Kensington Product Switch

Woodmatt13

Hi all,

Our Kensington fixed rate is due to end on 1st January 2020. I have been informed that Kensington will write to customers eligible for a product transfer/switch to a new fixed rate. Does anyone know if this is applicable to help to buy mortgages?

Also does anyone know when this offer is made! I called them and they said to wait until mid-November to see if I receive an offer.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Woodmatt13

In addition to the above, I just spoke to Kensington. They weren’t able to tell me If Help to Buy was included in a product switch. They also weren’t able to tell me timescales...all they could say was that if I was eligible I’d receive an offer in the post.

If anyone has any experience with this process, I’d love to hear.

Thanks very much

RelievedSheff

Does your current financial situation not allow you to look to the high street banks to get a better rate?

Kensington should only be a stepping stone to more normal rates not a long term solution IMO.

Woodmatt13

Thanks for getting back to me. I think we may meet the criteria for natwest now. I had a dmp that ended in June 2016. No issues since. We have a high credit card use at the moment due to an unexpected baby, however we intend to pay off a large chunk before Christmas. Natwest have said that we may meet their criteria.

I just feel that it’s an awful lot of fuss changing the help to buy etc so was wondering whether we’d have an option to stay with Kensington for a few more years and then change when we need to start paying off things help to buy.

I don’t know if you have any thoughts on this?

Thanks so much again for your reply.

Thrugelmir

Woodmatt13 wrote: »

In addition to the above, I just spoke to Kensington. They weren’t able to tell me If Help to Buy was included in a product switch. They also weren’t able to tell me timescales...all they could say was that if I was eligible I’d receive an offer in the post.

As markets constantly move due to a whole variety of reasons. Lenders don't announce their new products until their available. At this point in time you can do little more than wait.

Woodmatt13

Thanks so much for the advice! This makes sense! I’m not sure if I’d have had an offer by now as it is only 11 weeks until the fixed rate ends. I’ll just see what happens. Thanks again

kamalm

Greetings,

I'm interested in understanding the product switch eligibility and process at Kensington. Maybe there are people in this forum who have experience.

I have 3 buy to lets with Kensington. All 3 were on 2 year fixed rates. At the time of taking the mortgages, I planned on switching to new fixed rate products at the end of the fixed term.

As each product reached its term, I phoned Kensington to switch to a new product. Imagine my surprise when they said that a product switch was not possible and that I had to go through a financial advisor to get a new product. Of course, this involves thousands of pounds in new product fees. Several phone calls went nowhere and I became a mortgage prisoner.

My products went onto the SVR which is linked to Libor with a big margin, so I was paying above 5% interest.

Can anyone give clarity on the Kensington product switch rules ? Do we have any rights to new products?

My suspicion is that the Kensington business model is to bait with a fixed introductory rate, then convert clients into mortgage prisoners on a much higher rate.

Thanks for any clarification
p.s. my story does have a good outcome because I was able to get onto new fixed rates after raising an official complaint.

RelievedSheff

Kensington should only ever be used as a stop gap until you can get normal high street rates.

Could you not switch to a different lender rather than using another Kensington mortgage?

Thrugelmir

kamalm wrote: »

Can anyone give clarity on the Kensington product switch rules ? Do we have any rights to new products?

If Kensingston market their products through brokers. That unfortunately is the avenue you must take. Product fees are part and parcel of the pricing of BTL mortgage business.

kamalm

RelievedSheff wrote: »

Kensington should only ever be used as a stop gap until you can get normal high street rates.

Could you not switch to a different lender rather than using another Kensington mortgage?

Expatriate buy-to-let is too difficult for the high street lenders. The days of a bank manager relationship are long gone. The specialist lenders charge even higher rates than Kensington, whose fixed rates are actually quite reasonable compared to their specialist peers.

The problem I am trying to understand is the product switch process. On one of my mortgages, Kensington offered a product switch. The other 2 were not offered until I pursued a complaint. I'll have the same problem again next year. Do we have any rights to a product switch? The SVR is too high, so a product switch is very important.

Thanks and happy new year to all

kamalm

Thrugelmir wrote: »

If Kensingston market their products through brokers. That unfortunately is the avenue you must take. Product fees are part and parcel of the pricing of BTL mortgage business.

I'm not referring to a new mortgage or to a remortgage from a different lender. A product switch should not require a new valuation, new legal fees, broker fees, etc.

A product switch for an existing borrower should be simple. But Kensington business model probably relies on mortgage prisoners; onboard a client with a good introductory rate, then lock the client into a high SVR with no option to switch products.

I doubt that independent financial advisors are informing clients that product switch wont be offered.

I'm looking for transparency in product switching. Nobody seems to know eligibility criteria.

Thanks and happy new year