Kensington gives greater mortgage access and cuts rates

By Nia Williams

25 Oct 2010

Any directly authorised intermediary can now access Kensington's range of residential and buy-to-let products as long as they do so through one of Kensington's recognised distribution partners, which now includes all directly authorised intermediaries transacting through Pink & BDS Mortgage Group, Mortgage Intelligence and PMS.

This is in addition to intermediaries who access Kensington through its already established appointed representative network and directly authorised brokers transacting through Legal & General Mortgage Club.

At the same time, Kensington has launched its E-KWIP online application system to all of its intermediaries, equipping them with faster decisions in principle and easier applications. From now on, every application submitted to Kensington will need to be done so online and the booking of funds will take place automatically on receipt of a full mortgage application.

While the lender will naturally honour any paper applications that have already been made, it will not accept submissions by post after the close of business on Friday 5th November.

Kensington has also reviewed its product range and identified areas where it can reduce the cost of mortgages for customers who are overlooked by the high street. These include:

Prime

Up to 80% LTV

2-Year Fixed: Cut by 0.25% Now 5.44%
3-Year Fixed: Cut by 0.25% Now 5.84%

Up to 75% LT

V
2-Year Fixed: Cut by 0.20% Now 4.79%
3-Year Fixed: Cut by 0.15% Now 5.24%

Buy -to-let

Up to 75% LTV

2-Year Fixed: Cut by 0.20% Now 5.49%
3-Year Fixed: Cut by 0.20% Now 5.99%

Charles Morley, head of sales and product development at Kensington, said: "It must be incredibly frustrating for customers who are overlooked for a mortgage by the high street simply because their circumstances do not fit the mould. Fortunately, now all intermediaries have access to Kensington through E-KWIP, which means even more brokers will be empowered to help those customers in their search for a home loan.

"We are always looking for opportunities to improve our proposition for intermediaries, whether that is in new product development, reviewing our prices, or streamlining our processes and E-KWIP is a great example of technology being used alongside human expertise to benefit brokers and their clients. You can rest assured it will not detract from our commitment to underwriting each case on its own merits and we will continue to champion the cause of those customers who are overlooked by the high street."