Adverse-credit lending is transitional by design: the Kensington mortgage carries the case through the years while events age past mainstream thresholds, then the remortgage exits to mainstream pricing.
Typical arcs run two to five years depending on the event calendar — and we map the exit dates at the outset, diarising the remortgage review for the month the credit file turns mainstream-clean.
Adverse-credit lending and contractor-income lending are separate competencies, and most lenders holding one lack the other: the adverse specialist that reads a CCJ sensibly but assesses the contractor on drawings; the contractor lender with a generous day-rate policy and zero credit tolerance. The contractor with a healed credit wound falls between them.
Kensington holds both competencies in one underwrite — tiered adverse criteria graded by event type, severity and recency, applied alongside day-rate and complex-income assessment that values the earnings properly. For the dual-complication case, this combination is frequently unique on the achievable shortlist.
Kensington combines contractor income assessment with adverse-credit underwriting, helping experienced contractors present both their earnings and credit history in the strongest possible way.
Day-rate and complex income are assessed using contractor-friendly calculations.
Kensington’s product tiers map to credit history: the cleaner the recent record, the closer the pricing sits to the specialist mainstream; heavier or more recent events move the case through tiers with corresponding pricing. Satisfied versus unsatisfied, age of event, and conduct since all move the dial — meaning two applicants with the same headline event can land tiers apart on the detail.
The tier structure rewards accurate, complete credit presentation: events properly explained and evidenced land where they should, while ambiguity prices defensively. The forensic preparation of the credit narrative is core packaging work on every Kensington file.
Kensington’s tiered criteria grade adverse events by type, severity, recency and satisfaction status — alongside full contractor income assessment rather than instead of it. Two applicants with the same headline event can land tiers apart on the detail, which is why forensic credit presentation is core to the packaging.
Not at Kensington — the income is valued first (day rate annualised, complex income read properly) and the credit graded second. The £550-per-day contractor with a historic default is a six-figure earner with a graded event, not a credit problem with incidental income.
Yes — and in a contractor market that largely stops at the Irish Sea, Kensington’s NI coverage makes it one of the few genuinely contractor-capable options in the province. For NI contractors it is frequently the shortlist rather than merely on it.
Adverse lending is transitional: typically two to five years while events age past mainstream thresholds, then a remortgage exit to mainstream pricing. We map the exit dates at the outset and diarise the review for the month your credit file turns mainstream-clean.
Adverse risk is priced through the tiers — the honest comparison is against the alternatives actually available to the dual-complication case, not against mainstream rates it cannot access. Within that real comparison, Kensington’s income treatment frequently makes it the value answer.
A forensic file: full credit reports reconciled against documented explanations for every event, contractor income evidenced to specialist standard, and the rehabilitation narrative made legible. Ambiguity prices defensively; the complete, candid file lands the tier it deserves.