Consumer complaint received 2025-04-03 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: Westcreek Financial
State: MS

Complaint narrative:
I had some car repairs done at my local service center in the amount of {$1500.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. Because the holidays were coming up, I decided I didnt want to deplete that much money from my savings account so I inquired about using their financing option which would allow me to pay it off over time ( same-as-cash option ) which I had done at the same service center in the past, and that had worked out well for me ; however, they said the finance company they normally used had pulled out of our state and that they had a new company, Koalafi, but that they hadnt used them before ( they werent familiar with exactly how they worked and that I would be the first customer of theirs to use them ). The owner of the service center called them with me standing there to work out the details for setting up my same-as-cash payment plan, but the middle eastern dialect of the person she was trying to talk to was near impossible to understand ( and she did tell them that repeatedly ). She did the best she could to interpret what they were saying because they used verbiage that neither of us totally understood. We thought we had it set up for me to have monthly payments bankdrafted out of my checking account in the amount of {$310.00} to fulfill the agreement. This is the amount Koalafi set up for me after she told them I wanted the same-as-cash option. Within a week, on XX/XX/XXXX, my first bankdraft of {$310.00} was taken out of my checking account, so I assumed all was well. This amount came out of my checking account every month for the next 6 months ( which means Id paid {$1800.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX ). Ill be completely honest in saying I had not looked into the financing any further after I left the service center that day for several reasons : the # 1 reason being I trusted Koalafi had set up my bankdraft amount so that it would fulfill the same-as-cash plan ; but I also didnt think anymore of it because I am XXXX XXXXXXXX and I went into a flare not long after. I have an XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX until just a few weeks ago. So when the {$310.00} installment came out on XX/XX/XXXX, I thought to myself, this has got to be the last payment on this. Thats when I decided to try to figure out how to look up my account online and make sure I was done with payments. I was flabbergasted when it said I had a remaining balance of {$1800.00}. To break that down, my bill for the auto repairs was {$1500.00} ; from XX/XX/XXXX thru XX/XX/XXXX, I have paid {$1800.00} towards that {$1500.00} amount, so if I still owed {$1800.00} that means I would be paying a grand total of {$3700.00} for a {$1500.00} auto repair thats {$2200.00} OVER the repair amount. Koalafi is preying on people! There is NO WAY I would have EVER financed those repairs just to pay {$2200.00} IN ADDITION TO the {$1500.00} repair costs. That is highway robbery! When I called Koalafi today to inquire about all of this, all they would say is I signed the agreement and it turned into a lease when I didnt have it paid off in 90 days. I told them THEY set my monthly payment amount and that I thought that they set it up for their same-as-cash option. When I asked them about the outrageous, astronomical interest rate they were charging people, they said its a multiplier, not an interest rate. Then they rambled off a bunch of confusing numbers that no one outside of their business can even begin to understand. I tried to explain to them that the service center owner and myself were both under the impression when she called them on XX/XX/XXXX to set this account up for me, that they were setting me up on their same-as-cash plan when they set up monthly payments in the amount of {$310.00} to be bank-drafted out of my checking account. They said the best they could do for me at this point would be to take 30 % off the remaining balance of {$1800.00}. Seriously, HOW are the companies being able to twist words and play with numbers like this while using middle eastern people in their call centers which does nothing but create a confusing language barrier? And how are they able to charge these astronomical multiplier fees on labor/services and say were financing a rent to own product? I only wish I would have not been in such a debilitating health crisis over these past months so I could have caught this sooner. Go to wallethub.com and read the most recent reviews about Koalafi. The stories and experiences there are all the same! Or go on XXXX and type in Koalafi again, same predatory stories about this company. This may be a very hard ( and expensive ) lesson I have had to learn here, but I hope you all can do something to keep people from continuing to fall victims to these predators. Companies like Koalafi are the reason the world is in the horrible state it is in today. Please help protect consumers from people like them. Like I told them today, I dont know how they can live with their conscience knowing they are doing this to people. Would they want someone to do this to them, or their parents or their children? Please take a hard look into this company and what they are doing to people.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation