"What a great thing from Hackney Council…"

What a great thing from Hackney Council - I just put some money into support solar panels on hackney social homes! 
The process was really simple, I read some of the reviews below and don’t get why people are moaning, I thought the website worked really well
 

"I am adding my voice to those who think the new website is bad"

As one who has been a long-term advocate for Abundance I am very disappointed. I am adding my voice to those who really dislike the new website and its (lack of) features. As one who has managed mission-critical manufacturing software in the past I would call this new site a "$*@%-up". I have no idea what customer testing was done but it failed to uncover some fundamentally retrograde steps. One of the first rules is don't break things. This one has definitely done so e.g. as noted by others, payment schedule visibility, no automated emails around marketplace offers and a few more ... Bland and obviously templated responses to queries seem to be all we get...

"Hopeless new website"

My experience with Abundance (until today) has been mostly good. But the recent re-design of its website is an absolute disaster.

They say: "Unfortunately you will no longer be able to see a specific breakdown of what you are due to receive back and when on each of the investments you hold. This is due to a technical constraint with the new technology platform we are using."

But what information could be more basic and essential? It's beyond belief that they implemented a platform with such a "technical constraint", and unless they un-constrain it pretty soon I‘ll be selling my investments and placing them elsewhere as fast as I can.

"Watch out for changes to Abundance website"

Like others, I would advise everyone to steer clear of Abundance. I was stupid enough to move my pension there, into an Abundance SIPP, several years ago when there was a steady stream of FIT backed investments coming through. Since those stopped, Abundance has offered only sporadic high-risk investments, where they clearly have not checked the anticipated remuneration of company managers or done other, basic checks. Abundance continue to claim annual fees on my pension, even though the administrators have now closed it down and I am prevented from re-investing even if I wanted to. I have to pay for the privilege of removing lump sums, (I'm only 63,) and for general running costs. No apology from Abundance.
BUT what has made me write today is that Abundance has 'redesigned' its website and REMOVED the schedule of payments (ie expected payouts from investments). This means planning when to make a withdrawal is almost impossible. For each of my investments, there's now an individual 'example' based on £1000 invested. All the information specific to my investments - in a pension, SIPP and standard portfolio - has been hidden. I spoke to Tom Harwood at Abundance last week when I was told my pension account was being separated from others and was told that NO OTHER CHANGES WERE BEING MADE. Furious doesn't begin to explain where I am....

"My Advice to everyone"

My Advice to everyone. Avoid these people like the plague!!! Far better ways to invest ethically. I have learnt this through bitter experience with Abundance. Certainly wouldn't touch them again. Ever!

"Heads you lose! Tails you...lose?"

Like many others on here, I wouldn't recommend Abundance Investment for anyone who can't afford to gamble with the odds very much stacked against them. Due diligence? What does this even mean for Abundance??

"Three (out of five) of my 'investments'…"

Three (out of five) of my 'investments' are in default and one in administration. Stand to lose £15,000. I have no confidence in Abundance and certainly won't waste any more of my hard-earned cash on them.

"Poor due diligence"

I like the idea of ethical investment and have done such investments successfully on other platforms, however in my opinion Abundance Investment does pretty poor due diligence for their debenture offers, making the risk much higher than I have anticipated.

So far 5 out of my 9 debentures are either in default or being restructured (3 in default, 2 restructured). Makes me wonder how many investment on the platform defaulted in total...

I'm glad I only donated (oh, I mean invested) a small amount of capital on this platform.

"Overall good - but be aware of the risks"

Delighted to support some early stage projects including the very cool prototype tidal power one, some of which have made a good return, others which have faltered. I put a small percentage of my overall savings into this platform, knowing it was higher risk.

Overall I'm up as I spread my risk across multiple projects and also sold off some of the riskier-looking ones on the peer-to-peer marketplace, having done my research.

For those who lost out: Pretty clear if you are getting the sorts of 8-10% interest rates they were offering when banks were offering 1-2% that there was a substantial risk.

Think a challenge may now be with rising interest rates will Abundance still offer value by raising theirs well above what can be got on bank rates?

"In retrospect I wish I'd had nothing to…"

In retrospect I wish I'd had nothing to do with Abundance. I've lots of this type of investment, but many of those with Abundance have gone seriously wrong and I've lost substantial capital. I've done much better with other ethical platforms such as Triodos, or by investing directly. So my advice would be steer clear of Abundance.