Consumer complaint received 2019-06-24
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan — Denied request to lower payments
Company: Westlake Services, LLC (ME)

My husband and I purchased a XXXX XXXX financed through Westlake Financial 4 years ago in XXXX of XXXX. We had never missed one single payment and we were at the very tail end of our loan with only about 6-8 months worth of payments remaining until this vehicle is paid off. Unfortunately, my husband recently became severely ill with XXXX XXXX and has been out of work for the past few months. A month ago, we called Westlake Financial and explained the situation and asked if there was any way they could help us. My husband had finally recovered enough to be able to go back to work, but him being temporarily out of work for 3 months did a real number on our budget as we had to rely on my income and the small amount that he received from XXXX XXXX to pay our mortgage and other bills while he was so sick. The representative that I spoke with at Westlake informed me that they would allow us to defer the next 2 payments ( XXXX and XXXX   ) because we had such an excellent payment history with them and have never missed a single payment in the entire 4 years we have had this vehicle. She read us the terms and conditions of the deferral and we gladly accepted. We were so grateful and relieved as this would give us a good bit of breathing room. 

Fast forward to a little over a week ago on XX/XX/XXXX, when we woke up to find our XXXX missing from our driveway and was nowhere to be found. It had been repossessed. We were totally blown away and had no idea how this was even happening as we had received the 2 payment deferrals just last month, which made our loan current, with no payment due until the end of XXXX. I immediately got on the phone and called Westlake. The guy who I spoke with was INCREDIBLY rude, condescending, and downright unprofessional. He repeatedly cut me off while I was trying to speak and even told me to shut up at one point during the call. When I demanded to speak with a supervisor, he refused to transfer me. Come to find out, our payment deferral that we were told we were approved for a month ago had allegedly been " denied '' by a manager, even though we were told that it was all good to go and that our next payment would not be due until XX/XX/XXXX. We were never even informed that there was a possibility of it being denied by a manager! The exact words of the woman who set up the deferral were, " You're all set. Your next payment will be due on XX/XX/XXXX ''. 

I demanded to know why our deferral had been denied after we had been told that it was approved and why no one had even bothered to contact us to let us know that it had been denied ( we received NO letters in the mail and NO phone calls informing us of this ... literally NO contact from them whatsoever ). I was then told told that they do not inform customers when deferrals are denied and that it is not their responsibility to do so. Um ... .EXCUSE ME?!?! Exactly HOW were we supposed to have known that the deferral was denied after we had been told a month ago that it was " all set '' and that we would not have to make a payment until XXXX?! And how in the world is it " not their responsibility '' to notify us that they are going back on their word and denying the deferral after we had already been told that it was approved?! I became extremely irate and the completely unprofessional representative from Westlake hung up on me. Thankfully, this was not our only vehicle, but we are still BEYOND furious that we have been lied to and royally screwed over and that our credit is now being destroyed because of this, ESPECIALLY after we have not missed a single payment the entire 4 years we have had this XXXX. 

Apparently, from what I have read on many consumer reviews, these people are notorious for doing everything possible to try and repossess your vehicle when you get towards the end of your loan, just so they can auction it off to make even more money. I would like this very serious matter investigated as soon as possible.