Consumer complaint received 2017-11-01
Company: Westlake Services, LLC
State: TX
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off

Complaint:
On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I purchased a XXXX XXXX XXXX, VIN # XXXX, through Westlake Financial Service via XXXX # XXXX. Sadly, after less than 2 weeks of owning the vehicle, it become completely immobile and I was never able to drive the vehicle again. Although the dealership that I purchased the vehicle from, guaranteed to repair the vehicle, they did not live up to their guarantee either and Westlake Financial Services forced the dealership, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, to buy-back the loan via the Dealer Compliance Department. XXXX XXXX XXXX, in the XXXX XXXX Department was my point of contact through out this process as customers were not allowed to communicate with the XXXX XXXX XXXX directly. I was notified that the buy-back officially was finalized as of XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX XXXX XXXX with Westlake Financial Services after receiving a copy of the re-assignment letter which states that Westlake Financial Services is no longer my lienholder and indicates that my dealership, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is now my point of contact. My concern with this promulgated form was that it was very general and did not notate the reason for the buy-back so I asked XXXX XXXX if there was a way to modify this form to add the reason. XXXX XXXX indicated that unfortunately it is a standardized form and that they were not allowed to modify the letter, but that in his opinion, he felt that I had more than enough evidence to support the reason for the buy-back. He further mentioned that the reasons for the buy-back would forever be records within the notes of my account should we ever need to reference them and that the buy-back is labeled as " merchantability issues & mechanical breakdown ''. He further continued by asking me if I wanted the loan deleted from my tradeline and extended an offer to finance another vehicle to me in the future since he understood that this was certainly nothing that I had caused. Westlake Financial Serivces records all of their conversations as indicated prior to any customer service representatives answering their calls, and I recorded this conversation as well and have an audio file of this very conversation to support all of this. Unfortunately, I am continuing to have problems with the dealership, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, and am presently suing them as they have possession of my vehicle and my {$7000.00} down payment. I requested a copy of my records of this account yesterday, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, from XXXX in the XXXX XXXX XXXX and according to her, per XXXX XXXX advised her that I would need to have a subpoena to gets these records. Unfortunately, I am handling this civil suit pro XXXX at a XXXX level because I can not afford an attorney because I have lost so much money already because of this fiasco and I mentioned this to XXXX but she continued to hold her ground and would not release the records. So in an attempt to possibly fix this, one more time, in good faith, I reached out to XXXX XXXX XXXX, Chairman of the XXXX XXXX Westlake Financial Services yesterday, XXXX/XXXX/XXXX and explained my situation. I told him this information is imperative to my defense. Instead of helping me, he elected to maliciously attack me and the route the I have taken against the dealership. He defended the dealership and told me that the dealership paid off the loan because I refused to pay for the vehicle. All of this was via email. So ... I, one customer ... have the power to do all that in one month of owning a vehicle? I think not! I do n't think he expected me to have an audio file of the conversation that I had with one of his employees to prove why the buy-back happened. I emailed him a copy of that audio file and he has yet to do the right thing. I need this information. It is imperative that I get it as the dealership is claiming that they were forced to buy-back my loan because I was in default ... which could not be any further than the truth. I have the phone call ... but the notes on the account and all of the history behind it would be all the more proof that the dealership is the bad guy and not me! Westlake Financial Services was fined by CFPB a few years ago {$4.00} XXXX dollars and ordered to payback {$44.00} XXXX in fees for illegal practices. It looks as though ... .their staff is a reflection of their leadership and things have n't changed much since then. I should n't have to hire a lawyer to get records that belong to me. This is n't right.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation