Consumer complaint received 2015-10-06
Company: Westlake Services, LLC
State: FL
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
I am a current customer of Westlake Financial Services. I have experienced excessive harassment from them concerning payments. The most recent harassment and threats occurred in XXXX XXXX. 
Here are XXXX examples of the issues with this company. 
First, I purchased a XXXX CHEVROLET SILVERADO from XXXX Auto Sales in XXXX, XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. 
The loan transferred to Westlake Financial Services, after the sale. I called XXXX after a year of on time payments to inquire about dropping this excessive interest rate of 26 %. At that point, it was explained that they do not refinance vehicles over 10 years old. There was no mention of this at any point before I purchased the vehicle. This past XX/XX/XXXX I had some work done to the truck, after a small auto accident. However, when the insurance agent inspected truck and checked VIN number, they disclosed to me that this truck was totaled out in XXXX long before I purchased said vehicle. ( VIN report to validate this information attached ) I contacted Westlake Financial Services and they advised proof of having a clean title, and they do business with XXXX Auto Sales all the time. I emailed a copy of the VIN report to Westlake to " investigate ''. I use that term loosely as the " investigation '' was a call back stating what a representative had already told me about having a clean title. Moreover, since they have a clean title, I am bound to contract to pay or have my vehicle repossessed. Then they proceeded to follow up with threats of having repossession on my credit report. 


Second, my auto payment is due on the XXXX of every month, due to unforeseen circumstances I had to wait for my pay check which caused my payment to be 4 days late. However, I started to receive the collection calls on the XXXX. One day after payment was due. The collection agency on behalf of Westlake, I spoke with them advising of the situation as I normally have them paid before or on the due date. When I attempted to pay my auto account online using Westlake online payment system on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, the online account was locked. I contacted customer service and got directed to the pay by phone feature. I paid my balance via checking account and received a confirmation number for the payment. I received another collection call the week of XXXX XXXX. This time the very impolite agent advised me that I had not paid my bill and If I did n't pay ASAP it would be placed on my credit report as delinquent. Again, another call the same day, I explained that I did pay, and I needed to check my bank account, the agent said if I did n't pay ASAP he would have the truck repossessed, at this time the account was between 7- 9 days past due! When I spoke with customer service, they advised that the bank payment " could not be located '' and the issue with being locked out of my account was because they locked it for being late. Asking if I could pay again, I was advised that my only payment options were locating a payment center at XXXX XXXX or XXXX XXXX. If I could not do that, they were coming to repossess the vehicle. When I asked for a supervisor, they could not accommodate and I would receive a call back, which never occurred. Then I sent an email to customer service, with no prompt response either. I had to call back and escalate XXXX other times to get a supervisor on the phone who would hear my situation. I was advised that they would waive all fee 's and process payment. Late payment fees and NSF charge from the company in total of {$70.00}. They took payment on XXXX XXXX and my account did not release funds until XXXX XXXX. This led to even more calls from inconsiderate, threatening, and harassing collection agents. 
I feel ask though I have been taken advantage of by this company. They have no care or concern for the consumer. Nor have they bothered to report ANY of my on time payments to the cr

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation