My partner and I have lost a total of around 80k between us due to companies failing. There are promises we'll get a proportion back, but this always comes to nothing. Yes they tell you these are uns... See more
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I chose to invest with Abundance in 2018. They seemed to offer investments to fund good ideas for green energy generation, charging points etc for cities like Manchester. The maturity payout for my... See more
The marketplace is clunky - i'm glad it exists, because that's part of building a believe that these investments are slightly more flexible - but I preferred your previous interface where I could fi... See more
Company replied
I don't see a point in investing in companies that destroy the world I want to retire and my children to thrive in. For my modest savings, Abundance offer a great way to invest money into an IFISA. It... See more
Company details
Written by the company
Abundance lets you invest in local government and earn a stable, long term income while your money funds real green projects in towns, cities and communities across the country.
Contact info
Abundance Investment Ltd, Hamilton House Mabledon Place, WC1H 9BB, London, United Kingdom
- 020 3475 8666
- support@abundanceinvestment.com
- abundanceinvestment.com
3.5
Average
494 reviews
No recent history of asking for reviews
This company hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative
Replied to 22% of negative reviews
Typically replies within 48 hours
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Investing is simple and easy with…
Investing is simple and easy with detaild of potential recipients well presented.
March 29, 2023
Smooth process and all calls taken with…
Smooth process and all calls taken with clear responses. This is something that you find lacking in most other larger intermediaries.
Looking forward to other opportunities being brought to the market.
March 29, 2023
Massively high risk…steer clear
Myself and my wife have now dis-invested our entire portfolios (a total of around £80,000) from Abundance, as we can no longer trust the platform not to lose our money. We are now convinced that ethical funds in the stock market are far safer than the massive gamble that Abundance investments have become.
The investments that have paid up and not gone bust are the early 'subsidy farming' renewable energy ones, plus a great early stage marine turbine one. However, far too many of the other start ups have gone down the pan, with many investors on peer to peer forums reporting default rates in excess of 50% on their portfolios and getting rapidly worse. It is also now clear that even if the companies are involved in maladministration or total incompetence (as the three now probably worthless social housing ones were), Abundance will wash its hands and claim they are just involved in admin ...they will not advocate on behalf of investors and they don't have your best interests in mind.
The platform is now massively high risk, the communication from Abundance is appalling when things go wrong, and the high default rate is now glaringly obvious.
Put your money in ethical funds and steer well clear of Abundance, would be our advice
March 27, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi Adrian,
We are disappointed to hear you had a poor experience investing on Abundance but thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback.
We appreciate the concern caused when one or more of your investments run into difficulties. We inform all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and make clear the risks involved and investors should consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company you have invested with in its efforts to keep investors up to date and to achieve the best possible outcome for investors. Our role as agent and arranger for the investments on Abundance is largely an administrative one - we administer communications between the company and investors, facilitate the exercise of rights by Debenture holders, such as administering a vote on a proposal to change the terms, and process the payment of returns back to investors from the company. Over the life of an investment we remain in regular contact with the issuing company and request periodic reports and updates for Abundance investors however we are reliant on the company to provide these updates in a timely manner, and with the required level of detail and accuracy for our investors. We do not have direct oversight over each company as we are not directors or on the board and the company’s obligations are to you as a creditor of the business.
I note you have since disinvested your portfolio with us, however if you do still have any questions about the investments you held, please do get in touch at support@abundanceinvestment.com.
Abundance must accept responsibility for its Investment Platform
I am very disappointed with Abundance investment and based on my negative experience with them, I would warn future investors to treat it as a gamble. I agree with some of the critical reviews that I read on this page and feel that AI do not look after their investors and especially when things go wrong.
My experience so far is as follows:
Out of 4 investments I made, one has failed completely causing me to lose the capital of £10,000. Another is one that looks a dead loss despite the many promisers made in the updates that I have read over the last 2 years. Another Capital of £10,000 looks at a very high risk of being unpaid back. The third one is currently is at the stage of so called Late Payment of interest. The stage at which my second investment was, before it defaulted. Will I lose another £10k?
So that is 75% of the portfolio worth £32,000 at a high risk of being lost, and for this I hold Abundance Investment as mostly responsible for the financial loss, both for me and also for hundreds of other investors who trusted n this platform.
In actual fact it is beginning to look like AI as an investment Platform is proving to be a very lucrative lending facility for companies who are not particularly fussed about the high risks taken with monies provided to them by the investors. I am now of the opinion that only a firm legal action by investors against AI is likely to change the current landscape and would stand a chance of getting their monies back. I say this knowing that while investors knew they were taking a risk in investing their monies in the AI projects, none of us considered that so many of the investment projects would fail at such a high frequency.
And in all this AI has remained supremely above it all. They did not even email or notify investors of what is happening, including sending the updates, issued by the defaulted business as and when they happened.
It's high time AI put some real hard work to recover monies owed to those who invested in good faith in the platform projects. Their being aloof speaks volumes.
June 30, 2022
Unprompted review
Great idea, mixed execution, terrible communication, leading to impression of mistrust
The idea behind the platform is a great one. I've had an ISA on the platform since 2018, taking a pragmatic approach to my investment choices, and choosing a wide selection of investments with a widely varying range of operations, risks, and returns.
Most of the investments I made on the platform have performed very poorly. Around 65% of my portfolio is now in default; a further just under 10% are restructured and not paying at the rate or within the timescale originally envisaged; 12% is in the process of making a change; leaving just over 13% which is performing as originally described.
Anyone who invests on a platform like this should be ready to lose some or all of their money, and I accept that even a carefully diverse portfolio such as the one I built up is at risk. However, my main reason for the poor review here is the terrible communication by Abundance (as the platform/intermediary) with their investors. They claim to act as agents, keeping investors informed when things go wrong. However, in fact when the companies involved hit trouble, it's very hard to understand what role Abundance plays, beyond passing on letters. It's not clear how they are representing investors' interests, they are often entirely unwilling to provide information in the interim between updates by the companies, and on occasion emails to them and online chat messages have gone unanswered.
Of particular concern lately and the reason for posting this review has been a set of investments for a company building social housing. Since first being marketed in 2018 they ran into trouble during the Covid pandemic. There were a series of updates to updates and restructures including two votes called to extend the deadline for the investments to mature, first from June 2021 to December 2021 and then from December 2021 to June 2022. When the June 2022 deadline passed by there were a series of further communications indicating that the properties were near-complete and being sold, a process described in July 2022 as being in its 'final stages', before in October 2022 the company behind the investments went into administration when one of the directors went bankrupt.
As of February 2023 new directors are in place but it turns out that the properties are far from complete and the new directors are a) trying to understand the financial position, b) struggling with inadequate record-keeping by the previous directors, c) didn't have access to the company's bank account, d) had reason to believe the previous directors had used funds in ways not permitted by the original deed, possibly including e) applying fraudulently for Covid bounceback loans when the original terms of the agreement said that new debt could not be taken on without the permission of existing investors.
It took more than a year for this situation to become as clear as it is at the moment, and as the new directors have said there is a lot they still don't know. It is difficult to know what Abundance is there for, in its role as an agent or a trustee, if this kind of misconduct by one of their companies passes them by without them forewarning investors of issues such as these. This example is not typical of every underperforming investment in my portfolio, but features of it are present in all of them.
Overall the platform might be good for some 'fun' investing with money you can afford to lose, but I wouldn't dream of putting a pension in it or any form of savings except for the very long term. My experience overall has been poor, and while some of that comes down to me I'd caution against being overly impressed by the slick website, the cute little cartoons, and the claims of social benefit. More liquid, less innovative, and sadly probably also less socially beneficial investments offer a safer place for my money.
March 16, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi Ben,
I’m sorry to hear you have had a poor experience investing on Abundance, but thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback.
We appreciate the concern caused when one or more of your investments run into difficulties. We inform all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and make clear the risks involved and investors should consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company you have invested with in its efforts to keep investors up to date and to achieve the best possible outcome for investors. Our role as agent and arranger for the investments on Abundance is largely an administrative one - we administer communications between the company and investors, facilitate the exercise of rights by Debenture holders, such as administering a vote on a proposal to change the terms, and process the payment of returns back to investors from the company. Over the life of an investment we remain in regular contact with the issuing company and request periodic reports and updates for Abundance investors however we are reliant on the company to provide these updates in a timely manner, and with the required level of detail and accuracy for our investors. We do not have direct oversight over each company as we are not directors or on the board and the company’s obligations are to you as a creditor of the business.
You have mentioned you have previously contacted us by email and not had a response - if that is the case then we would like to apologise, however as far as we are aware your previous emails haven’t come through to us. If you could please re-send your email (or message through the website), I will ensure you receive a prompt response. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please get in touch on 0203 475 8666 or support@abundanceinvestment.com.
Be very prepared for it to end badly
If you invest via Abundance, be prepared to lose your money. Of course, everyone investing via Abundance is warned about the risk. But you are also dependent on Abundance's vetting of the projects. As a result of my experiences of restructuring and defaults I would not advise anybody to invest. Perhaps it is better for individuals to invest via an ethical ISA fund so the risk is spread.
February 3, 2023
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi Gabriel,
I’m sorry to hear you have had a poor experience investing on Abundance, but thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback.
We appreciate the concern caused when one or more of your investments run into difficulties. We inform all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and make clear the risks involved and that investors should consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company you have invested with in its efforts to keep investors up to date and to achieve the best possible outcome for investors.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please get in touch on 0203 475 8666 or support@abundanceinvestment.com.
One year in
I have been investing with Abundance for about a year now, across a range of commercial and local authority projects. I’ve just started getting some early returns back into my account, ready to re-invest as new projects are launched. I love the opportunity to feel like my money is contributing to projects that help make the world a better place, plus some of the best returns I’ve found on the market at the moment. I’m very glad of the ‘innovative finance’ ISA wrapper so that I can avoid paying tax on the income, too!
September 11, 2022
Unprompted review
Principled and pragmatic
I have enjoyed(!) investing with Abundance over the last few years.
Communications are easy and the platform allows me to easily weigh up investment vs positive impact vs risk and choose the projects that most align with my interests/values/risk appetite.
I've found Abundance to be principled but pragmatic and we need more organisations like them right now.
May 27, 2022
Unprompted review
Highly recommend
Abundance has been fantastic - I feel very confident that my money is invested in projects that will help us all and that mean something.
The customer service has been brilliant. I am aware of the risks involved, but long term it feels like the right place for my money.
May 26, 2022
Unprompted review
I have a lot of respect for Abundance
I have a lot of respect for Abundance, not just in the service they offer which I find clear and beautifully presented, but also for their dogged focus on providing investments into such important areas of social mobility and renewable energy.
It's investments so it is one's own responsibility to understand and accept the natural risks of investment but all information is imparted clearly. So pleased that they exist and more pleased that they are so great at what they do.
May 25, 2022
Unprompted review
This is a great investment platform
This is a great investment platform, specializing in ethical / environmental / social projects that have given solid returns for the past 8 years that I have been investing in them.
It is easy to use with very clear and detailed information about each project allowing you to make informed decisions on how best to maximize investment opportunities.
The risks are clearly laid out and there is always sufficient information to allow you to dig a little deeper and make further background research about the companies and people involved in each project.
So far all my investments have paid out on time and in full.
Communication with Abundance team has also been spot on.
Highly recommended!
May 25, 2022
Unprompted review
Excellent
Excellent site, with good clean energy products ensuring that my investments are contributing to saving the planet! Good detailed knowledge of products!
May 25, 2022
Unprompted review
Things go from bad to worse for me
Things go from bad to worse for me. After being advised to accept a 90% loss in an investment with Abundance i now find another investment is imminently going to be restructured......we all know what restructured means.
April 30, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi Shaun,
We are very sorry to hear your experience investing on Abundance has been disappointing, but thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. I see that you have previously left a review which we responded to.
