Kensington Remortgage

GerryD123 · 20 November 2018 at 10:48PM

Hello All, first time posting so be gentle with me.

We currently have a 2yr fix with Kensington which is coming to an end in Jan 2019. We spoke to L&C and due to our circumstances (my wife is self employed) our only remortgage option was with Kensington on a another 2yr fix at 3.04%. The broker said we would have to pay valuation and legal fees as they were treating it as a new application. After that we received a letter direct from Kensington offering a product switch to a 2yr 3.84% fix, but with this there would be no fees, credit check etc. So we compared the 2 products and even after paying fees the L&C one worked out cheaper. I asked Kensington if they would offer us the 3.04% rate directly but said if we want that one then would have to go via L&C. So we proceeded to do the application. The L&C mortgage advisor then called us to say he was struggling with the affordability (because we have a child since the original mortgage began) and that Kensington would only lend us on a 5yr 3.64% fix. We don't want to do a 5yr fix as I have rental income on a non-mortgage property (50% share) which in 2 years time I will have 2 years tax returns so we can go to a mainstream lender. When I told the advisor that we had a letter direct from Kensington to switch to the 3.84% rate he said that they would still do a affordability check and reject the switch. My question is is he trying to put us off going direct with Kensington or is he correct in what he is saying?
Many thanks and hope it makes sense!
Gerry

obay · 21 November 2018 at 1:53AM

Get another broker, I've just remortgaged away from Kensington, no accounts needed for my company, nothing from the accountant either.

This is the deal Kensington offered us, but we got to 2.2% with another bank (A real bank.)

GerryD123 · 21 November 2018 at 8:59AM

Thanks for the reply and advice!
The guy at L&C sounded a bit pushy yesterday, I thought they would be good but I won't use them again.
Do you think Kensington will withdraw their direct offer from us now that they know we have a small child? In the meantime I will try another broker and see what they come up with.

obay · 21 November 2018 at 10:54AM

GerryD123 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply and advice!
The guy at L&C sounded a bit pushy yesterday, I thought they would be good but I won't use them again.
Do you think Kensington will withdraw their direct offer from us now that they know we have a small child? In the meantime I will try another broker and see what they come up with.

I highly doubt that... I assume when you pass affordability and everything KMC are normally OK.

butterflybook · 21 November 2018 at 11:56AM

Speak to a local broker, L&C are known for only dealing with straight forward cases, anything which is slightly complex they are no good. Your get what you pay for with these unfortunately

Depending on the detail a good broker might be able to get you with a mainstream lender

GerryD123 · 21 November 2018 at 7:57PM

Thank you for your response. I will look for a local broker to see if they can help. Our problem is that because we have a child of 22 months we are now deemed as unaffordable for a remortgage which is nuts as we are ok paying our current mortgage. My wife's earnings also dipped the year we had our son so on paper it looks like we can't afford it. Worse comes to worst will just have to do another fix with Kensington until our affordability increases. Thanks

obay · 22 November 2018 at 8:47AM

GerryD123 wrote: »

Thank you for your response. I will look for a local broker to see if they can help. Our problem is that because we have a child of 22 months we are now deemed as unaffordable for a remortgage which is nuts as we are ok paying our current mortgage. My wife's earnings also dipped the year we had our son so on paper it looks like we can't afford it. Worse comes to worst will just have to do another fix with Kensington until our affordability increases. Thanks

trust me - you'll find another company to remortgage you. we did a good broker will help you.

GerryD123 · 22 February 2019 at 10:40AM

Hi Obay, just wanted to say thanks very much for your advice. My wife's business account is with Natwest so after doing a borrowing calculation we were able to borrow what we required so proceeded with a full application. We managed to get a mortgage direct with Natwest on a 5yr fix and 2.08%. Just completed yesterday with a huge sigh of relief. Application took just over 2 months with Christmas and New Years in between. So happy to be with a high street lender!

amnblog · 22 February 2019 at 10:50AM

So L&C were trying to place you on 5 yr fixed 3.64% with KMC when you were eligible for 2.08% with Nat West?

GerryD123 · 22 February 2019 at 10:57AM

Yes. We have rental income from another property but L&C wouldn't take this into account as we don't have a tax return yet (only been let for 10 months). But Natwest did use this. All they needed was the tenancy agreement and proof that the money was going into our account.