Investment Synergy Ltd

Fluffy64

Hi everyone, anyone have any experience with this company?  All my research and the reviews look ok, however they are not protected by the FCA instead they use a property portfolio as protection, which is why I'm triple checking. Be great to speak to a genuine 'customer' if you are out there.  Thankyou

Albermarle

Any investments that pays more than you can get in a savings account, involves risk. There is no escaping that fact. So this statement on their website can simply not be true.

Is my capital safe?

Absolutely. At Investment Synergy, we prioritize the safety of your capital.

Being backed by property ( if that is actually true) is no guarantee. See the number of P2P property based companies that went bust partly because a lot of the properties were vastly overvalued.



My considered opinion would be not to touch them with the proverbial barge pole.

ColdIron

Not on your nelly. 10% is wholly unrealistic and will come with considerable risk

• Limitation of Liability
• ‍To the fullest extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly, arising from your use of our services.

https://www.investmentsynergy.co.uk/terms-conditions

This is an investment and not a savings account. With no FSCS protection there is the potential for 100% loss of capital

Where did you hear about them? Facebook?

Edit: Domain created 15th Feb 2023

jimjames

Fluffy64 said:

Hi everyone, anyone have any experience with this company?  All my research and the reviews look ok, however they are not protected by the FCA instead they use a property portfolio as protection, which is why I'm triple checking. Be great to speak to a genuine 'customer' if you are out there.  Thankyou

What research have you done that makes them look ok to you as "All my research" suggests quite extensive checks? For reference looking at Trustpilot reviews for investment companies isn't a viable way to determine anything about them. 

I had a cursory look at their accounts raises immediate questions. It appears that despite being setup in 2012 that they aren't actually trading. Their balance sheet only totals £120 which is unchanged from 2022 so there appears to be no activity taking place but equally there is no capital of any note behind the company. 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07918319/filing-history

Maybe research Blackmore Bond that also invested in property and lost investors all their money despite having property as protection. Using the term "asset backed" seems to be the biggest red flag in my view. 

PS their website also doesn't comply with UK legal requirements in that it makes no mention of the company behind the site and their company number/registered offices.

dunstonh

 however they are not protected by the FCA instead they use a property portfolio as protection

Speculative property investments are not regulated as it is a commercial arrangement rather than a consumer arrangement.  100% of your money is at risk.

There are no guarantees on unregulated commercial arrangements.  If the company goes pop, you could lose the lot.    

wmb194

If you're interested in investing in property there are better ways e.g., long established REITs like British Land (LSE:BLND, FTSE250) and Land Securities (LSE:LAND, FTSE100) but if you look at their share price performances and read their annual reports you'll probably decide that it's a terrible idea.

Beddie

Fluffy64 said:

Hi everyone, anyone have any experience with this company?  All my research and the reviews look ok, however they are not protected by the FCA instead they use a property portfolio as protection, which is why I'm triple checking. Be great to speak to a genuine 'customer' if you are out there.  Thankyou

Don't go anywhere near it. It's far too risky and you'll regret it later.

Or... if you have plenty of money, give it a try with £10k and see how it goes. Come back and keep us updated.

Albermarle

PS their website also doesn't comply with UK legal requirements in that it makes no mention of the company behind the site and their company number/registered offices.

But the website has lots of nice pictures of happy customers and professional looking staff. Also it has 27 five star google reviews, so it must be OK, mustn't it ??

jimjames

Albermarle said:

But the website has lots of nice pictures of happy customers and professional looking staff. Also it has 27 five star google reviews, so it must be OK, mustn't it ??

Absolutely. The reviews don't look at all suspect either. I'm sure it's very common for investors to only have a single review and to be glowing about the salesman in exactly the same terms.

Curious (or not) that they use Regus temporary serviced offices as their base which don't appear to have any permanent businesses there. 

https://www.regus.com/en-gb/united-kingdom/stockton-on-tees/fast-track-house-5958

Their website claims 100 million (no currency specified) yet they've only got £120 in assets?

Finally @dunstonh is it even legal for companies to be offering retail bonds to investors in the UK now? I thought FCA had clamped down on these sales to unwary consumers.

https://www.docdroid.net/Y9kvLQa/825-fixed-rate-savings-bond-investment-synergy-pdf

Eyeful

1. The FTSE 100 current yield = 3.84%
    FTSE 100 yield x 2 = Very High Risk (in my opinion)

2.  3.84 x 2 =  7.68%
    Their brochure states a fixed rate bond of 8.25%
    I would not invest in this bond because it is Very High Risk!

Such a simple calculation but a useful one to remember.


3. When thinking of getting a bond remember:-
(a) Low Risk Savings Bonds are regulated investments.
 You get these from either NS&I or Banks & Building Societies.
(b) Other Bonds are unregulated investments and is where Bond Scams occur.

eskbanker

Eyeful said:

1. The FTSE 100 current yield = 3.84%
    FTSE 100 yield x 2 = Very High Risk (in my opinion)

2.  3.84 x 2 =  7.68%
    Their brochure states a fixed rate bond of 8.25%
    I would invest in this bond because it is Very High Risk!

Is that sentence missing a crucial 'not' or are you advocating reckless risk-taking?

Eyeful said:

3. When thinking of getting a bond remember:-
(a) Low Risk Savings Bonds are regulated investments.
 You get these from either NS&I or Banks & Building Societies.
(b) Other Bonds are unregulated investments and is where Bond Scams occur.

Savings bonds aren't investments at all, they're cash deposit accounts - the word 'bond' is (ab)used to mean many different things, including not just fixed term/rate savings accounts but also investments such as government or corporate bonds, most of which are legitimate (albeit entailing some risk), even though there are clone firms operating in this space, as well as dodgy mini-bonds.  And then there's premium bonds....