Abundance is an investment platform and as with any investment, there are risks involved including the risk of losing your original investment and we make this clear on our website and throughout the process of making an investment on Abundance. The investments on our platform offer a range of different returns from 1% to 15% which also therefore have different risk levels. We encourage all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and to consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment. Whilst this does not help when considering any loss you may have experienced from some of the investments you have made on Abundance, the large majority of companies that have raised money on the platform have paid returns to investors as originally set out in the terms of the investment.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company in its efforts to keep investors up to date and to achieve the best possible outcome for investors. We do understand that in such situations the options for the company and its investors can be limited, with a restructuring the only option to prevent the company from having to close, which could lead to a worse outcome for investors. It is however up to investors to choose whether to accept any proposal from the company they have invested in. In the case of the upcoming restructuring proposal for one of your investments, we are waiting on more details from the company but we do hope that a positive outcome for investors can still be achieved although we appreciate this may be under different terms or a different timeframe than you originally invested on.
If you would like to discuss this further or have any questions regarding your investments on Abundance, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@abundanceinvestment.com.
With best wishes,
The Abundance team
There is a lot to like about Abundance but…
There is a lot to like about Abundance - the investments mostly have a very genuine environmental or social focus and are often innovative and interesting as well with some reasonable rates of return. I very much like how user friendly the website and investment portal is.
The big note of caution though is the one raised by others here - when things go badly on investments, which they have done on at least 3 or 4 of the investments so far. When things go bad, Abundance are not at all proactive with updates - it can be many months before a 2 page update written by the directors of the company itself. These are sometimes useful, but often presented as a fait-accompli with investors basically forced to accept worse terms or losses. I've never seen the security packages being effective or recommended. There used to be a feature which showed when investments were performing worse than expected but this has been dropped except for extremely serious issues like default or restructuring.
If Abundance wish to grow this platform beyond the niche, they need to address this with much better communications to investors who have put their money on the line. There will always be people who are happy to accept greater risks to make a real difference but please go into this with your eyes open - these are not risk free investments and you need to factor the failure rate into any overall returns you will get.
April 13, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi,
Thank you for your considered feedback about Abundance and the investments on our platform.
We are glad to hear you have found the Abundance platform easy to use but we do understand the negative experience you can have when an investment runs into difficulty.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company in its efforts to achieve the best possible outcome for investors. If there is a need to restructure an investment or vary the terms, this can only be done with approval of investors. We appreciate that a decision in these circumstances can be difficult and require some thought and deliberation by investors, but we will always work closely with the company that issued the investment to ensure they provide a clear explanation and information to investors so they can make an informed choice. We will always be on hand to answer any questions you have in these situations.
It can often be difficult for the companies that issue the investments to provide more regular updates for investors, as the companies want to give investors a clear and complete picture with all the pertinent information, which can be challenging to do when the situation for the business is evolving. However we will take on board your feedback regarding the frequency and content of the updates from the companies on Abundance and see how it can be improved.
Abundance is an investment platform and as with any investment, there are risks involved including the risk of losing your original investment and we make this clear on our website and throughout the process of making an investment on Abundance. The investments on our platform offer a range of different returns from 1% to 15% which also therefore have different risk levels. We encourage all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and to consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment.
Your Abundance account will clearly show you which of your investments are on track and have met all the payment due to investors, and those which have missed a payment or have been restructured. The feature you mention does still exist, however it only applies to a small number of investments on Abundance which pay a return to investors based on the performance of the particular project (for example the wind turbine, or solar farm) - if you view this type of investment in your portfolio you will find the figure for how much the investment has paid out compared to its original forecast.
If you would like to discuss this further or have any questions regarding your investments on Abundance, please do not hesitate to get in touch at support@abundanceinvestment.com.
With best wishes,
The Abundance team
Serious risks
I'm sick of having to deal with their investments being restructured or defaulting. I'm sick of having to read lenghy lettes from the projects finishing with variations of "we know this is dissapointing news".
If you invest with them be prepared for taking on very serious risks.
April 7, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi Nic,
We are very sorry to hear your experience investing on Abundance has been disappointing, but thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback.
