Consumer complaint received 2016-05-13
Product: Consumer Loan — Vehicle loan
Issue: Taking out the loan or lease — 
Company: Westlake Services, LLC (CA)

The following is a complaint I would like to submit regarding an account with Westlake Financial services. I had an active account from XXXX/XXXX/XXXX through XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. On XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, I came across an article by the Consumer Financial protection Bureau in which they state that Westlake Services , LLC had used illegal practices that violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act during the period of XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. I myself had an account with this company. By the way, I was a co-signer and not the primary signer. I also contacted Westlake and spoke to a supervisor back in XXXX XXXX regarding these allegations and was told that I would be receiving a letter regarding this matter within 120 days. It is now XXXX XXXX, XXXX and unfortunately have not heard or received anything from Westlake. 
There was a period in which my brother became delinquent on the auto loan payments. During this time, I began receiving threat calls from Westlake representatives in which they would intimidate me. At first I would tell them that I did not care if they repossessed the car. I would explain to them that I was visually impaired and had no need for the car. They would ignore me and would say that they would pick-up the car, my credit would be damaged, and I would be prosecuted. Such threats lead me to ditch other financial responsibilities such as credit card payments and other loans in order to avoid such events. This resulted in all my accounts going into collection. I do have proof through copies of credit reports. 
This loan was plagued with problems since the beginning. For example, the dealer ( XXXX XXXX ) located in XXXX XXXX had agreed to a 16 percent interest rate and a 5 year term which we signed the contract for. However, about a week later we were called back in and were persuade to signed another contract. On this one the terms had been modified to a 42 month term. The dealer had explained that due to this, we would have a little higher payment but would end up paying less interest and much quicker. We ended up being financed through Westlake Services , LLC with an interest rate of 23.99 percent and a {$590.00} payment for financing {$16000.00}. All in all, I ended up paying over {$30000.00} for this vehicle. In addition, terms such as maturity date and fees were also changed during the time of the loan. For example, the hard copy contract shows the maturity date as XXXX/XXXX/XXXX but was later changed to XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. By the time the last payment was due, I still had a balance of {$3500.00} which I was successfully able to refinanced through XXXX University XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Intimidations by This company came in different forms. There were several occasions in which Westlake Services use spoofing tactics to get me to answer their calls. They would also call other persons who were listed as references to let them know we were behind on payments. I do believe calls were being monitored during the times we spoke as I was advised that calls were being monitored and recorded the times we were contacted. During this loan period, I also was confronted by individuals who said they were repossessing the car. I even had one individual knock at my door after XXXX. Such repossession events lead to repossession fees being added to my account. This went on even though the car was never repossessed. I had so many fees added to my account by the time the maturity date came, I thought I would not be able to pay. In fact, I asked for some of the fees to be waved and was not successful. I also explain that I was still paying a payment on a car that required mechanical repairs. There had been an extended mechanical warranty added to the purchase but never appeared when needed.