Oko-Zinsen - Risk and return review
Oko-Zinsen - Returns and loss rates
Oko-Zinsen – Platform statistics 2026
Oko-Zinsen – Pros & Cons
About Oko-Zinsen
What it is
Öko-Zinsen is a German crowdinvesting platform run by Öko-Zinsen GmbH, founded in 2018. It started with renewable-energy and heat projects and now also offers loans to property developers. Its home page shows more than €32 million arranged, more than 19 funded projects and more than 2,350 investments (read 1 November 2026, undated).
How it works
You register, choose a project and lend to the project company through a subordinated loan. Interest is usually paid once a year in arrears and the capital at the end of the term (bullet repayment), though some projects repay in instalments. The offer open on 1 November 2026 was a residential new build in Offenbach: €985,000 at 8.50% a year for 30 months, bullet repayment, from €250 and at most €25,000 per private investor. That offer has been available since 20 December 2024. Minimums differ by project: the FAQ says usually €5,000, while project pages show €250, €1,000 or €10,000. You need a bank account with a German bank.
Returns
Öko-Zinsen advertises interest of up to 8.25% a year; the open Offenbach offer pays 8.50% and two funded property loans shown on the home page paid 9.00%. An earlier bioenergy project in Senden paid 6.00% (offered from January 2021). No average or realised return and no return after losses is published. An independent review in July 2022 put past project rates at about 4% to 7% a year.
Losses and defaults
Öko-Zinsen publishes no default, late-payment, repayment or loss figures. Its project archive lists past projects without their repayment status in text. An independent review in July 2022 reported no delays or defaults at that time, but no project had yet been repaid. Each offer carries the legal warning that the investment can lead to a total loss.
What secures your money
Nothing specific secures your money. Loans on Öko-Zinsen are subordinated loans with a qualified subordination clause: if the project company runs into trouble, you are paid only after all its other creditors, and payments can be held back if they would push the company into insolvency. The platform points out that assets bought with the money, such as solar panels, belong to the company and could be sold in an insolvency, but as a subordinated lender you rank last before the owners. No guarantee, buyback or reserve fund is stated, and the platform warns that a total loss is possible. No repayment or recovery figures are published.
Who runs it and its licence
The operator is Öko-Zinsen GmbH, Otto-Heilmann-Straße 17, 82031 Grünwald, registered at the Munich commercial register under HRB 275909, managing director Volkmar Heinz. It holds a trade permit as a financial investment intermediary under § 34f (1) of the German Trade Regulation Act, register number D-F-177-J9KG-32, issued by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) Ulm. This is not a licence from the financial regulator BaFin and not an EU crowdfunding licence. The platform works with portagon GmbH, which provides its investment technology. The platform itself releases the money to the project company after its own check; no trustee is named. An independent review in July 2022 reported that most projects then came from the Blue Energy Group, which it described as linked to the operator; Blue Energy companies issued at least the Senden project, while the offers shown in November 2026 come from other property firms.
Fees
Investors pay nothing: the platform says registering and lending cost nothing. What project companies pay is not published.
Getting your money out
Your money is tied up until the end of each loan's term, usually several years, or until instalments are paid. The platform describes no secondary market and no early exit. Loans can be inherited.
Our view
Return: Medium, based on the advertised rate of up to 8.25% a year; nothing realised is published. Risk: Very High (higher means more risk), because no default or loss figures are published, the loans are subordinated, the operator holds only a trade permit rather than a BaFin licence, and a 2022 review linked most projects to a group close to the operator. Risk-return: Very Low, because the return does not make up for that risk and lack of data.
Regulation
License / Regulation: No licence from a financial regulator — Öko-Zinsen GmbH (HRB 275909, Munich) holds a trade permit as a financial investment intermediary under § 34f (1) of the German Trade Regulation Act, register number D-F-177-J9KG-32, issued and supervised by the IHK Ulm. It is not licensed by BaFin and is not an EU crowdfunding service provider. Offers are made as subordinated loans under the German Asset Investment Act.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
Only by trade law. Öko-Zinsen GmbH holds a permit as a financial investment intermediary under § 34f of the German Trade Regulation Act (register number D-F-177-J9KG-32, IHK Ulm). It has no BaFin licence and no EU crowdfunding licence.
No trustee or payment institution is named. After an offer closes, a law firm asks you to transfer the amount, and the platform releases the money to the project company after its own check.
It depends on the project: €250 for the open Offenbach offer, €1,000 or €10,000 on other projects, and usually €5,000 according to the FAQ. Private investors can put at most €25,000 into one project.
Up to 8.25% a year is advertised and the open offer pays 8.50% (1 November 2026). No realised return and no default or loss figures are published.
Nothing specific. The loans are subordinated: you are paid after all other creditors, and payments can be held back to avoid the company's insolvency. No guarantee or buyback is stated.
No secondary market or early exit is described. Your money stays invested until the loan's end date, for example 30 months for the open Offenbach offer.
None. The platform says registering and lending on Öko-Zinsen cost investors nothing.
Your loan is a claim on the project company, not on the platform. If the company fails, subordinated lenders are paid last, so a total loss is possible.
In Germany the interest is taxable investment income that you declare in your tax return; the platform is not a bank, so it cannot accept exemption orders.
