Westlake Financial Services threatening scare tactics to repo a car that is not even late on payments Los Angeles California
I took over payments of a vehicle from someone who was in dire straits. I then paid one payment which was the amount owed at the moment. I then get a letter in the mail saying that the person I got the car from bounced a check and now I owe another payment. Well I wasn't about to fall for that one. I paid $65.00 to have two payments deferred. My next payment would be due on August 14. Well today I receive calls from the nuts at Westlake telling me they are coming to get my car! I say I don't think so. I then get a call from the person I got the vehicle from who then tells me that they called and are threatening him as well! He says they do it all the time and are the worse company to deal with.
I then call to speak to a supervisor yet they put some crazy racist person on the line calling me a redneck well I let him have it with all my might! He then treatened to report the car stolen I then told him you couldn't do that because it wasn't stolen and he knew that. He then said he would show me what he could do that I was only listed as a payee. I said yes your right and I have the person I got the car from right here saying how crazy you people are. I was so upset, my wife then got on the phone and he was calling her mom and to get off the phone and put the man back on. She yelled at him and cussed him out as well. We told them we are not scared of you we know the laws in this state and you will not call my house again threatening anything.
Please any attorney working on this contact me
I am contacting the California Department of Financial Institutions. They have a website just look up the name in Google. Please everyone needs to call and complain to them. The more the better these people do no need to get away with this ignorance!
Hater of westlake
fairmount, Georgia
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
ReactorCore
Victoria,British Columbia,
Canada
Possible missing info aside...
#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, August 06, 2009
It would appear that whomever was on the phone from the finance agency is in severe violation of the Fair Debt Collection Act (FDCA).
Remember that you have rights under the FDCA to be treated with a modicum of respect. The Act also dictates that a finance agency/collection agency does NOT have the right to use foul language, threaten you with illegal acts, impersonate, in any way (or claim to have the power of), a bailiff or sheriff....
There's a whole list of rights and responsibilities that these agencies MUST abide by, and I implore you to look up the Act online for a guideline of what they are. When they call again, more often than not, when you whip out a measure of knowledge, quoted from the Act, these scumbags tend to back down a great deal and become much more reasonable. You see, they prey on the hope that the consumer will be intimidated and lack the knowledge revolving around the Act, thus forcing them to make the payments they allege are owed faster.
Now, just applying a little logic here, as I don't know the financial law regarding it, but it seems to me that if you took over a car's lease, that you would be responsible for any payments from the date of transfer onward. To me, at least, it doesn't make sense that you would be responsible for a payment legally owed by another individual and incurred while NOT in your name.
However, this is just a gut instinct of mine and I may be completely wrong on that.
At any rate, my personal priority would be to look into that Act, and ensure that you are treated with dignity and respect. BUT, remember that this goes BOTH WAYS. You said that someone else got on the phone and "cussed them out". WRONG... DON'T do that. Keep your cool. The moment you begin cussing at them, they are totally free to hang up on you and not work with you at ALL. Take the higher ground, stay calm, measured and focused. this way, if it comes to a court of law, you can honestly say that you were nothing but reasonable.
Hell, it can be fun to be "sweetness and light", because I've found the more sleazy and underhanded the company you're dealing with, the more THEY get upset and flustered when you're nothing but cheerful and pleasant. Their reactions are FUNNY if you look at it in the right perspective, and it's totally legal AND legit... not to mention providing many lulz as you imagine the scumbag on the other end going apoplectic trying to shake someone down who just won't give them the satisfaction of being miserable. :D
You also win one Internet for spelling and using the term ''dire straits'' correctly!
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Fall for it?
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, August 06, 2009
"I took over payments of a vehicle from someone who was in dire straits....I then get a letter in the mail saying that the person I got the car from bounced a check and now I owe another payment."
Umm fall for what? Do you have proof that the person did not bounce a check? Perhaps the person in dire straits was in a bit more of a problem than you were led to believe.
By the way if you were current and do not want to "fall" for the check bouncing, why did you need to get two payments deferred?
Seems like there is a lot more to this story than you are saying.