Why this company appears here
With a long history and a national footprint, CBE turns up on a wide mix of accounts, including government programs and major creditors' debts.
Common account types
- Government receivables
- Financial-services accounts
- Healthcare accounts
- General consumer receivables
Check the company before you click or pay.
Match these details to the validation notice, credit report entry, and payment page before sharing account or bank information.
- Legal name
- The CBE Group, Inc.
- Parent company
- CBE Companies
- Known aliases
- The CBE Group, Inc. / CBE Companies / The CBE Group Inc - Formerly VAC / VAC
- Official website
- https://cbegroup.com/
- Consumer portal
- https://cbegroup.com/make-a-payment/
- Phone - Account type help
- 800-925-6686
- Phone - Federal student loans
- 866-912-1312
- Phone - Government taxes
- 1-800-910-5837
- Phone - Government non-education or tax
- 1-866-985-4766
- Mailing address
- The CBE Group, Inc., Attn: Compliance, 1309 Technology Parkway, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
- Last reviewed
- June 11, 2026
Match the official phone number against your caller ID before responding. If a call, text, email, or payment site uses different details, use the official website, portal, or mailing address before you respond.
Find out who actually owns the account.
A collector, servicer, and debt owner are not always the same company. That affects what proof you should ask for.
Possible role: Third-party and first-party ARM servicer, outsourced contact-center vendor, and IRS private collection agency
CBE collects unpaid accounts — both under its clients' names and its own — across utilities, healthcare, banking, government, and tax. The IRS also lists CBE Group as one of the private agencies it uses to contact taxpayers about certain inactive tax debts on the government's behalf.
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Do not assume CBE owns the debt; ask for validation identifying the current creditor, original creditor if different, itemization, and current amount.
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For IRS-related debts, verify the IRS assignment notice and taxpayer authentication number through IRS channels before paying.
What official records say.
Each note below comes from a dated government, regulator, court, or SEC record. Use it as background, not as proof about your specific account.
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As of May 21, 2026, the IRS lists CBE as a private collection agency that may contact taxpayers for assigned overdue tax accounts; the IRS says private collection agencies must send an initial letter, may not request payment directly to the agency, and may not take enforcement actions such as levies or federal tax liens.
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Treasury Fiscal Service lists The CBE Group as a Cross-Servicing private collection agency for delinquent nontax federal debts and says those contractors must follow federal debt-collection, privacy, and claims-collection rules.
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A Northern District of Ohio order dismissed a debt collection law case against CBE involving an IRS income-tax collection notice, holding that the alleged income-tax liability was not consumer debt under that law.
Source:El v. The CBE Group
Start with the facts you can check.
- Depending on the program, CBE might be the collection agency or just handling customer service for a client, so confirm which role it's playing on your account.
- Government placements can have different appeal, offset, or administrative-review procedures from private consumer debt.
Confirm the account first.
Even a real collector can have the wrong person, wrong amount, old debt, duplicate placement, or incomplete records.
- The collector name, mailing address, phone number, and website on the letter you received.
- Who the original creditor was, who owns or placed the account now, the account number, balance, and date of last payment.
- Whether the debt may be too old for a lawsuit in your state before you pay or promise to pay.
- Whether the account appears on your official credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com.
- Whether this looks like the kind of account CBE Group commonly handles: Government receivables, Financial-services accounts, Healthcare accounts, General consumer receivables.
Questions people ask about CBE Group.
Use these answers to sort out roles, names, portals, and account details before responding.
Is CBE Group the same as CBE Companies?
CBE Group is the debt collection and accounts-receivable arm associated with CBE Companies. CBE's payment-site materials describe CBE Group as a CBE Companies subsidiary that provides debt collection services for clients in multiple industries.
Is CBE Group really an IRS private collection agency?
Yes. The IRS lists CBE Group Inc. as one of the private collection agencies that may contact taxpayers on the government's behalf for certain inactive tax debts. IRS materials say taxpayers should first receive IRS Notice CP40 and then a letter from the assigned agency, with a taxpayer authentication number on both letters.
What kinds of accounts does CBE Group collect?
CBE describes collections and accounts-receivable services across healthcare, telecommunications, utilities, financial services, retail, tax, government, and related accounts. Its payment materials mention account types such as medical, cable, phone service, utilities, credit card, student loans, government, and tax accounts.
Does CBE Group own my debt?
Do not assume CBE owns the debt just because it contacted you. CBE describes providing debt collection services to clients, and for IRS accounts CBE says payments are made directly to the IRS rather than to CBE. Your notice or validation information should identify the creditor or current owner.
How can I verify CBE's contact or payment instructions?
For IRS accounts, verify the assignment through IRS private debt collection materials and remember that IRS tax payments go directly to the IRS or U.S. Treasury, not to CBE. For non-IRS accounts, use CBE's official payment page or the contact information in your written notice.
Can I ask CBE Group to validate or explain the debt?
Yes. Debt collectors generally must provide validation information that helps you recognize the debt, including the creditor name, amount owed, and how to dispute it. A timely written dispute generally requires the collector to pause collection of the disputed debt until verification is provided.
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