Consumer complaint received 2023-03-31
Company: Westlake Services, LLC
State: SC
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Auto debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed
Sub-issue: Debt was already discharged in bankruptcy and is no longer owed

Complaint:
Ok. I didn't write this. XXXX XXXX did. We aren't asking yall to sign your name. We're asking you to copy it and send it to every single news media outlet in your area. We need to be heard! 

Im writing this at this hour because this situation has caused me to lose many nights of sleep. 
As you know XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) closed its doors in XXXX and recently filed for XXXX XXXX Bankruptcy. This has caused so many problems for so many people, and according to the media, all people have to do is pay Westlake Portfolio Management ( WPM ). Thats what everyone says. Just send them your payments. WELL, its really Not that simple. First of all, WPM is a Collection Agency. Does anyone know what that really means? All of the accounts are in Collections!! Why is that ok? Collection Agencies handle accounts that are delinquent and the original creditor has made all attempts for customers to pay, unavailable and unsuccessful. 
A Collection Agency on your credit can cause your credit score to plummet by XXXX points. A Collection Agency on your credit can cause people to Not be hired or Lose a Current Job. A Collection Agency on your credit can prevent a home purchase. Why should the people that were doing business with XXXX have to suffer because they decided to shut the business down? Not only is the Collection Agency issue a problem, but what do they do about warranty issues. WPM has made it clear that they will Not honor any warranty. There are people with their vehicles STUCK in the shop because they were never paid for repairs. They have also told individuals that the term of their car notes is 136 months!! Do you know how many Years 136 months is?? XXXX Would you pay a car note that long? 
Another issue is most didnt even know they were leasing their vehicle until all of this happened. Others found out after they paid their deposits. These are people that werent able to get a car loan, and now theyre APPROVED! The excitement about having a nice vehicle with an affordable down payment blinded most of us. Nothing about XXXX said Lease. They were the XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. It was a Buy Here Pay Here Car Lot. What about that says Lease? 
I dont know of a vehicle from them worth more than {$15000.00} and to own it will cost at least {$30000.00}. With a lease certain terms that were available. You could turn it in and walk away. You could trade it in for another vehicle. You could make a balloon payment and then begin a purchase. These options werent even known by many of the customers, but now None of those options are available anymore. Theres nowhere to return the vehicle. WPM says they only collect on the debt and even if you return the car, youll still have to pay for it!! There are people with a car and No Paperwork. They have Nothing saying they even have a vehicle from XXXX. Nothing! They cant even register the vehicle! WPM doesnt have anything on them!! They just have a vehicle they cant do anything with, not even operate legally!! Just pay yall say. 
Theres not even a guarantee that WPM even had the titles. Have you even looked at the reviews?? Horrible! People are waiting for titles long after paying for their vehicles. I know of someone that had their vehicle totaled and cant do anything with the check from the insurance company because XXXX is on it and WPM doesnt have her account!! Now she has No vehicle and a check that might as well be a piece of blank paper. Just pay the yall say! 
WPM says they dont need to issue any new contracts because theyre honoring the original contract. How is that when theyve canceled the warranty, changed the terms of the payments, removed the lease options, dont have titles, and dont even have everyones account!! Just pay yall say. 
Would you pay? What about the rights of the consumer? We are aware that to yall were nobody. Nothing. I mean we couldnt even purchase a car at a regular lot. We didnt even know we were leasing. We made a down payment before signing paperwork ( that locked us into the lease without even knowing that was what it was ) We cant even find an attorney that will listen to us because whos going to pay them? XXXX is bankruptcy and the business has been dissolved. We want you to know that We are Not a bunch of Nobodys. We Matter. We have Rights as consumers! We have a Voice! We Demand to be heard!! 
WPM has made hard inquiries on peoples credit without any consent!! They have automatically deducted payments on bank accounts without permission!! They harass people by calling several times a day from different numbers!! They dont care about how they speak to people!! They even hang up or yell over people. They arent even supposed to officially take over until XXXX XXXX. ( According to an interview with the XXXX  ) The law states that they have to send out a verification letter within 5 days of contact, and they didnt. They cant even validate the debt!! Theyre asking people to send them their original contracts!! Pay them YALL say! Why should they pay them?? 
There are so many things that have been done illegally! People have cars in other peoples name that they didnt know about. People have vehicles with VINs different than their paperwork. People have accident reports on their insurance since theyve had the vehicles that they did didnt make or know about. Pay them YALL say!!! WPM is a debt collection agency and most of the people werent even delinquent!! Tell us again that we should just shut up and pay. 
People are scared. People are stressed to the max. Why pay again? Because they bought the information? What about XXXX filing bankruptcy followed by XXXX XXXX XXXX Are our vehicles part of the bankruptcy? Are they listed as assets? Should ANYONE be collecting while the bankruptcy is in process? Who do we have in our corner? Who cares about us? 
They had over 40 dealerships in 10 states! Do you know how many customers that is? Thousands!! What about us? Some people have already paid $ XXXX into their car already for a car worth {$7000.00}, and they still have more than {$15000.00} to go. They dont want to lose their only means of transportation, but at what cost? We were preyed upon and now were been preyed upon by a different company and thrown away by the rest of the world as if were trash!! Just pay YALL say.

We say NO!!! Since WPM has only some of our information, what about the rest of the accounts? Who has them? We Demand proof that we can get our titles once the vehicles paid off. We Demand Validation of the Debts? Are they ( WPM ) even licensed to collect in the states we all live in? We Demand a new contract with terms that they plan on adhering to!! We want to be turned over to a finance company for negotiations. We want WPM off of our credit reports completely and all collection activity stopped immediately! We want attorneys to work with us to ensure all if our rights are observed and that WPM be made to stop. They are harassing people and pressuring them to pay a debt they legally cant collect on right now. We dealt with enough from XXXX, we refuse to go from a bad company to the worst company. WE DEMAND THAT OUR VOICES BE HEARD!!!! WE WONT BACK DOWN!!! Why not take some time to actually investigate this matter instead of telling us to JUST PAY WPM! HELP US! PLEASE!!! We can be contacted via XXXX under XXXX XXXX XXXX  Customers. Join us and read our stories. See for yourself what this situation is doing to Thousands of people that have been thrown into the lions den. We are Not trying to get a free car!! We just want to be treated fairly and justly, and be taken seriously. We are willing to pay a reasonable amount to a finance company under a new contract, or to the bankruptcy courts for the blue book value of the vehicles. Thank you for taking the time to hear me out. I hope that we hear from you soon. 

Signed A Human Being With Rights P.S This letter will be sent to every news station in every city that XXXX operates in, and we will send this and other letters weekly until we are taken seriously.

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