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We’ve been testing the new investment platform Prosper, putting it through its paces. Find out how it performs in our Prosper review.
While Prosper only launched in 2022, it’s establishing itself among a growing number of providers that promise very low fees when investing.
Potentially ‘zero-fee’ investing is Prosper’s unique selling point. In addition to zero account fees or transaction charges, Prosper refunds the underlying fees on 30 index funds from the likes of Vanguard and BlackRock.
These aren’t the only investments you can choose, with Prosper offering other index funds and multi-asset funds beyond those 30 – but Prosper won’t refund the underlying fees on them.
Prosper backs indexing as an investment strategy, whereby you simply track markets rather than try to outperform them. It doesn’t currently allow you to buy individual stocks and shares.
Read more in our review of Prosper* and find out the types of account you can open, the features available on the platform and how its customer service performs.
Special offer: Prosper’s offering 10 years of no platform fees to those who transfer £20,000 before 1 September 2025, protecting against any future introduction of account fees.
> Our pick of the best investing platforms
Prosper: Who does this investment platform suit?
Good for potentially investing at zero cost
- There are no account fees or fees for buying and selling investments.
- Prosper refunds fees on 30 index funds, potentially allowing you to invest at zero cost.
- Unlike other newer investment platforms, you can get in touch with Prosper over the phone.
- There’s a much more limited investment choice than most other providers.
- Prosper is app-only with no option for logging into your account on a laptop or desktop computer.
- Prosper is very new and some may prefer to invest with more established and well-known names.
This is Money’s view: Prosper stands out as a unique platform because of the ability to invest at potentially zero cost. Its curated and streamlined choice of investments may suit those overwhelmed by the number available on other platforms.
> Learn more about Prosper and open an account*
You can open these accounts with Prosper:
Prosper fees: Overview
Prosper’s main selling point is its ability to offer its customers low or even zero-cost investing, with the aim of helping to maximise their long-term wealth.
- Account or platform fee: None
- Fee for buying and selling investments: None
Fund managers charge fees for managing the underlying investments. For the funds that Prosper offers, these are:
- Index and ETF funds: 0.05 per cent to 1.08 per cent
- Active ETF or mutual funds: 0.1 per cent to 2.16 per cent
- Private market funds: 1 per cent
Prosper achieves zero-cost investing by refunding the underlying fees on 30 index funds. These include a diversified range of options from Fidelity, Vanguard, and BlackRock such as:
- iShares S&P 500 ETF
- Vanguard FTSE 100 Index Fund
- iShares Corporate Bond Index Fund
If you’d rather not build your own portfolio of investments, you can choose Prosper’s ready-made option. Prosper calls this the Standard Fund, but it’s not built by Prosper itself – the fund is BlackRock MyMap 6, which has an ongoing charges figure of 0.17 per cent.
This is Money’s view of Prosper’s fees
The fact that Prosper refunds fees on 30 index funds makes it unique among the investment platforms we cover.
It means the provider is a compelling proposition for more passive investors who want to use index funds to build a diversified set of investments with minimum fuss.
If you aren’t going to invest in one of those 30 funds, there are other providers with no account fee that have a bigger choice of investments, such as InvestEngine.
Prosper says it can offer low and zero-cost investing by retaining the interest on uninvested cash.
The downside is that Prosper is a new investment platform, so some investors may be more comfortable using tried-and-tested providers instead.
But keep in mind your funds are protected up to £85,000 through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if Prosper were to go bust, and that Prosper is backed by venture capital funding.
Another question hanging over the platform is around an offer it’s currently running. Prosper is promising 10 years of zero account fees to those who transfer £20,000 or more by 1 September 2025.
This is enticing and a great option for those ready to take the plunge with Prosper – but some investors have questioned whether it means the platform is poised to introduce fees in the future.
Before that potentially happens though, Prosper is well worth considering for cost-conscious investors.
What choice of investments is available through Prosper?
Prosper intentionally limits your choice of investments, selecting funds for its platform based on fees, level of tracking error and whether funds provide fair value for investors according to FCA requirements. There are nearly 200 options available, which is much less than other platforms – but this could suit investors who are often overwhelmed by choice.
It has what it calls an ‘index-first’ strategy, so the funds it offers are generally ones that track an index, such as the S&P 500 or FTSE 100.
But it also offers active options that go against this strategy, including Fundsmith Equity and Artemis Global Income.
It’s great that Prosper gives you a choice of carefully selected, actively managed funds, but you should watch out for their fees. For example, the ongoing charges figure for the actively managed Fundsmith Equity fund is 0.94 per cent, while it’s just 0.13 per cent for the passively managed HSBC FTSE All World Index fund.
If you want a ready-made investment option, you can choose Prosper’s Standard Fund, which is just BlackRock MyMap 6 – a multi-asset fund that’s like Vanguard’s LifeStrategy products. The ongoing charges figure is 0.17 per cent.
Is Prosper’s customer service any good?
You can get in touch with Prosper over the phone. Its customer service team is available Monday to Friday from 9am to 5.30pm.
We like that you can contact Prosper over the phone, even though it’s an app-based platform.
You can also email Prosper using the support@prosper.co.uk email address or get in touch with the team by messaging within the app.
