Consumer complaint received 2023-01-31
Company: Westlake Services, LLC
State: IL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Loan sold or transferred to another company

Complaint:
I purchased my vehicle from XXXX XXXX XXXX and signed the loan contract XX/XX/XXXX. The terms of the contract are 54 payments of {$380.00} due on the XXXX of every month. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received notice that XXXX XXXX XXXX will be transferring the " servicing '' of my account to Westlake Financial XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX effective XX/XX/XXXX. In this notice it states " This transfer does not affect any of the terms, conditions or obligations of your retail installment contract other than who services your account. '' A few days after receiving " notice of transfer of service '', I received a " Welcome '' letter from Westlake Financial with my new account number and several payment options to choose from in order to make my monthly payment. I followed the instructions and set-up my account online, made my monthly payments online via Westlake Financials `` payment portal '' every month, on-time without issue. 

Until XXXX of XXXX, I had unfortunately been affected by the XXXX pandemic. While I was grateful to not have been affected right away by the XXXX pandemic, it did unfortunately cause me to lose all source of income. At the time I had lost all income I only had {$1800.00} or 5 more monthly payments left on my car loan. I pulled up my original contract and found that luckily I did pay for " Voluntary debt-cancellation coverage '', which is line item XXXX on my signed contract at the amount of {$2200.00}. 

So, I called XXXX XXXX and was transferred to 37 different customer service agents, spent 5 hours explaining my situation over and over again to every new customer service agent they transferred me to just trying to utilize my " voluntary debt cancellation coverage '', so that I would not lose my vehicle in a repossession. To which I finally received a " supervisor '' who explained to me that while they absolutely have to honor the contract, they however do not have a " process '' and there was nothing they could do for me. 

After getting absolutely no where with XXXX XXXX, I reached out to a family friend/attorney who was able to look over all documentation and validated that Westlake Financial was indeed in " breach of contract ''. This attorney also sent a demand letter via e-mail and XXXX XXXX XXXX mail explaining that we demand they honor the provision set forth in our contract, forgive the remaining balance and refund any payments made over and above the remaining balance and that they had 7 days to respond or else we will be seeking all cost 's and attorney 's fees associated with litigation for Westlake Financials willful breach. 

As of XX/XX/XXXX, we have not heard anything from Westlake Financial. I am simply looking for Westlake Financial to do the right thing in this matter and forgive the remaining balance and utilize my " debt cancellation coverage '' which I purchased on my original contract. 

I have attached all documentation for your review and hope that we can resolve this matter without having to seek further action against this company. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation