Kensington Mortgages Dirty Tricks

[Purple Avenger]

Hi All

 

I've had a mortgage with Kensington Mortgages for a few years. Recently I've been in dispute with them because they have accused me of renting out my house and increased by monthly repayments by £500. Unfortunately I'm not renting out my home at the moment and am actually living there. Therefore I cannot afford their inflated mortgage increase (which they describe as a penalty for not telling them that I'm letting the house).

 

As I couldn't afford the new payments, I applied for a remortgage with a more trusted high street name as I had an excellent repayment record. In the meantime I agreed a lower amount to pay them for one month with the agreement that a few weeks later I would pay the balance. They said this would prevent the mortgage from being in default and being refered to their solicitors. However despite receiving the lower payment they agreed to, they still treated the account as being in default. This is despite the fact tht my account had never been in arrears. Payments had been made a few days late but it had never been in default.

 

However what seems to have transpired is that they had been contacted by my prospective mortgage company to get mortgage deeds and later a settlement fee, which alerted them to the fact that I had secured a new mortgage. In order to prevent that mortgage from going through (which would have meant me paying the new company half as much as I was paying them) they registered a default, which took me by surprise. Subsequently my mortgage application was rejected just before completion. This has had a catastrophic impact on both my finances and my confidence, especially as I've just started a new job. I've had sleepless nights worrying about this and am angry that they would do something as dirty as this.

 

What I need to know is whether Kensington Mortgages has done anything wrong in making an agreement with me not to treat my account as being in default if I made a lower payment (I have hard evidence that they made this agreement), then despite actually receiving that payment on time, reporting a default, which caused my mortgage application with another company to be rejected?

 

I also need to know if I can claim from them the difference between what I would have paid the new mortgage company if they hadn't falsely reported my default and the actual amount I'm now having to pay them?

 

They are now threatening to repossess even though my payments are up to date (if the monthly repayment figure used is the one I was charged before they treated me as being a landlord). At the higher monthly figure, which I can prove is based on false information, I'm in arrears of about one month. Any advice would be appreciated?

[ananya]

Hya, I also have a mortgage with Kensington and am currently going through repossession proceedings with them. They tend to jump in and ask questions later, if our experience is anything to go by.

 

I was always under the impression that arrears of less than 3 months wouldn't get a court hearing, or if it did, the Judge probably wouldn't give an order for repossession, but my experience is limited to what's happened to me, there are many others on here with excellent knowledge.

 

Good luck

[Ell-enn]

Hi there - sorry to hear you are having trouble with Kensington, but you're not alone as I'm sure you'll have realised if you've read around this forum.

 

When you say you have hard evidence of the arrangement, do you mean you have written confirmation? also, why did they think you were renting out your house?

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

[Purple Avenger]

I can't give away too much here, just take it on trust that the evidence I have is as good as you can get.

 

They thought I was renting out the house for good reason. Post was being returned by the post office because I had temporarily moved away because of the death of a parent. In that time I did temporarily let the property to pay the mortgage as I had massive funeral and related expenses. I have been back in my house for a while now. However they are still billing me as if it is tenanted.

 

I've explained all this to them but they don't care.

[Purple Avenger]

Hi Ananya

 

I read your thread and am sorry to hear your plight. I always thought you had to be 3 months in arrears before they could take action However, it turns out that this company starts repossession action after one missed payment. If/ and when I go to court I am going to try and be in credit so the main focus can become my evidence and I can make them look like the crooks they are...........planning to take a call centre job as a second job would you believe, just so that I can pay the mortgage with bells on!!!! Will probably kill me but I have to do it.

[ananya]

I'm sure that if you've caught up with your payments, there's no way possession will be granted

 

If you do go to court, they will only look daft anyway.

[Purple Avenger]

But catching up with payments is a side issue because they're ignoring certain payments I've made to make the default look credible. My main concern is about their breaking of an agreement that I have proof they made? Can I get them on that because it caused my mortgage application to be rejected?

 

My long-term goal is to get away from them and never have anything to do with them again. I might even make the house "not as valuable as it is now" if it teaches them a lesson. I'm boiling angry and scared at the same time.

[Bona]

Firstley you need tyo get the default taken off and if the evidence is as good as you say as they havnt issued default proceedings you need to use fsa If they issue possession proceedings then you can take them on but I wouldnt try while you ahve a mortgage with them have you been back to your prospective lender with an explanation and proof of what happened

[Purple Avenger]

Hi Bona

 

Why shouldn't I take them on if I still have a mortgage with them? They're playing hard ball with me so I don't see why I must put up with this unjustified behaviour.

 

Informing the new mortgage company about the bogus nature of the default is not as easy as I thought because it was organised by someone on my behalf who went through a broker. I don't have the name of anyone in the mortgage company who I can contact about the application. I might be able to get this information but it's not proving as easy as I thought.

 

When you say use FSA what do you mean. Are you saying I should quote FSA law back at them or are you saying I should make a formal complaint to the FSA?

[Bona]

Because if you want to change mortgages do that first, these big companies are bu****s I should know and they can ruin your credit ratings for years they have very highly paid Barristers who lie and cheat in court and you really need to be away from them for your own sanity before you take them on then you have nothing to loose except money. The one thing I have learnt these things take time and hours of stress hours of fustration and time by the barrow load buy you can win but not when they are holding a gun to your head its only my advice you dont have to take it. If you are going to stay with them then try making a complaint to the FSA also try Charcol on line I havnt had any experience of them but Ive heard they are reasonable good at replacing mortgages.

[Killerschick]

Mortgage companies in general (and this does include the sub-prime likes of Kensington) do not register defaults until a property is taken into possession. What mortgage companies do do is report the payment history to credit reference agencies.

You say you regularly pay your mortgage late so your mortgage is probably consistently reported as being one month in arrears. You then say Kensington then agreed you could pay a reduced amount, if your payments were normally late this would push the amount you were in arrears over 1 month. This isn't reported as a default but might be shown as 2 months in arrears on a credit reference agency report (it depends on the percentage of the payment made - if 25% or more of a payment is outstanding it is classed as a month in arrears). If your mortgage is showing 2 payments outstanding this is quite likely to mean you are not eligible for a prime mortgage elsewhere.

Despite what you might think Kensington are unlikely to be doing this to prevent you remortgaging elsewhere. It is more likely that they cannot falsely report the arrears situation on your account, even if they have come to an amicable arrangement whereby they will not chase you for arrears.

Some lenders (usually building society's)can enter an arrangement for reduced payments and if the reduced payments are maintained arrears will not show as accruing. Others (usually plc's or off balance-sheet lenders) can't do this as it would lead to a false impression being given of the quality of their mortgage books to potential investors.

I would recommend getting a copy of your credit report from Experian and Equifax to see what is being reported - you might find that your mortgage has shown as being in arrears for months if you do frequently pay late, but it will probably depend on when in the month you pay compared with when in the month they report to the agencies.

I would then go back to your broker and see what deal they can find based on what your report says.

I doubt you have a case for a claim against Kensington for registering a default without justification for the reasons given above. If I were you I would be making a fuss about being charged a penalty rate for unauthorised letting when in occupation. The strength of your case is undermined by the fact that you didn't apply for consent to let before renting the property (in the circumstances it's likely it would have been granted and the fee would've been peanuts compared with the penalty interest) but if you've got proof you live there again now - utility bills, voter's roll, bank statements etc and evidence of the date you returned Kensington certainly sound unreasonable.

[Purple Avenger]

Hi Killerschick

 

Thanks for your advice but it seems you've made a number of assumptions which take you up the wrong path with your answers.

 

Here is one of the dirty tricks I'm referring to. In my statements it shows that the payment date of my mortgage was always the first of the month. This worked well for me because I have always been paid at the end of the month. Then suddenly in about July they changed the payment day to the last working day of the month. Fine if that last working day was in the same month. But suddenly the payment day is effectively a month earlier so that there is insufficient time between when I get paid and when I pay them for any of my payments to be on time. Hence I spend forever playing catch-up.

 

So what we're talking about is payments being made literally a few days late every month, but effectively on time based on the original payment day in the written agreement which I found scanned into an old computer (even though they act as if they can't find it in the hope that I can't find it either).

 

So because of this constant lateness and an increase in my mortgage payments because they wrongly believe I'm renting out the property, I reach the end of December struggling but knowing my new mortgage has been approved and is about to be completed. Therefore I contact these muppets and ask them what I must do to prevent my file from being passed to their solicitors as being a month in default. They tell me that so far there has been no default on my file and if I don't want my file refered to their solicitors as being in default and having to face a £50 monthly default penalty I must pay £XXX. So I pay £XXX + more to be sure. Despite this, they refer my file to their solicitors, register a default and inform me that they haven't received the payment even though I have proof that they have received it.

 

As far as I'm concerned this is blatant and deliberate dishonesty to stop me from moving my mortgage.

 

So when you take in this information without any assumptions your response or advice would be most welcome.

[Bona]

I Have just re read your thread, you ask me why shouldnt you go for them several reasons but lets look at what you have said, Firstly from what you say you have the the contract this is the letter of offer of your mortgage and any side letters. As far as I am aware you cannot alter a contract unless both sides agree or a court orders it im no expert but some one might know better. So do any of these papers confirm your payment date if so is it as you have said and have you ever agreed to an alteration.

 

If these papers agree with what you say they cannot change your repayment day.

so all charges relating to or which are caused by this change are in breach of your contract.

 

what do you do well these breaches have caused you damage BUT to issue proceedings against them will cost and wether you are right or not you will pay any reasonable costs that they have incurred and that will be a huge amount. so I wouldnt go down that road unless you want victory at a price So what can you do , I am in the same dilema having yesterday we won a major victory againt our mortgage company yesterday we were awarded 23% back on costs of our possession proceedings great but under the contract they are allowed there costs of defending these proceedings so we had to pay the well over half of what we won back so with what it has cost us we have a moral voctory but are no better off.

We are looking at two remadies firstley the FSA I dont know much about this but Im hoping to find out but it seems that they have the ability to fine and award compenation in cases of misconduct also a little used act which I will elaborate later when I have done some research .

 

I can imagine how you feel just be carfull sometimes ones priciples are just not worth pusueing against these b*****ds

[Killerschick]

I'm sorry if I made assumptions which were inaccurate, it's obviously very difficult to get to the bottom of a situation without all the paperwork in front of you!

 

I agree with Bona that your payment date should be specified at the outset of the mortgage although it is normally variable by mutual agreement. If you have not agreed to a variation in your contractual due date and Kensington have imposed one they may well be in the the wrong (they may also have a nasty clause in the contract that says they can vary the due date at will, or similar).

The contractual due date is not necesarily the date payments are collected. Often with interest only mortgages the due date will be specified in the contract as the 1st although the mortgage company will agree to collect the direct debit on a different date. With repayment mortgages the contractual date may be the 1st, the monthly 'anniversary' of completion i.e. if you complete on 28th it will always be 28th or it could even be another date altogether.

With regard to FSA involvement they only regulate first mortgages on borrower's homes (not secured loans which are still CCA nor buy to let) taken out since 31st October 2004 and they don't deal normally deal with individual complaints. See: Making a complaint : FSA Money made clear — guides

[Bona]

You also need to check what you are paying we had an interest only mortgage and they took the interest out ia advance not in arreas

[dionpromac]

I hope someone can help me, forgive the epic story, but I am trying provide as much detail as possible so that if someone can help, they would have all the facts.

 

I am about to embark on a Reposession Hearing next week i.e. Monday and Kensington have already applied to the courts for an eviction, which arrived on 8th Jan 08 and I am to be evicted on the 24th Jan 08.

 

I got into arreas last year, and went to court to try to work out a payment plan with Kensington, which we agreed terms at the hearing of an amount and date of when the payments should be met.

 

The monthly paymnets have been met, albeit not on the agreed date of each month, but during.

 

When the payment amount and schedules were agreed, literally about two weeks later Kensington increased my monthly payments, and created more finanical difficulties. I stuck to the agreed amount set by the court, but Kensington were not helpful and have gone for eviction over an amount of £116.00 plus my payment for January 08 = £818.00.

 

I have gone self employed so proof of income is difficult to supply as it is either feast or famine. On top of this Kensington are putting extra charges on my account for late payments / admin charges which is just adding more and more to my arreas.

 

I almost feel like giving up, but on seeing this forum and quality of support, I find myself becoming a little more confident.

 

Please, please, please help me!

 

I'm sorry if this has come up as a reply, but I am not sure how to do a new post.

[ananya]

Hi dionpromac and welcome

 

Firstly, you're not alone, far from it, my hubby and I have just gone through the same with Kensington and got our eviction suspended today - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mortgage-companies/125100-kensington-mortgages-repossession.html

 

Have you got a hearing for the suspension of the repossession of the property?

[dionpromac]

Yes, my hearing date is on Monday. Any advice, and how long was your eviction suspended for?

[ananya]

Our evicition was suspended indefinitely, as long as we keep up the mortgage payments and the agreed payment towards the arrears, nothing more will happen.

 

My advice would be to go as prepared as you can, take as much proof of income as you can and complete an income and expenditure statement to take with you to show the District Judge, to show evidence that you can maintain payment. Also, if there is a CAB office at your county court, go to the hearing early and ask to see a court welfare officer who will go into court with you, if there is an advisor free, and speak to the DJ on your behalf.

[ananya]

Also, if it's a joint mortgage, it looks better if you both go.

[dionpromac]

The mortgage is in my name only, but I will be able to pay the amount Kensington are demonading on this date.

 

I feel loathed to pay as Kensington just seem intent to cause as much hardship and misery as possible.

 

I just hope the DJ is as sensible as yours. My wife will be coming with me anyone to add more practical witnessing to Kensingtons dirty tricks.

 

I am glad you did well, as they dnot deserve anything else than a taste of their own medicine.

[ananya]

Do you mean you can pay off the arrears before the eviction date? If so, as far as I know, you can apply to get the eviction warrant quashed if you no longer have any arrears, but don't quote me on that.

 

Even so, by making a payment before the hearing it will go in your favour. As long as you can assure the DJ you can make regular payments, on time, you should have nothing to worry about.

[jansus]

Hi

 

this site has a section on money/mortgages and arrears it may help

 

Website of the UK government : Directgov

 

 

As an ex BS employee I am appalled at the way Kensington seem to treat people and I think if you can get the PO suspended then you are right to carry on looking into how they have treated you.

 

1) How can they prove you had sub-let the property? You may have just had a private arrangement for someone to "house sit" while you were absent - surely that would have been prudent?

 

2) If they have taken you to court for a small amount of arrears ( excluding the higher monthly rate) that you are disputing and as a consequence damaged your credit rating - that does not seem right.

 

There are specific threads on here about defaults - just enter it as a search .

 

Have not had tme to read your whole thread tonight - but will try to and get back to you if I can

 

Jan

[jansus]

Dionpromac

 

you need to start your own thread if you have not done so already.

 

go to top of forum section and press appropriate button.

 

Jan

[jansus]

Defaults - a proposed method for removal and the full template letter

 

look for this thread in legalities section.

 

By the way do you have a full copy of your mortgage agreement - to check regarding subletting and changing payment dates?

 

Jan