When choosing to message in the app, Prosper says it aims to get back to you within 24 hours, not including weekends and bank holidays.
We tested the messaging functionality within the app after placing a trade for one of Prosper’s zero-cost options, the Vanguard FTSE 100 Index Fund.
The trade showed as pending, so we messaged Prosper to find out when it might settle.
Did Prosper’s AI agent answer my question?
Prosper has an AI agent called Otto that attempts to answer your question in the first instance, but you can also ask to speak to a human.
It was difficult to know whether we were speaking to the AI agent or a real human, because there was a lag in response and the profile you speak to is just called Prosper – it would be more helpful if it was labelled as Otto.
When we asked whether we were speaking to a human or an AI, the platform clarified it was an AI.
NOT a man called Otto: An AI agent answers your questions in the first instance
Ultimately, the AI answered my question clearly – but if you prefer to speak to a human, it’s probably best to pick up the phone.
Prosper’s help centre is also on the thin side, with a limited number of support pages that answer common questions.
What is Prosper like to use?
Prosper is only available as a mobile app, so you’re out of luck if you prefer to manage your investments on a laptop or desktop computer.
The platform guides you through the setup process after you download the app. You must fill in your personal details and then choose the account you’d like to open – but this only takes a few minutes.
Account opening: The app guides you through the process
Before investing, you also have to add money to your Prosper Wallet. You can do this by making an instant bank transfer, or by transferring funds manually.
You then use the money in this wallet to fund your various accounts – even any cash savings accounts you’ve opened through the platform.
A single wallet streamlines adding money to your account. Other platforms, such as Trading 212, have a fiddlier process for moving funds between different accounts.
Searching for and making a new investment
You can look at the investments on offer by clicking ‘funds’ in the menu tab at the bottom of the screen.
Prosper shows you a list of the funds it has available, which you can scroll through or sort by particular features, such as fee and fund manager. But if you have a specific fund in mind, you can search for it using the search bar.
Once you’ve found an investment, you need to review the order and then click submit. It can take several days for the order to be executed and show as settled in your account, which is normal for funds.
We like that Prosper’s more limited choice of funds streamlines the process of searching for and buying investments. The platform makes its zero-cost options clear and gives you the option of filtering for them.
It also clearly labels each fund, letting you know whether it’s active or passive, which asset class it invests in and which geographical region it covers.
Another positive is that Prosper’s lack of bells and whistles doesn’t encourage investors to log in and check the performance of their investments every day.
This all means that Prosper could be particularly suited to those who find the choice of investments available on other platforms overwhelming, such as beginners or people who aren’t interested in individual stock picking.
> Investing for beginners: The best platforms to get started as an investor
What is Prosper’s research and educational content like?
Prosper doesn’t have any research or educational content currently.
Fee-free platforms generally don’t produce the same dedicated investment research and analysis that paid-for providers such as Interactive Investor and Hargreaves Lansdown offer.
But the likes of Trading 212, eToro and InvestEngine do produce guides, videos and articles that explain key investing concepts.
When we reviewed InvestEngine for example, we were impressed with the platform’s videos for YouTube, which it creates in partnership with financial experts.
It’s straightforward to drill into the details of a fund however, which is all displayed clearly within Prosper’s app. You can see this information about an investment:
- charges
- performance
- holdings, sectors and asset allocation
- benchmark
- key investor information document
The lack of educational content potentially makes Prosper less of an all-in-one platform for beginners, although there’s plenty available elsewhere on the internet.
Prosper: This is Money’s overall review
Prosper is worth trying if you’re keen to cut the cost of investing to zero by building a set of investments from the 30 that Prosper can refund fees for.
Prosper is only available as a mobile app, but we found it straightforward to navigate. Everything is presented clearly and the fact there are no extra bells and whistles means you can get on with picking your investments.
This also means there aren’t many reasons to keep logging in to the app after you’ve bought your investments, which is positive. Constantly checking the performance of your investments can lead to rash decisions based on short-term price movements.
The curated list of investments is very slim when compared with most other platforms and you can’t invest in individual stocks. But depending on the type of investor you are, this might suit you – we found it refreshing to have a smaller selection to choose from.
Prosper’s focus on streamlining investing could make it a good platform for beginners, but keep in mind there’s a lack of educational content.
> Find out more about Prosper and open an account*
How we tested Prosper
We opened a stocks and shares Isa with Prosper and spent several hours testing the app. We added money to our Prosper Wallet and searched for, bought and sold an investment. We used Prosper’s messaging service to ask questions about the account and carried out extensive desk research on Prosper’s overall offering.
Prosper also offers a number of savings accounts, but we didn’t open one, so we haven’t tested that side of Prosper’s service.
Why you can trust us
This is Money has been covering investing and personal finance since 1999. Read more about how our editorial independence helps make our readers’ lives richer and how we test and review investment platforms.
About our writer: Sam is our Money and Consumer Guides Writer. He has extensive experience in writing about personal finance, starting his career as a writer at an investment management company. Sam enjoys helping readers get the most from their money by covering the best financial products for their needs. Previous organisations he’s written for include NerdWallet, the Financial Ombudsman Service and Simply Business.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .