Kensington Mortgages www.kmc.co.uk

This lender is not worthy of being allowed to lend. They were fined by the FSA (now FCA) and have very dubious practises

Their website says if you think you are going to have a problem making a payment to give them a call! Well I did just that and the experience was awful. They ask a million questions about every penny of your financial situation, I spent neat an hour on the phone with a girl, who seemed to be applying some kind of mathematical formula to the situation and not treating each case on merit and using common sense. Kensington really need to look at how they deal with people. I wish I had never phoned them, because I am no further forward. Next time I won’t bother!!

Good grief, so painfully slow and torturous!

You send all the information off, then a week later they come back and ask for a clarification, which you provide.

Then at the end of the following week they ask for some bit of paperwork, like a bill with your name and address on, which you have to post to them. Then they come back and ask for your HR department email address for a work reference.

They take your money quick enough, but drag the process out with chronically poor administration. I think the idea is if they are poor enough at getting to the end of the process you will either give up or the vendors sell to someone else and they have taken your fee without any risk.

Would I recommend them to a friend?

I wouldn't recommend KMC to my worst enemy!

Not fit for purpose. Embarrassingly slow and incredibly stressful experience. Took many weeks longer than it should for a sale with no chains at either end. Genuinely shocking. Stay away for the good of your health.

My credit rating was rubbish after years of bad spending in my 20’s. My mortgage broker was completely honest and thought I had no chance of a mortgage but Kensington proved her wrong, and we both ended up crying with excitement when I got the offer! Yes, they asked for a lot of information but that’s understandable as I was a high risk borrower. They were fantastic during lockdown when I needed an unexpected payment break, the staff I spoke with were really helpful and nothing was too much trouble. I can’t praise them highly enough. The rate is higher than a normal high street lender, but that’s understandable as I’m a high risk borrower, and none of the high street lenders would consider me. I wouldn’t have my beautiful home if it weren’t for Kensington.

1 Star because I couldn't rate lower. AVOID!

Our application took over 2 months to then be declined. We provided Kensington with our circumstances and initially they accepted the DIP to then apply for the full mortgage application. Full mortgage application submitted by the broker with exact same details to then be rejected on the same basis (after over 2 months) not accepting our debt balance clearly explained from the beginning.

We've lost our reservation of the plot due to their lengthy process. Kensington promised to come back within 3 working days but this would always be over weekends, therefore 5 days, delaying weeks over weeks on the purchase.

The developer was chasing us with some movements and asked if at least valuation could have been instructed, in order to not have reservation cancelled, but Kensington didn't want to know about it.

Kensington came back with the same requests over an over again even tho, documents and details were submitted promptly.

Together with the plot reservation we also had our Authority to Proceed cancelled and the plot was back on the market.

We then decided to apply with a different lender similar to Kensington and it's taken them 2 week from DIP to Mortgage offer, we now have our reservation back and looking to re apply for the ATP.

All this stress could have been avoided if we only decided to apply with someone else and pay the arrangement fees. £500 is not worth the stress.

If you see this review, please carefully consider your application and look somewhere else.

I had a terrible experience dealing with this lender. I applied resi mortgage for one of my clients in October 2020. All information was submitted to them. Underwriter kept checking for each and every information. They even confirmed from the landlord if the client has been paying rent in few years back. They wanted to have three months worth of money in the bank for at-least a month which my client had. After five months' stressful and depressing process, they suddenly declined the case. I only found about the decline when I logged in the portal. I will advised everyone whether a retail client or broker to stay away from this lender if you want to look after your mental health. Underwriters of Kensington takes pleasures in vexing their clients.

I was called on the 21.08 by Enact, Kensington's Solicitors to confirm that my re-mortgage would complete on the 29.08 and funds available in accounts by 4pm. This however is not the case. I have today (29.08) been called by Kensington's solicitors Enact that the mortgage has been confirmed for release on the 02.09.

At this point I informed them that I have a call on the 21.08 confirming today (29.08) as the completion date, so what is happening. At this point Enact put me on hold to find out whats going on, expecting me to be happy with the completion date, errrr read your notes!!! They then came back to confirm as I own both the freehold and leasehold they were awaiting the valuer to come back and confirm that the value he put on the property was still correct (I only bought it 2 years ago and had a valuation on it!) Which I told them I could provide! To be told this on the day you expect the re-mortgage to go through is not goo enough. When I questioned this with Enact they told me that I would need to speak to Kensington direct. I did this and Kensington told me they dont deal with the public and I need to go through Enact!!!! I mean come on!!! As you can imagine enact are sticking to what Kensington have told them, even though this is no fault of my own. This now means that I am now having to shift funds around to make sure that there is sufficient funds in my account for my existing mortgage payment to be taken, so this does not effect my credit rating, so that it can then be refunded to me withing 5-7 working days. I ask why should I be out of pocket for something that they have over looked. Overall I am not impressed and as soon as I can re-mortgage with another lender without being penalized this is what I am already looking into. Not impressed with the service received from either Kensington or their solicitors Enact. There is a certain reason why people need to use these lenders and not many would be in a situation where I am, where I can transfer funds, meaning that it would affect their credit rating in a negative way, which is why you have to go to these lenders in the first place. Kensington need to be more on the ball, rather than trying to affect people in a negative way. Cant wait to move lenders already!!

After divorcing and with some adverse credit, my mortgage broker recommended the Kensington to take out a mortgage with. Their rates were a higher than the more reputable lenders but having worked out my finances, with two children and working full-time, I thought I would be fine covering the monthly repayments. However within three months of moving into my new home I received a letter from a company called Mortgages No 6 who had apparently had .. " bought" my account/mortgage from the Kensington, telling me I had to make my repayments through them as my now lender. Their letter informed me that my payments had now increased, by an additional £45.00 pm! With no explanation other than they had now taken over from Kensington. I was mortified. I could just about make my repayments of approx. £700 pm with Kensington and now this had increased to £745.00.

I telephoned the company but got nowhere basically. I kept getting told if I was in difficulty I needed to seek help etc. After struggling with the additional increase for 2 months I failed to meet the third month in full. I received a letter advising they had now placed additional interest on the loan and again, my mortgage repayments had increased again! I was in a state. Within 6 months the loan was increasing and spiralling out of control, through no fault of my own. Again after numerous phone calls asking why I had been switched to a different lender within three months of moving in, I was given no explanation and advised to seek legal advice.

I was struggling to feed my children, pay other bills and keep the roof over our heads.

I was very soon receiving threatening letters for repossession and demands for accumulating arrears due to the increase.

I did not know where to turn until I took a few hours off from work and went to the Citizens Advice with my paperwork. They kindly took the matter out of my hands and indeed, stopped the repossession proceedings as the increase was deemed to be unfair and unjustified. The CAB successfully had my payments reduced significantly to more manageable monthly instalments.

I almost lost my home, my credit was affected and the whole experience left myself and my family in emotional turmoil and distress.

Surely this is not legal. Organisations can prey on people who are clearly struggling, with some adverse credit and seize upon their vulnerability! Absolutely disgusting that such organisations are allowed to operate and take innocent and unsuspecting people for every penny they have!

Dear xxx, The Treasury Committee and The Financial Conduct Authority,

I would like to formally draw your attention to concerns I have, been transparent about and already raised directly to Northview Group CEO, who own Kensington Mortgage Company.

I believe an investigation is required and suspect it will find that a large number of borrowers who have experienced some form of inappropriate action, suffering material financial distress as a result of Northview Group/Kensington Mortgage Company’s conduct. I say this because Blemain Finance and Kensington Mortgages were the most complained about mortgage companies according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The regulator’s latest data release covering the second half of 2017 showed that Blemain received 43.1 and Kensington 41.1 complaints per 1,000 outstanding balances.

I suspect Northview Group/ KMC have focused on high profits through made-up fees, high interest rates, and the acquisition of equity and property. From my own experiences and what I have read in online forums, I suspect an investigation and a report from experts such as Promontory is overdue and desperately required. Promontory would be able to provide a report possibly showing evidence of “endemic” misbehaviour by KMC/Northview Group staff. In my case I believe charging £17,612.98 of Solicitors Costs in 1 day for a hearing that could only yield Northview Group £1405, at most, and over £40,000 of charges in one year, is an example of I suspect several instances were their staff follow practices that other lenders have been found pick a number, any number’ when deciding what fees to charge struggling borrowers.

Inappropriate actions appear not to be addressed when challenged, even when requests are made to the most senior level. I personally have written to CEO of Northview Group. The response is “no comment” when pushed to provide adequate and accurate responses. It appears from online forums that responses are usually not given and if they are, they are inaccurate and do not actually address borrowers concerns. I was given untrue responses, that did not support the evidence I was able to provide. Once challenged the venom and distain increases. Northview Group staff have faced various descriptions in the reviews below. I can relate to all of their bad and distressing experiences others face. I am no CEO, but I am a human being and if this were my company, I would feel ashamed. It seems they know eviction, refusing to allow people back into their homes and threatening to dispose of belongings is their mission. I have made over 100 requests to resolve my complaints amicably - all were ignored.