Abundance is an investment platform and as with any investment, there are risks involved including the risk of losing your original investment and we make this clear on our website and throughout the process of making an investment on Abundance. The investments on our platform offer a range of different returns from 1% to 15% which also therefore have different risk levels. We encourage all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and to consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company in its efforts to keep investors up to date and to achieve the best possible outcome for investors. We do understand that this sometimes entails a number of updates and that it can be hard to summarise the detail but we will always encourage the company to be full and transparent. If there is a need to restructure an investment or vary the terms, this can only be done with approval of investors. We appreciate that a decision in these circumstances can be difficult and require some thought and deliberation by investors, but we will always work closely with the company that issued the investment to ensure they provide a clear explanation and information to investors so they can make an informed choice. We will always be on hand to answer any questions you have in these situations.
If you would like to discuss this further or have any questions regarding your investments on Abundance, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@abundanceinvestment.com.
With best wishes,
The Abundance team
My response to Abundance Investments reply
I am simply not convinced. Any investor should be advised not to spread their investment across your portfolio but see the whole portfolio as high risk and look elsewhere to spread provide less risky investment. I am also not convinced about the your wider claims that the profits across the schemes have been beneficial. If you believe that is true please publish details of all past schemes and show the actual performance.
I note your track record is not available anywhere on your website!
Steve
Once again an investment through this organisation is being restructured. After nearly 2 years since the last restructure another one. The company reported to investors today with payments due this June having had a 2 year delay. Not only that, they suspended trading on the platform. Again we have been told we will get a further update and will be pushed into taking equity. In my view these types of things happen too often with Abundance Schemes and my advice is to stay well clear. Also I have some doubt about some of the positive feedback on here!
April 7, 2022
Unprompted review
Reply from Abundance Investment
Hi Steve,
We are very sorry to hear your experience investing on Abundance has been disappointing, but thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. We have responded separately to your email but we wanted to also reply to your review.
Abundance is an investment platform and as with any investment, there are risks involved including the risk of losing your original investment and we make this clear on our website and throughout the process of making an investment on Abundance. The investments on our platform offer a range of different returns from 1% to 15% which also therefore have different risk levels. We encourage all investors to only invest what they can afford to lose and to consider investing across a range of different investments on Abundance, offered by different companies and councils. By spreading your money over a number of investments you reduce the overall impact if any one of your investments runs into difficulties and is unable to repay your investment. Whilst this does not help when considering any loss you may have experienced from your investments with Abundance Investment, the large majority of companies that have raised money on the platform have paid returns to investors as originally set out in the terms of the investment.
The nature of investing means there are always risks involved - however when things do go wrong we will always work hard to support the company in its efforts to achieve the best possible outcome for investors. If there is a need to restructure an investment or vary the terms, this can only be done with approval of investors. We appreciate that a decision in these circumstances can be difficult and require some thought and deliberation by investors, but we will always work closely with the company that issued the investment to ensure they provide a clear explanation and information to investors so they can make an informed choice. We will always be on hand to answer any questions you have in these situations.
If you would like to discuss this further or have any questions regarding your investments on Abundance, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@abundanceinvestment.com.
With best wishes,
The Abundance team
Best returns from any p2p platform
Best returns from any p2p platform, but also love using my money to make good stuff happen. Keep up the good work!
January 17, 2022
Unprompted review
A wonderful company
A wonderful company, they look after you and are highly responsive. Also nice to feel like you are helping the world with your money!
January 14, 2022
Unprompted review
Brilliant Investment Platform
I've been making small investments in ethical/environmental projects through Abundance for years. The platform is really easy to use and they provide all of the necessary information needed to make an informed choice on an investment. As with any investment, there's no guarantee of success, however across numerous investments I've only had one failure to date. Everything else has either paid out on time or been restructured in a way that was favourable to the investor. Would definitely recommend.
January 10, 2022
Unprompted review
Easy, Ethical Investments
I've been investing small amounts with Abundance for years. The platform itself is easy to use, the process for buying investments is simple, as is selling through the marketplace. Communications are clear and usually timely. My only complaint is that the number of opportunities has dropped in recent years.
As for the investments themselves, I think I've bought around 25 and I've lost money on two. The vast, vast majority have proceeded with no problems at all, with all payments made according to the schedule. Even allowing for the two businesses that have had to be restructured, I'm comfortably in profit overall, as well as being happy to know my money is being put to ethical use.
November 24, 2021
Unprompted review
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