Kensington Mortgage application timescale

SennaHouse

Kensington asked for our landlord and employers deatils over 2 weeks ago but have not contacted them? Are they likely to as we have told our employers to look out for contact. 

Mowgli30

I just wanted to provide an update on my mortgage application with Kensington which may help other people who have applied with them. I know I really valued people’s stories which helped manage my expectations and at times it helped me get documents in order I had a feeling they would request!

19/11 - application uploaded by broker 

03/12 - request further docs - proof of 3 months mortgage payments, employers contact details, proof of ID and P60 for 2019 (I had submitted 2020 with my original docs but they requested 2 years of P60 - so send last years too if you have it)!

04/12 - all requested docs loaded to their portal via broker. NB: my sister gave me the 3mths mortgage payments as a gift in the end as Kensington will only accept gifts from parents/siblings or grandparents. They must sign a Kensington declaration form and it submit a letter, I did both to cover all eventualities. Plus they require the donor to be a U.K. home owner and proof of ID.

16/12 - chased with broker and lender about why we haven’t heard back yet? Was told by Kensington they had increased their SLA from 9 days to 11 days. Ran through all docs they had on file and the man confirmed they had everything they needed and would be in a position to pick up my case by 23/12. Found out too that they had added an extra day to their SLA so now it’s running at 12 working days! 

I was stressed because my house had been put back on the market by the vendor, the chap said the only way they will escalate cases is if the broker contacted the BDM and they were shown proof the house was back on the market.

18/12 my broker did just that, sent emails and made calls to push this along. 

21/12 - broker calls me saying he had a call from Kensington requesting information they already had on file so he pushed back and when they dug further, it showed they already had the info and admitted it was an oversight. They requested bank statements and employer refs which they already had on file and said that a further 12 working days will be added to my case. Broker pushed back and said it’s unacceptable as they had the info they needed and there should be no further delays

I emailed Kensington myself that night asking them how it’s taking this long and why are we being asked for info we already have submitted. I expressed concern that I’ll lose my house if this isn’t picked up this week and given a decision. 

22/12 - broker contacted Kensington and they assured him the ops manager will look at the case and personally ensure the underwriters pick this up today and move it along. 3 hours later, Kensington call me to say my case has moved to offer pending final checks which take 24 hours so by COB tomorrow, I’ll get my formal offer.

The process is long and arduous unnecessarily but they do give you a  decision. However, in order to yield results, you need to be on your brokers case and also call Kensington!

I have read here that Kensington often request the same info over and over again, if you’ve already submitted it, your broker needs to push back and tell them it’s been submitted. Each time you submit new docs after the review, they add up to 12 days onto your case. If docs have been submitted, don’t re-submit, just push back and tell the broker to provide dates/times of submission, they’ll soon find the docs! 

Also, call them direct, yes they are an intermediary lender but you can still call them for advice on where you application is. If you’re getting nowhere and your broker isn’t helping, email them and they’ll come back to you. For all their faults, their customer service has been second to none! Absolutely brilliant, patient people dealing with frustrated and emotionally drained applicants! Stay motivated and you’ll get there! 

Elwyn

Application going in this week with Kensington. Have tried to be as organised as possible and send documents they may request over to my broker. I can’t help but feel anxious though after reading some of the experiences on here and the latest TrustPilot reviews. 

Jambus1

We have just had our offer from Kensington. Our application went in on 12th January and our MA has advised today he has our offer. 15 working days from application to approval. I was nervous after reading the reviews however I believe our MA having all the information together helped massively. Only additional request we were asked for was proof of deposit. 

Astroid30

Hi Everyone!
I wanted to let you know our timeline and wanting to see how people are progressing with Kensington?
Timeline : 
18/01/21 - Full Application Submitted (along with their requested documents).
21/01/21 - Underwriter requested more info, mainly questions to be answered.
01/02/21 - Valuation Requested (by us-due to pressure from sellers estate agents), Underwriter asked for more proof of address.

Therefore we are still in 'limo' at the moment. Hopefully getting closer but not sure on other recent experience. 
Do you think we are getting closer for a decision?
Thanks!

Elwyn

Jambus1 said:

We have just had our offer from Kensington. Our application went in on 12th January and our MA has advised today he has our offer. 15 working days from application to approval. I was nervous after reading the reviews however I believe our MA having all the information together helped massively. Only additional request we were asked for was proof of deposit. 

That’s very reassuring to hear. I hope we have a similar experience!

Astroid30 said:

Hi Everyone!
I wanted to let you know our timeline and wanting to see how people are progressing with Kensington?
Timeline : 
18/01/21 - Full Application Submitted (along with their requested documents).
21/01/21 - Underwriter requested more info, mainly questions to be answered.
01/02/21 - Valuation Requested (by us-due to pressure from sellers estate agents), Underwriter asked for more proof of address.

Therefore we are still in 'limo' at the moment. Hopefully getting closer but not sure on other recent experience. 
Do you think we are getting closer for a decision?
Thanks!

If you don’t mind me asking did they request anything you weren’t expecting? I’m trying to anticipate what they may request so I can get it together ahead of time. Payslips, bank statements for all accounts, ID and P60s have all been sent with the application. 

Astroid30

Elwyn said:

Jambus1 said:

We have just had our offer from Kensington. Our application went in on 12th January and our MA has advised today he has our offer. 15 working days from application to approval. I was nervous after reading the reviews however I believe our MA having all the information together helped massively. Only additional request we were asked for was proof of deposit. 

That’s very reassuring to hear. I hope we have a similar experience!

Astroid30 said:

Hi Everyone!
I wanted to let you know our timeline and wanting to see how people are progressing with Kensington?
Timeline : 
18/01/21 - Full Application Submitted (along with their requested documents).
21/01/21 - Underwriter requested more info, mainly questions to be answered.
01/02/21 - Valuation Requested (by us-due to pressure from sellers estate agents), Underwriter asked for more proof of address.

Therefore we are still in 'limo' at the moment. Hopefully getting closer but not sure on other recent experience. 
Do you think we are getting closer for a decision?
Thanks!

If you don’t mind me asking did they request anything you weren’t expecting? I’m trying to anticipate what they may request so I can get it together ahead of time. Payslips, bank statements for all accounts, ID and P60s have all been sent with the application. 

The only thing they requested in addition to the documents we supplied was a paper copy of utility / bank statement which could be scanned over. As our statements were online statements from online banking.

Astroid30

Has anyone applied to Kensington mortgages? Its the second time that the underwriters have come back to us and we are starting to feel really stressed out!! Just wanting to know other peoples timeline with Kensington to give us some reassurance 

Jafyjafy

Hey guys was wondering if anyone can help.

I no problem with my credit score, never missed any payment and everything is excellent but I got refused for a buy to let mortgage with high street lender as they believed I would be living there and not letting it out so my broker went with Kensington even tho I got an excellent record and no missed payment or anything. 

Kensington have asked for:
p60
full year of statements of saving 
last 4 months bank statements 
Identification 
declaration form 
and now they have asked for copy of my mobile phone number prof of residency for last 2 years .
whilst they have asked the above question at the weekend, and we have responded immediately.  But yet without even looking at the above documents they have instructed a surveyor for the property this Wednesday, surly they need to look at the documents before they instruct a survivor?

can anyone help me because my broker is no good and he got mad at me for calling the lender directly as he said is a breach that I called directly. 

Can anyone help and har they say of what I have to do and what is the possibility of mortgage getting approved?

Elwyn

So turns out all my worrying over the recent negative reviews of Kensington were unfounded. 

Application went in 4th of Feb. Requests for further documents on the 8th and the 12th, nothing unexpected. Then all went silent.

Broker phones today to say we have an offer! Exactly 3 weeks since submitting application.

Now onto worrying about solicitors taking a long time...