Consumer complaint received 2022-07-16
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan — Lender trying to repossess or disable the vehicle
Company: Westlake Services, LLC (VA)

INTRODUCTION I XXXX XXXX bring this complaint under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act ( SCRA ), 50 U.S.C. 3901, et seq., against Westlake Services , LLC d/b/a Westlake Financial Services and Wilshire Commercial Capital , LLC d/b/a Wilshire Consumer Credit for trying to repossess my XXXXotor vehicle owned by me who is a protected servicemembers without court orders. 

Approximately 6 months ago, Westlake sent an investigator by the name of XXXX XXXX, License # XXXX to my Mothers home in XXXX, Florida ( see attached business card he left ) and he stated his purpose was to repossess the vehicle for Westlake Financial. The vehicle in question is a XXXX XXXX XXXX. Approximately around XX/XX/XXXX, I notified Westlake Finance via phone call that the XXXX XXXX XXXX had been damaged and deemed a total loss due to the salt water from the XXXX XXXX caused by Hurricane Sally which was classified by the United States President as a Natural Disaster. 

After the water damage to the vehicle caused by Hurricane Sally, I filed an insurance claim with my primary insurance company XXXX XXXX XXXX and the claim was rejected stating there was no coverage at the time of the incident due to my insurance payment mixup at the while I was away training in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX School ( see attached ). In addition, I also filed a claim with the GAP insurance company which was also rejected due to the filing being after 90 days of the incident. 

I then phoned Westlake Financial to try to make a settlement and offered them a settlement payoff of $ XXXX and they stated they would not accept the XXXX because they dont make settlement offers for payoff. 

I proceeded and made monthly payments to Westlake for another 2 years since they would not work with me and they continued to report negative information on all 3 of my credit reports. 

Please note it got to be very difficult since they would not accept the settlement or work with me in any way and I had to purchase another vehicle due to the XXXX XXXX XXXX being a total lost. 

The purpose of the SCRA is to provide servicemembers with protections against certain civil proceedings that could adversely affect their legal rights while they are in military service. Section 3952 of the SCRA requires that a court review and approve a lenders repossession of any motor vehicle owned by a servicemember if the servicemember took out the loan and made a deposit or an installment payment before entering military service. Additionally, Section 3953 of the SCRA provides that a sale, foreclosure, or seizure of property for a breach of an obligation on real or personal property owned by a servicemember that originated before the period of the servicemembers military service and that is secured by a mortgage, trust deed or other security in the nature of a mortgage shall not be valid if made during, or within one year after, the period of the servicemembers military service, except upon a court order granted before such sale foreclosure or seizure. A lenders failure to obtain a court order before repossessing a covered servicemembers motor vehicle violates that servicemembers federally protected right to request a court to order repayment to the servicemember of all or part of the prior installments or deposits, stay the proceedings for a period of time as justice and equity require, or make any other equitable disposition to preserve the interests of all parties. 
The Department of Defense provides lenders, and others seeking to comply with the SCRA, an automated database run by the Defense Manpower Data Center ( DMDC database ), to check whether their customers are SCRA-protected servicemembers. 16. Defendants policies required them to use the DMDC database to confirm a servicemembers military status prior to granting a request for an interest rate reduction under 50 U.S.C. 3937.

SERVICEMEMBER CIVIL RELIEF ACT VIOLATIONS- The SCRA provides that [ a ] fter a servicemember enters military service, a contract by [ a ] servicemember for... the purchase of real or personal property ( including a motor vehicle ) and for which a deposit or installment has been paid by the servicemember before the servicemember enters military service, may not be rescinded or terminated for a breach of terms of the contract... nor may the property be repossessed for such breach without a court order. 50 U.S.C. 3952 ( a ).. The SCRA also provides that [ a ] sale, foreclosure, or seizure of property for a breach of an obligation on real or personal property owned by a servicemember that... originated before the period of the servicemembers military service and for which the servicemember is still obligated... secured by a mortgage, trust deed or other security in the nature of a mortgage... shall not be valid if made during, or within one year after, the period of the servicemembers military service, except... upon a court order granted before such sale, foreclosure or seizure... [ or ] if made pursuant to an agreement as provided in section 3918 of this title. 50 U.S.C. 3953. Further, the SCRA provides that [ a ] member of a reserve component who is ordered to report for military service is entitled to the rights and protections granted under sections 3952 and 3953 during the period beginning on the date of the members receipt of the order and ending on the date on which the member reports for military service ( or, if the order is revoked before the member so reports, on the date on which the order is revoked ). 50 U.S.C. 3917 ( a ). Violations of 50 U.S.C. 3952 ( a ) ( 1 )