Kensington Mortgage Company : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk

Author's product rating:

Staff courtesy	Excellent
Promptness of service	Excellent

Advantages:	We have our own home
Disadvantages:	higher interest rates

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Well house prices are rocketing around where I live and this time last year Gary and I was sitting in a concrete flat with neighbours from hell and myself fast losing the plot.

We had put bids in for houses and were outbid and gazumped. So we had lost a lot of money and stopped searching whilst we could get the 10% together again.

Then we scraped together the money and all of a sudden, a £50,000 house was going for nearly £70,000 so we were getting to the stage were we were nearly off the ladder. We decided that the only way we could was to buy our concrete flat and that was going through when we saw the house opposite getting repossessed.

Earlier that year we had looked at all the different mortgage companies and were totally confused as to which one and what sort we could go for, so we decided to go with a mortgage broker.

His fees were £500 at the completion and nothing if it failed. Ok I knew he would get commission as we let him do everything but to us this would be £500 well spent rather than trapsing around building societies and the like.

Ours was not a easy situation as hubby had 2 CCJs from when he was retired but we had paid them off and had proof and really we never thought we would ever get a mortgage. They referred us to a company called Kensington Mortgages and the broker in easy terms explained basically the types of mortgages they did.

We knew that we would pay for a higher rate due to our circumstances and we pay just over 6% compared to an average mortgage of just over 4%.

The forms come through and the broker was great and we really made him work for the £500. We had been to see other brokers who wanted it up front but decided against that, so it was in his interest for us to complete. He helped us with all the forms and we had gone for one where we did not have to prove our income, although we could have.

Within a couple of weeks the mortgage was through and there were some little quirks along the way but nothing serious. Our house only cost us £45,000 so we put over 10% down and our payments are cheaper than the rent on the flat we had at the time.

The house was in a bad state and the other day we were looking at pictures of it last year and said we were nuts to take it on. But for us it has been a sucess as in the last 6 months house prices have nearly doubled around here.

Ours is not up to that standard yet but will be hopefully by the end of the year. Last week an identical house went on the market for £95,000 and it is nothing spectacular, but has a garage and a consevatory.

So now we knew that there could be £50,000 of equity in the house, we approached Kensington to see if we could have an advance. We looked at other companies but decided to keep everything in one basket. This is now going through and we are having a surveyor around on Monday and then they will tell us how much we can have. By doing this, our only outgoing will be utility bills and the mortgage which is a great feeling and the house will be totally modernised.

They have been brilliant from start to finish and they do not judge a book by its cover, when others have said no, they have said yes and the service is bang on and they treat you like normal people not a blot on the landscape.

They are really professional and if they say they will send you something they do and quick.

Also after a year if you have been a good mortgage payer, your mortgage interest rates drop, which to be fair, they were taking a risk on lending us the money and it is up to us to re write history as such. We have never missed a payment and the money is always there ready and waiting for the day.

They also do other mortgages like endowment but these are really frowned upon now as a lot of them are not earning their true potential so be very careful of them.

Capital and Interest is ours, it is a repayment mortgage which is a bit higher, but we have piece of mind that no matter what, when the 25 years is up, you are left with nil balance.

They do different types of mortgages and it would be totally unfair of me to go into them as they are tailored for each customer as they are specialist mortgage people. So two mortgages are never the same.

I did try a few other companies before trying them and they did not seem to care about personal circumstances and if anything you had to have an impeccable record to get a mortgage and then it would only seem that they were only bothered with what they could get out of you. One of them was my bank Halifax who said no to us, but now there is thousands sitting in the bank account, they have turned turtle and trying to get me to change over to them and get this, that and the other. No thanks, my company is great and I will stick with them.

They also own TML - The Mortgage Lender and they are a susiduary company of Kensington and friends have used these in the past and have been happy with the services that they have got.

If it wasn't for people like Kensington who gave people like us a second chance then we would not be on that ladder.

Ok, so the pitfalls are higher interest rates and the brokers fees, but to us this was the best financial thing we have ever done and in April and May our new kitchen and the garden is all been landscaped. Life is so different at the moment and the only stress in our lives is my mum, who by the way has had her results through today. (See About Me).

So things are relaxed and everyday when I go to bed, I realise just how lucky we are to be on that ladder and have our own little love nest.

From start to finish, our mortgage took us 8 weeks to complete.

Kensington Mortgages - 0870 5561040
1 Providence Place
Skipton
North Yorkshire

Karen :0)