Abundance Reviews

Reading the reviews below, I would like to defend Abundance. I have invested in a number of projects and the majority are performing well (better than my traditional investments), but I have also been involved in the 2 investments that have hit troubles. To me it is pretty clear that the problems with both investments were things beyond the control of Abundance or the company, in both cases it was the Government reneging on contracts / commitments.

I have been impressed by how Abundance kept me informed when problems occurred and the detail provided on the actions they and the company were taken to rectify things. I was also impressed that Abundance stood by the companies when perhaps more traditional lenders would have pulled the plug. With the first project Abundance threatened legal action against the Government and subsequently the Government’s incorrect RHI decision was overturned which enabled the company to get back on its feet and the investment back on track. Abundance are also working to fix the problems with the second project, and things look like they will be sorted.

Though the terms on one investment were changed to help get the company back on its feet, to date I have not lost any money on any investment and fully support everything the companies and Abundance have done to manage what has been a tough situation.

With Abundances’ higher risk investments anything offering 8% or more , people should only put in money they can afford to lose. For me these investment represent an opportunity to use my money to help fix the UK’s environmental and social problems while also earning a return so I will continue investing.

Whilst Abundance's stock reply to every complaint on here is clear and well-written, good writing is little compensation for the loss of your money.

The collapse of GDFC and its absorption into "Allium Lending Group" has seen my Abundance investment turned into something called a "warrant". Right now this has no value at all. One day, perhaps, the company may issue a dividend, or even be sold (it would need to fetch £50 million for Abundance investors to recoup their investment, and has no valuation at all at present), but meanwhile they intend to dilute the value of any Abundance investment even further by issuing more shares. If I do ever recoup any part of my original investment in Abundance, it will also have lost its tax-free status because "warrants" are not eligible for ISA's.

Supposedly worth £6.26 at the time of transfer, these "warrants" can now be sold in the Abundance 'Marketplace' for whatever anyone's willing to pay. No-one's taken the risk yet, but the average offer is about £1.20. The long list of sellers, and the painful disparity between what they're asking for their "warrants" and what people are willing to offer, is a stark and visible indictment of Abundance's poor choice of investment opportunities.

I invest at a number of p2p sites. This one has a professional appearance and seems well run. The company has been making an operational loss for the last few years, but that is not uncommon in the p2p market. They are growing.

Their offers are medium to high risk; the higher risk ones are usually short(er) term at 8/10/12% and sometimes higher; the medium risk ones are around 5-7+-. There have been problems with medium risks ones. It is therefore crucial that one diversifies, ie distributes funds across a range of offers. The info material provided is usually good but I doubt that even the experts can predict which projects will run into problems.

Diversification is a bit tricky though, as there are only few loans coming up per year. This means that cash can be sitting in an account for months earning no interest (especially in an ISA). This problem is aggravated by the fact that most loans need a few months to fill, again usually without paying interest.

One could buy loan parts on the secondary market, where they are sold by other investors. The SM seems reasonably active. However, compared to other p2p-sites the SM is slow and clumsy, and what's worse, loans are heavily overprised - on average one loses half a year's interest when buying, and it can be several times that.

For now, I'll keep the account as one among many.

I was one of the mugs who invested in Abundance's Monnow Valley scheme - for 12 months. After the first few quarterly repayments of interest, everything stopped. The result - I will not see any of my money for 18 years - yes, years. This is a Ponzi scheme. Please, avoid anything to do with this company, despite their crocodile tears.

We also got burned by GDFC. We have asked several questions to do with ethics, diligence and governance, all of which have been ignored by GDFC although basics about what they intend to happen, are being answered. We understand that investments can be lost, it's why we have a basket of investments, but we really didn't want to lose a 18 months of tuition fees in one fell swoop and feel extremely sorry for those who have lost out on pensions, particularly after following the Guardian recommendation (like us). Our concern is that Abundance put forward a package (and have put forward others that have also gone wrong) but we're not sure now, whether they really did do their due diligence before recommending the product. Similarly, although they say that they will liaise with the company, when GDFC fails to answer questions, there seems to be no push back from Abundance. At the moment, we're being asked to vote on a restructure of the debentures into warrants that seems to be valuing the total debenture holding at about 1/4 of the amount initially invested, and even that is still making some optimistic assumptions about performance. We wanted to invest ethically, in sustainable products, but ethics includes not just whether something says it's climate friendly but also how you manage people, assets and your corporate/social responsibility. I see little, if any evidence of a will to act ethically in those ways.

So far experience has been very good. 5 out of 6 on track, one underperforming but early days.

But I have largely avoided the highsr risk projects with higher yields. Would certainly say you need to be am experienced investor and do a bit of research around the projects you invest with.

E.g. I see some people on this thread have been hit after buying GDFC. I didn't invest in that project after reading worrying headlines about the scheme and 12% seemed too good to be true. The bread and butter renewable projects seem much safer so far...

Recently received my cash returns and two updates. It is super exciting to see the progress on the construction of the orbital tidal energy generator, I am looking forward to seeing it lowered into the Pentland Firth and starting to generate power!

Keep clear of these people
I've been caught out with 3 out of my 8 small investments getting into trouble.
I had a go at one of the bosses on the basis of due diligence (lack of) & she wasn't really interested.
As soon as I can I will take my money out of here.

Lost my house deposit in an ISA no warning no service and recompense?? extremely upset will never deal with these charlatans again.

I have invested in 3 Abundance projects.United Downs Geothermal project. Closed down. Got my initial money back plus 2%. This represents a loss because it was supposed to pay 12% interest.
GDFC services is in trouble as it needs to borrow more money. The best scenario for current debenture holders is that they may get their investment back 5 to 10 years down the road. The worst scenario is administration and we will lose all our money.Celtic Renewables has big problems with the Scottish government who were supposed to be a major funder and now are not.

impressive attention to detail and customer service, plus i feel good about every investment.

With the climate emergency upon us we need more firms like Abundance.

I have invested in a number of projects and the majority are doing very well, but one the Green Deal company is not going to plan. So far I have not lost any money, but my bond has been converted into a “warrant”.

I have however been impressed with how Abundance has kept me in informed during the process of restructuring the company and given me a vote on the option to restructure. I have invested via other platforms and Abundance appear to operate with a totally different philosophy - acting with transparency and integrity. I want to back companies that are doing interesting things to help the world, but that does not come with out risk!

In theory, a great idea. Appeals to the urge to do good for the planet while making putting some money aside for your pension, etc. However, having been sucked into GDFC and Celtic Renewables, both of which are now in trouble, I am now sitting on my hands with the cash I have in my SIPP and IF ISA, wary of being burnt again. I am fortunate in that I can afford to wait to see what materialises, but wrt those of you who were hoping that this would provide a needed boost now to retirement income, I would strongly advise you to be very, very careful and to put forward a sensible amount if you were to take the plunge in one of these projects, & only do so after reading the offer documents very thoroughly . Do your research. If it sounds too good to be true, eg 12% return in one year, it probably is. Having said this, Abundance provide a very user friendly platform for investing in what is an important sector deserving of support. Just hope they are carrying out the required due diligence checks on the companies offering debentures through their site as thoroughly as you’d expect...

simple, clear and so far returns have been as forecast!

I have been investing with Abundance for several years now and in the early days it worked very well for us.Their systems and proceses work very well and the ability to trade your investments via the marketplace is a good add on. And in the earlydays there was a steady pipeline of investments and they all generally performed as per plan. My aim was to invest some of my pension lump sum and enjoy a decent level of income as well as help green projects.
But.... the last couple of years have been generally characterised by a shortage of new projects to invest in and for some of my existing investments ( Monnow Valley. GFDC,Eccosol, Celtic renewables) by one bit of bad news after another. I have what are for me quite large sums tied up the above and set up ISAs to house these.Long story short I am no longer sure about the safety of my investments or whether I will see some / any of my money back. If these had been shares I would have accepted the risk as the potential upside would mitigate some of the risks but the debentures give me a limited upside and a very clear downside ( ie all money lost) . I haven't completely lost faith as I know Abundance have worked closely with the companies listed above and have helped them as they seek to rectify problems. But I shall sit on my cash in the main from hereon in and am worried about the companies long term prospects.

I manage my risk tolerance appropriately, and understand that these projects are higher risk than e.g. a Regular Saver account. I have been extremely pleased with Abundance and would highly recommend them to someone who wants to add to their portfolio and understands the nature of the risk associated with them. I have been very happy with the return I've received and I've had in initial investment returned for some of them as well as interest payments. I've also been pleased with the quality of customer service and ease of using the platform.

I've been investing with Abundance for a few years now. I originally invested because I liked the idea of investing in sustainable projects. Whilst not all the projects have delivered the anticipated returns, the documentation has been very clear on the risks of investing. Any queries I have had have been dealt with promptly and efficiently (even outside normal working hours). Their website makes it easy to see the status of investments and expected future payments. I'm happy to continue to support the investments offered by Abundance.

Although Abundance's 'green' principles are laudable, potential investors do need to be VERY wary indeed.

I am another of the ordinary ISA investors with several thousand pounds of my family's money at risk of disappearing completely in the GDFC fiasco. It's a very expensive mistake indeed, and one I can ill afford. It is also the source of much anxiety, as intermittent communications reach us about complex buy-outs and transfers which I don't begin to understand, but which sound like someone a lot cannier and greedier than Abundance is about to walk away with the funds we invested.

Recommended in the Guardian, I chose Abundance to try and do some good (for my family as well as the planet) with my small pension lump-sum. I totally accept that the risks of investing in their ISA were made very clear, but you have to question Abundance's choice of recommended projects if so many are either going bust (as GDFC seem to be) or delaying repayment for 18 years.

It's a shame that investment in climate-friendly projects is getting a bad name through the collapse of these projects and the loss of investors' money.

So far experience has been very good. 5 out of 6 on track, one underperforming but early days.

But I have largely avoided the higher risk projects with higher yields. Would certainly say you need to be am experienced investor and do a bit of research around the projects you invest with.

E.g. I see some people on this thread have been hit after buying GDFC. I didn't invest in that project after reading worrying headlines about the scheme and 12% seemed too good to be true. The bread and butter renewable projects seem much safer so far...

I innocently invested in Abundance's 1-year Monnow Valley scheme, which ran into trouble with regulators. The upshot is, I must now wait 18 (yes, eighteen) years before I can reclaim my investment...... I am 67 years old, and will be dead before then. Please, avoid any investment with this company.

An excellent company, which enables me to put my money to work to do something positive for the world. The website is also fantastic to use and so far the investment returns have been solid.

An excellent, easy to use platform for the saver/investor wanting to make a positive impact through funding green energy projects and social housing. The returns are generally very competitive. Of course, as with any investments, there are risks, which the small number of negative reviewers below point out; but these risks are made very clear on the site. So far all my investments have paid the returns projected, on time. Some are long-term investments, but there is an easy to use facility for sellers and buyers to deal.

Abundance is a great way to invest in sustainable projects and diversify your investment into debentures. The platform is easy to use and understand. It would be even better if there were more projects and greater diversity of projects.

Having had the opportunity to follow Abundance over the past few years I have to say that I am impressed; Abundance has stayed close to its mission and has kept expending its portfolio and building up the sustainable assets!

In my opinion Abundance could become the new gold standard for shared sustainable investment.

Carry on!

Really great platform & great idea - love it