Westlake Financial Service is a auto lender based in California that purchases a retail installment contracts (RIC) from auto dealerships. They are known to report to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
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In the State of Texas, Westlake Financial Service must be able to meet a few guidelines in order to be able to collect on a debt.
Failure to do any of the above may lead to potential Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA) violations or Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) violations. The J. Gannon Helstowski Law Firm can represent you against Westlake Financial Service if any FDCPA violations are discovered.
Once the dispute results from Westlake Financial Service have been received by you or us, we will have to review them in accordance with Texas and Federal law. First, we look to see what kind of contract that you may have signed when purchasing your auto. There are two main ways to finance an auto which are through a Credit Sale or Retail Installment Contract (RIC) or a loan. We believe that their maybe violations that exist if you have purchased your car through a Credit Sale or Retail Installment Contract (RIC). Some indicators of a RIC are at the top of the contract it says “Retail Installment Contract RIC” in many variations or in the upper right-hand corner it says the entity owning the contract is some dealership name or the name of the auto lot you are at. The dealer is quoting your one rate and then has to a choice of servicing the loan themselves (Buy here, pay here) or resale it to another lender like Ally, Santander, GM Financial, Westlake Financial Service, Exeter Finance, etc. If the dealer decides to sell the contract they make the spread between what they were able to get you to sign and what the new lender is willing to pay them.
When a car is repossessed and sold to a third party debt buyer like Westlake Financial Service, problems can arise in procedures and ability to collect. These problems may trigger FDCPA violation and FCRA violations that a savvy consumer can discover and use to possibly place themselves in a better position when dealing with the debt buyer.