Consumer complaint received 2025-01-20 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with the interest rate
Company: Westlake Services, LLC
State: IL

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX I purchased a vehicle that was financed through Westlake Financial with a car payment of {$490.00} and a 22.39 % APR. I was scheduled to make my first payment on XX/XX/XXXX which I paid {$430.00} on XX/XX/XXXX that I did not know went completely towards interest and the remaining {$73.00} was paid XX/XX/XXXX, {$69.00} went towards interests and {$3.00} went towards a late charge even though my vehicle payments are scheduled for the XXXX of every month. Granted there were times after my first monthly payment that I had to work with Westlake Financial to be able keep up with my monthly payments due to late payments, I was offered extensions by the financing company which I agreed to. Due to the repossession ( XXXX ) of the vehicle in XXXX and XXXX that I take full responsibility of, I decided to reach out to the company to refinance my vehicle. I was told I could not due to my contract and their policy, I then asked for my information to access the Westlake Financial app. Where I would be able to track my monthly payments and that's when I noticed that not even 50 % of my payments towards the monthly car note were going towards the principal of my vehicle. I started off with a loan of {$19000.00} and from XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XX/XX/XXXX it finally dropped {$55.00} leaving me to pay off {$19000.00} in almost a year span after purchasing my vehicle. Continuing again from XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX when {$0.00} of a {$750.00} payment went to the principal of the loan leaving me {$19000.00} left to pay off. Payments were made in-between that dropped the remaining balance to {$19000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX the highest that has ever went towards the principal which was {$160.00} and {$330.00} went to interest. From then until XX/XX/XXXX I made late payments that all went towards interest until my vehicle was repossessed, I had to pay the amount that was due from my missing payments which was {$1100.00} that all went towards interest and a {$500.00} repossession fee. Once I received my vehicle back in XX/XX/XXXX all of my monthly payments were made on time but still tracking my payments using the app I noticed that a huge factor of the payments were still going to interest. On XX/XX/XXXX after paying my missed payment that led my vehicle to be repossessed, and the repossession fee of {$500.00}, I paid {$500.00} that went towards my monthly car note payment on XX/XX/XXXX. {$450.00} went towards interest, {$41.00} went towards the principal and {$1.00} went towards another repossession fee. On XX/XX/XXXX I paid half early in the amount of {$250.00}, {$240.00} went to interest {$2.00} went towards the principal, XX/XX/XXXX the remaining {$250.00} was paid {$160.00} went toward the principal, {$82.00} went to interest and {$1.00} went towards a repossession fee. The repossession fee was questionable but I was content with a majority of my payment going towards the principal this time and i thought they would continue to because maybe it was my fault that most of my payments were going towards interest. But when I made a payment of {$250.00} XX/XX/XXXX the entire amount went to interest again with a following payment {$250.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, {$120.00} went towards the principal, {$120.00} went towards interest and {$1.00} went towards a repossession fee but I had finally paid off {$1000.00} of my loan after XXXX years. On XX/XX/XXXX I paid my entire amount of {$500.00} early, {$320.00} went towards interest, {$170.00} towards the principal and {$1.00} towards another repossession fee. In XX/XX/XXXX I felt scammed and had no trust in Westlake Financial anymore, I couldn't wrap my head around how my monthly payments could fluctuate between a decent amount going towards the principal, a small amount or none at all. On XX/XX/XXXX I made a payment of {$400.00}, {$370.00} going towards interest and {$26.00} towards the principal. At this point I was wholeheartedly over the contract I had with Westlake Financial, from then I only made payments to keep my vehicle from being repossessed again. Whether it was late or not, I eventually stopped caring to make any payments being that I was never going to pay off this vehicle unless {$18000.00} fell from the sky into my lap which most likely would have went towards interests as well. In summary, even though there were times I did a poor job with keeping up with my payments and could have been a slight factor in why most of my monthly payments were going to interest it doesn't explain or make sense how some of my payments that were paid on time and consistently would all go towards interest XXXX month, partial would go towards interest and the principal the next month and then back to a huge factor if not all going towards interest again. Once my final repossession happened I was given the value price of the car, {$9000.00} which when up to {$10000.00} a week later to obtain my vehicle and they also offered to refinance after already being denied to ever refinance.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation