Consumer complaint received 2026-05-27 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan — 
Company: Westcreek Financial
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I used financing through Koalafi to pay for {$800.00} of an auto repair bill from XXXX XXXX in XXXX, North Carolina. I made the required payments of {$49.00} and {$3.00} in taxes to initiate the Koalafi account. I understand payments were to be made in an agreed upon amount every XXXX weeks. On XX/XX/XXXX my bank account that had been active since XXXX was compromised due to fraudulent activity and had to be closed requiring me to open a new account. I attempted to continue addressing the Koalafi account despite these banking issues by going to the website to pay. On XX/XX/XXXX, I paid {$450.00} toward the loan. On XX/XX/XXXX, due to the banking troubles which affected all of my automatic payments, I logged into the Koalafi website and selected the Pay Off option. The website displayed a payoff amount of {$310.00}, which I paid immediately. Because the payment was presented specifically as a Pay Off amount, I reasonably believed this payment satisfied the remaining balance of the account. After making this payment, I received an email saying Your payment of {$470.00} is scheduled for XX/XX/XXXX. Later that day, I received an email saying Through this communication, we are informing you that, pending the clearing of your final payment, your lease with Koalafi ( XXXX ) is closed and paid in full. Because this company sends automated emails only, I assumed the clearing of the final payment they were referring to was the payoff payment I had made earlier that day of {$310.00}. On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received another automated email that said Through this communication, we are informing you that, pending the clearing of your final payment, your lease with Koalafi ( XXXX ) is closed and paid in full. As long as there are no complications with your final payment, you do not have any further obligations with Koalafi, thus the property leased is fully paid and the customer has all legal rights over the property. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our customer service team at ( XXXX ) XXXX. As this company only communicates with automated emails, I did make a phone call to clear up my understanding of why there was a remaining payment owed. I believe a representative may have been attempting to explain that an additional amount related to an early payoff fee remained due. However, this was not clearly explained to me in writing. I attempted to pay the remaining balance, but she told me she couldnt take payment because the EFT transfer was in process and to call back after XX/XX/XXXX. I told her about my previous bank fraud and having to close that account they were trying to debit the payment from and became frustrated with not being able to pay the remaining balance in full that day because I thought a delayed payment would result in addition fees. Looking back at all the details and payments, according to the contract I would have owed {$130.00}. I also see that the company did try to debit that amount from the now defunct account, but I was not clearly notified of that, nor the remaining amount due. I also attempted to communicate with the company in writing to request clarification regarding the payoff calculation, the remaining balance, and the reason the amount displayed under the Pay Off option did not satisfy the account. The company repeatedly responded by directing me to call customer service rather than providing written clarification of the payoff calculations or balance details. My concern is that the payoff process and remaining balance were not clearly communicated in writing, particularly after I relied on the websites Pay Off option and attempted to resolve the remaining balance promptly. Based on the contract and payment history, I now understand there may have been an additional remaining balance of approximately {$130.00} after my XX/XX/XXXX payment. However, because the attempted EFT withdrawal was tied to a bank account that had already been closed due to fraud, the payment was unsuccessful. I was instructed to call back after XX/XX/XXXX regarding the remaining balance because the representative stated the EFT transaction was already in process and payment could not be taken at that time. When I later contacted the company again on or about XX/XX/XXXX, I was informed that the matter could no longer be resolved in the way previously discussed and that the substantially higher balance would remain due. Although I acknowledge the contract provides for additional charges if the account was not fully satisfied within the 90-day period, I made a good-faith effort to pay the account within that timeframe and attempted to resolve the remaining balance when I became aware of it. Under these circumstances, I take responsibility for the remaining {$130.00}, but I do not believe it is reasonable or fair for the balance to escalate to more than {$830.00}.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation