Consumer complaint received 2023-11-05
Company: Westlake Services, LLC
State: SC
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Repossession
Sub-issue: Loan balance remaining after the vehicle is repossessed and sold

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I was searching for a reliable used vehicle to purchase. Because I did not have a strong credit history, I knew my choices were limited to buy-here-pay-here car lots. I searched online and came across advertisements for U.S. Auto Sales in XXXX, GA. I completed the prequalification online and was told I was approved for any vehicle up to {$24000.00}. I selected a car, paid {$500.00} over the phone to hold the car ( the dealership told me this was not optional ), and on XX/XX/XXXX went to the physical location to complete the purchase. I opted to add the 2-year warranty on at signing. This made the monthly payment higher than I was comfortable with so I paid an additional {$800.00} cash down to bring the monthly payment down to a manageable amount. I was given no paperwork at the dealership that day. I was told copies of what I signed would be emailed to me. The only piece of paper I was given was an advertisement for referring someone to their dealership. 
I did receive an email from XXXX XXXX at U.S. Auto Sales with the subject line Completed : U.S. Auto Sales Documents for your DocuSign Signature. The email stated all parties had signed electronically and also said to note the marked changes made. The markup history showed page 2 and page 22 had values that were changed. These changes were timestamped XXXX XXXX. I was not at the location at the time these changes were made- the business closed at XXXX XXXX  and I left well before then. Upon clicking the link to view the documents, I received an error message advising me an access code was required to view them. Because I wasnt given an access code, I was denied access and prompted to contact the send of the documents, XXXX XXXX. I emailed XXXX XXXX and included a screenshot of the error I was receiving. XXXX XXXX never responded. I called the location the next day and no one answered. I called the following day and spoke to a salesman who stated XXXX XXXX wasnt available and you dont really need that paperwork anyway. I reached out to U.S. Auto Servicing ( headquarters I was told ) and explained in the state of Georgia I was legally entitled to receive a copy of the bill of sale, finance agreement, odometer disclosure, and buyers guide at the time of purchase but had not been given anything to date. Servicing told me they did not see anything in their system regarding my purchase at all, but would look into the matter and reach back out to me. I never heard back from Servicing about the missing documents but did receive an email on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX advising all U.S. Auto accounts were transferred to Westlake Portfolio Management , LLC effective XX/XX/XXXX. 
I received no communication from Westlake Portfolio Management regarding the account until a statement came in the mail on XX/XX/XXXX. I sent an email to Westlake the same day explaining I never received my paperwork from the dealership. I requested Westlake to send me the documents as well as the service warranty contract I added on at signing because the car was already in need of repairs. Westlake responded on XX/XX/XXXX advising they would send the documents as soon as they had them in their possession. They also stated they would not be assisting with any repairs and the warranty I paid extra to add on was no longer valid. I received no further communications from Westlake so on XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a second email to Westlake requesting the same documents. After receiving no response, I emailed for the third time on XX/XX/XXXX requesting the documents. On XX/XX/XXXX, Westlake emailed the odometer disclosure and bill of sale. The finance contract was not included. I replied and again asked for the financial agreement contract as well as my payment history since the Westlake portal showed no payment had been made at all. I never received a response, so I called Westlake and spoke to a representative who advised me they did not have a copy of the finance installment contract, showed I had made no payments towards the vehicle, and when questioned about the warranty advised the warranty was invalid and I would not be receiving a refund for the money I paid to add it on. I again explained to the representative that by law, I should have been provided a copy of the finance agreement at signing. I further explained the reason I wanted a copy was because the amount I was told it would be at the dealership was different than the amount Westlake was charging me. I was told {$390.00} at signing. Westlakes customer portal showed my monthly payment was {$430.00}, but reported to the credit bureaus the monthly payment was {$190.00}. Due to the differences, I wanted a copy of the finance agreement. The representative told me she didnt see a copy in my file, but they were still receiving documents from U.S. Auto and told me to give them some time to find it. No further communication was received from Westlake. 
On the morning of Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I woke up to find my car missing. The car was repossessed in the middle of the night by Westlake. This was unexpected since I live in South Carolina and under South Carolina law, a lienholder must send a Notice of Right to Cure before it can repossess your car. The notice gives you 20 days to catch up on your missed payment. South Carolina law also requires the lienholder to send you a notice of your Right to Redeem the car and a notice of what the lender intends to do with your car. Westlake did not send a Notice of Right to Cure or a notice of my Right to Redeem the car. I called Westlake to find out how to get my belongings out of the car, but was told by the representative she didnt know where the car was taken to because it takes a while for their system to update and to call back the next week. I called the next week and was placed on hold for over an hour before I gave up and disconnected. To this day, I have no idea if the car was sold at auction or if Westlake still has the car. I did not get to collect my belongings from the car. Westlake has not communicated at all regarding the car since they took it but is reporting to my credit report the car was repossessed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation