Creditors Adjustment Bureau fees and what you keep on a B2B claim

Creditors Adjustment Bureau (CAB) charges a contingency fee per claim: 50% on the first $500 collected and 20% on the balance, 35% on international claims, and 50% on claims more than a year old from the last invoice, secondary placements, bankrupt or out of business debtors and assigned judgments. If a domestic claim under a year old goes to suit, the fee is 35% plus court costs, rising to 50% if the case goes to trial (cabcollects.com/fees, read September 2026). On a $10,000 invoice paid in full after placement, that is $2,150 to CAB and $7,850 to you. There is no fee if nothing is collected.

The rate card is only half the cost. CAB's published terms also charge on payments the customer makes directly to you, on accounts you withdraw after demand, and on returned merchandise. Below is the full schedule, the terms that move the real price, worked numbers on five claim sizes, and a cheaper route for invoices that do not need an agency yet.

Creditors Adjustment Bureau fees at a glance

CAB is a commercial collection agency and law practice in Sherman Oaks, California, working since 1954. It publishes its full schedule on its own site, which most commercial agencies do not. Rates are contingent on collection and are set per claim.

CAB says special arrangements may be negotiated for large dollar claims or volume placements. It also states that no lawsuit is filed and no settlement of principal is made without your approval.

What does Creditors Adjustment Bureau charge on real claim sizes?

Because the first $500 is taken at 50%, CAB's effective rate is highest on small claims and settles close to 20% on larger ones. Here is the arithmetic on a standard commercial claim under a year old, paid in full after placement.

Two things change those numbers fast. If the invoice is more than a year past its last invoice date when you place it, the whole claim moves to 50%, so the $10,000 claim costs $5,000 instead of $2,150. And if it goes to suit, a $10,000 claim under a year old costs 35%, or $3,500, plus court costs, and 50% if it reaches trial. Age at placement is the single biggest lever you control.

The contract terms that move the real cost

The fee schedule sits above a set of terms that anyone placing a claim should read before signing. These are all on CAB's published fees page.

• Direct payments still earn the fee. CAB is entitled to its commission on all funds collected, including payments the debtor sends straight to you, merchandise returns, and accounts withdrawn from collection. Once you place, pulling the account back does not save the fee.
• The discovery charge. If it turns out an account was already resolved before you placed it, CAB charges half its applicable rate. Reconcile your aging report before placement, not after.
• Free demand is not a free service on its own. CAB offers a free demand option: if the debtor pays in full before the final due date on the demand, there is no charge. But CAB will not accept an account for free demand only. If the balance stays unpaid, it proceeds to collection at the standard rates, and any payment, settlement or withdrawal after demand is billed.
• Amounts above principal. CAB may keep all lawful sums collected in excess of the principal you assigned, so interest or late fees recovered from the debtor go to the agency rather than to you.
• Attorney fees are extra. If a claim is forwarded to an outside attorney, additional fees apply on funds collected, and if suit is filed you pay legal charges and advance costs on top of CAB's regular fee.
• You pay CAB's invoices within 10 days. Unpaid billings accrue interest at 18% a year, and disputes over the agreement are heard in Los Angeles County, at the Van Nuys Courthouse.

One inconsistency is worth raising before you sign. The rate table lists international claims at 35%, while a later paragraph of the same terms says a fee of fifty percent applies to international accounts outside the 50 states. If you have a foreign debtor, get the rate for that claim confirmed in writing. For how cross border pricing works more generally, see international debt collection costs.

Is Creditors Adjustment Bureau legitimate?

Yes. CAB was founded in 1954 and holds a California collection agency license (#10007-99), a New York City license (#2082907-DCA) and a North Carolina permit (#522238854), all listed on its own site. It pairs the agency with a law office led by Kenneth J. Freed and says it has filed more than 15,000 commercial litigation cases. Brian L. Mitteldorf has been president since 2014. That in house legal arm is its main difference from agencies that forward suits to outside counsel.

Legitimacy and fit are different questions, though. An agency with lawyers on staff is worth its percentage on a claim that is silent, disputed or large. It is expensive on a $2,000 invoice that would have been paid after two firm emails.

How do CAB's rates compare with other commercial agencies?

Among the few US commercial agencies that publish a schedule, CAB is competitive on large claims and expensive on small ones because of the 50% tier on the first $500.

Kaplan figures are from kaplancollectionagency.com and STA figures from stacollect.com, both read at source. For more agencies side by side, see the best commercial debt collection agencies compared, and for the agencies that publish no rates at all, our ABC-Amega alternative page shows how to get a comparable quote.

When should you place a claim with Creditors Adjustment Bureau?

Place it when the balance is several thousand dollars or more, the customer has stopped answering, and you have already sent a written demand with a firm date. Place it before the invoice turns a year old, because that is when CAB's rate jumps from about 20% to 50%. If you expect a lawsuit, an agency with an in house law office is a reasonable choice, and it is worth checking how courts in the debtor's state have handled similar contract claims first; you can search case law with AI legal research in a few minutes before approving a filing.

Keep it in house when the invoice is under 90 days past due, the customer is still responding, or the balance is small enough that 50% of the first $500 eats most of the recovery. Recovery falls with age, from around 70% or better on accounts under 90 days to often below 15% past 180 days, so early, consistent follow up is the cheapest collection there is.

That early stage is what DebtAgent does. It drafts a friendly, firm and final email sequence from each invoice's real amount, number and due date, you approve the wording once, and it sends in your name until the invoice is paid. It costs $49 a month for 50 active debtors, with no share of what you recover. The invoices that still do not move after the final email become a short, documented list, and that is the list worth sending to CAB. For a wider comparison of fee models, see commercial debt collection agency costs and flat fee debt collection.