- After requesting the item(s) from CBE Group be removed, you should check your credit report after 30 days. If the items are still on your report, you can file a complaint against the debt collector.
If you need help fixing your credit after going too far into debt, you can seek out help from a credit repair company. These professionals know how to deal with aggressive debt collectors and may be able to help you draft letters or compile documentation so you won’t need to do it on your own. Use SuperMoney’s comparison tool to find the best credit repair service for your needs!
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Cara Corey is a writer and editor who loves to help people make sense of confusing topics. Her work has been featured in many blogs, newspapers, and magazines, including the Des Moines Register, Boulder Daily Camera, Better Homes and Gardens, and Parents Magazine.
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