Kensington Mortgage Company > Reviews > Kensington Mortgages

Author's product rating:   

Quality of Customer Service

Poor

Advantages:	You get what you need out of them
Disadvantages:	Obscenely high interest rates, no reward for loyalty .

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I took over a mortgage with my partner in 2005 following her messy divorce and our of desperation with all the debts her ex left her.

We were directed to Kensington via a local Broker, which I have now learnt to be probably more to do with their high rate of commision to the broker and little to do with our own personal circumstances.

The most they would offer us was £60,000 despite the value of the house being £30,000 more. This was largely due to the absolutey massacred state of my partners credit rating because of the joint finances the ex left her paying..... and the fact I was only on a modest full time wage (NHS!)

By the time all the kinks were ironed out, including removal of a charge on the house thanks to the cursed ex, we were relatively happy to have settled, had enough left over for the rest of the double glazing and a fixed rate of 5% over one year. We also had to arrange our own buildings and contents insurance, and refused to accept their life insurance policy as another way of earning our broker commission and paying them even more money than we coudl afford.

After the first year, we were relatively shocked to have an increase to 6.5%, but we managed. In the last 2 and a half years we have endured almost quartley increases to our interest rate... infact only ONE of the occasions the Bank of England has raised interest rates has failed to pass on a rise to our mortgage rate.

We are now paying 12.7% and it's time to get out. From what I've heard, this is unlikely to be easy or pleasent.

We have paid it on time, and in full every single month for the past 2 and a half years, and yet still we have had the ludicrous increases on our interest rate to now be paying DOUBLE per month than we were.

They ARE literally the last chance saloon style mortgage lender, the type that are there to help your broker do you over and earn mega bucks for himself in the process. I would seriously urge people to only consider them as a last resort when all other avenues of high street lenders and sub-lenders has been exhausted.

I only hope when we do get out, it doesn't result in as much expense and hassle as some other people have experienced.