The CEO refuses to respond and hides behind others. This is indicative of an unprofessional culture that set little store by the interests of borrowers. However, another reason, especially when errors are made as I highlighted, could be due to a lack of training, a high turnover of staff and a lack of job satisfaction. I received a phone call from a ex disgruntled member of KMC staff, who warned me that I was being charged what he described as “Monopoly money” and made up charges. I suspect this is true in regards to Solicitors costs. A report would be needed into KMC/Northview Group and it’s Solicitors (such as Walker Morris) to be made to disclose actual invoices charged for Solicitors Costs. I have asked Walker Morris Solicitors to confirm and breakdown their charges. They have been conspicuous by their evasiveness to confirm or deny if the Solicitors Costs, passed on to borrowers by Northview Group/ KMC are reflective of what Walker Morris actually invoiced. I suspect a few thousand pounds here and there was added on top by Northview Group.

I refer to an online post of a current Northview Group employee on indeed.co.uk reviews:

“Redress Agent (Current Employee) – Maidenhead, Berkshire – 19 August 2018

Some managers are lovely and understanding, the job as a Redress Agent requires a lot of various skills and personally the salary should be higher, you take calls, deal with complaints, get a wider knowledge of redress but the trainers aren't very good. It's easy to make mistakes because of the lack of training taking place. When i joined the company I was out on the floor for a month doing the role before doing my training which is why mistakes were made and isn't ideal but it happens. There are a lot of ways to progress further with the right help. The role drains me and isn't as enjoyable as anticipated.”

If employees are dealing with customers prior to training, then it is no wonder such errors are made. Again, effective leadership should identify such issues and again I feel the person at Northview could benefit from a report addressing this. I received a response dated 12/12/18, every paragraph contain something that I could prove was factually incorrect. I don’t know if this was incompetence, a desire to mislead or an untrained new employee. When I wrote to the CEO challenging the inaccuracy of the response which demonstrated the errors, I got a rude email from a man threatening me.

It is of no surprise that in August 2018 Which? Scored KMC 23rd out of 23 Lenders. Which?'s rating for customer satisfaction, based on feedback from real customers. The score is made up of a customer's overall satisfaction with the brand, and how likely they are to recommend that brand. KMC came last/ bottom of the table.

There merest of Google searches highlights the same issues over and over again. Nothing has changed since KMC were fined in 2010.

I write specifically to the Treasury Committee as The Treasury committee published the full unredacted report into Royal Bank of Scotland’s “disgraceful” treatment of struggling small businesses that came to it for financial assistance in the wake of the banking crisis.

The influential group of MPs released the complete report after a protracted stand-off with City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which had published only a redacted version.

The public deserves an investigation, the truth, the truth to be published and Financial Institution perpetrators heavily fined, in the manner RBS had to set aside £400 million. “The overarching priority at all levels of GRG was not the health and strength of customers, but the generation of income for RBS, through made-up fees, high interest rates, and the acquisition of equity and property.”

I have confirmation that the CEO has received my emails and I know I have given him every opportunity to respond to me, all I got was someone else advising that he will make no comment - I therefore feel as the online review examples during the CEO's reign should force him to resign and The FCA and overhauled staff at Northview Group to finally consider how ordinary people are treated. Northview Group clearly feel ordinary people don’t matter and can be bullied. I believe ordinary people like me and those in the reviews below should have a voice. I hope a report by experts like Promontory would force them to redress all those who have suffered.

I am very willing to be called before the Treasury Committee to give evidence, to provide all evidence of my treatment to any report author, regulatory body or even the CEO, if he decides he wants to take the plights of ordinary people seriously. Being a domestic and financial abuse victim was traumatic for me and my children, however the treatment we received from Northview Group staff and was far worse.

I will happily update the Committee, any report author or regulatory organisation, or the media if I get any response or progress and if the CEO ever does have the common decency to acknowledge or respond personally to my requests.

I do feel that based on the horrific experiences I have read in reviews by victims and staff online, it was misjudged if Teresa May to open the Headquarters of Northview Group/Kensington Mortgage Company. I suspect she may not have got involved had she known. But RBS are a Government owned bank and they were heavily fined for their unfair treatment of borrowers.