Hey, we’re far too modest to claim that ourselves, but we’ve just been shortlisted in that prestigious category in this year’s Startups Awards! We’re also in the running for the Best Use of Technology gong. A double whammy.

The final judging day will take place in September and all category winners will be announced at the rather grand-sounding ‘awards luncheon’ on 30 October.

The judges told us: “we have received exceptionally high quality entries for the Startups Awards. Short listing was particularly tough, so you have done tremendously well to get this far.”

We can’t argue with that and the whole team’s chuffed to be nominated twice. Fingers crossed…

A recent survey by the Halifax has found students owe an average of nearly £220 on credit cards - adding to the potential long-term debt they’ll graduate with.

Here’s another statistic (for what statistics are worth!). The average student leaves uni owing some thirteen grand! Incurring this kind of major debt seems to have become an accepted part of education these days.

If you’re about to start a degree yourself, here are a few tips to bear in mind…

• Minimise student loans by only taking out what you need, not the maximum available
• Try taking out small Wonga loans for occasional emergency costs, but only when you know you can repay the cash comfortably within a month. That way you clear the debt within 30 days, not some years after you graduate
• Draw up a budget of your income and outgoings - and stick to it
• Shop around for banks offering student accounts with no charges
• Make the most of student discounts - many retailers offer them and you won’t get these kind of reductions again until you hit retirement age!

The Times has written about recent research from Moneyexpert that exposes another ruse by banks to secure even more revenue during the credit crunch and ongoing regulatory pressure.

The article highlights how the best savings rates are being reserved to tempt new customers, while existing customers are often seeing the interest they can earn reduced. Instant access accounts are being worst hit, as the banks look to tie customers in with products that come with a long-term commitment. Here’s an extract, but you can read the whole article here at the Times Online.

Banks and building societies have slashed interest rates for loyal customers with instant access accounts as they look to lure new savers with eye-catching offers on long-term fixed-rate products.

The credit crunch has created a “dash for deposits” with rates as high as 7.2 per cent paid on fixed-rate savings. However it is only long-term savers, happy to lock their money away for extended periods, who have been the beneficiaries, an analysis by Moneyexpert.com, the comparison site, has shown.

The average rate paid on instant access accounts has dropped from 3.76 per cent in January to just 3.3 per cent now, said Moneyexpert. Northern Rock’s Silver Savings account, for example, paid 5.75 per cent in January but has since been cut to 5.02 per cent.

The Times has published a fascinating and useful list of money saving tips from the Women’s Institute. Fifty thrifty tips no less! Some of them sound rather quaint - how many people store their food in a pantry these days?! But you can’t argue with the logic and most people would benefit from a quick refresher on sensible money management.

Here’s the top 10 as a taster. Enjoy and don’t forget to ‘think tupperware’!

1. Forward-plan your shopping. Five or ten minutes of planning what you need can save money as well as time.
2. Check the pantry. Finding out what you have from last week before you go shopping will save you money. Also look through recipe books to see if you can do something with leftovers rather than throwing them out.
3. Make a list and shop once a week. When you go shopping take a menu for the week as well as a list so you buy only what you need.
4. Never go shopping when you are hungry. Shopping once a week instead of two or three times also saves on petrol.
5. Don’t BOGOF. Don’t go for buy-one-get-one-free offers unless you know you will use the extra.
6. Look at cost per unit, or number of portions rather than overall price in the supermarket.
7. Ignore sell by dates. Don’t throw something away just because it has gone past its use by date as some things, like yoghurts, are often ok to eat until a couple of days later.
8. Think tupperware. Store things correctly, in airtight containers, so that they last for longer and do not go soft.
9. Buy cheap. Don’t shun supermarket value ranges. Basic items such as pasta are just as good as branded versions.
10. Know your portion sizes so you do not cook too much. Bulk out meals with frozen peas and sweetcorn.

Inflation has been back in the news most of this week, as it hit the highest level since UK records began. But many people have been feeling the squeeze without needing a number to tell them the cost of living is soaring.

There’s never been a better time to get your finances in order and it’s not something to keep putting off. Stick the kettle on and make a list of your income and all your outgoings. Then look at the balance and your outgoings in particular. Work out if you can make savings anywhere - either to free up your cash flow, help reduce any outstanding debt or simply to keep for a rainy day (the forecast’s not looking too hot after all).

Our free Wonga budgeting tool should help and it’s been designed to take the pain out of doing the maths. You can download it from our borrowing advice section. Go on, it won’t bite!

We receive regular feedback and thanks from customers, which we welcome because it helps us keep improving and often makes everyone’s day!

In fact we’ve found some suggestions so useful that we want to encourage more ideas. One of the ways we’ll be doing this is starting a small and exclusive Wonga User Group.

We still haven’t thought of a catchier name than that, but it will consist of several customers who are happy to help us with occasional feedback on new services, website changes and any ideas we’re testing where we’d appreciate the views of people who use our service.

If you have used Wonga at least once and like what we’re doing, please drop us a line to customercare@wonga.com, with ‘Wonga User Group’ as the subject. There’s absolutely no obligation, but it would be great to hear from you and we can explain a bit more if you’re interested.

Lots of love from the team at Wonga

Your credit history can be a big factor in the cost of borrowing. Like a school report, good behaviour is rewarded, but if you don’t play by the rules it’ll be noted by the credit bureaus and your grades will suffer!

Lenders may penalise you with higher interest rates, or refuse to lend you anything as a result of a poor credit rating, although it’s worth noting that many banks will be looking to assess your potential profitability as much as any risk of non-payment!

Your credit history looks at current debt, bill payment and a number of other factors. It may seem strange, but not using credit can be as bad for you as behaving badly with it. Lenders are looking to rate your reliability in the past, so if you’ve not yet proven you can be trusted you’ll be classed as higher risk.

Using Wonga.com can actually help improve your credit rating - and fast. This should never be the sole reason for applying for a cash advance of course, but it’s a very useful bonus and could mean better deals from potential long-term lenders in the future.

Wonga is good for your credit rating because we carry out a credit check as part of our sophisticated decision process. When you take a short term loan from Wonga we create a SHARE account, which is a way for lenders to see the past behaviour of potential customers with other companies. Thanks to our hi-tech systems we update this information very rapidy with good news, everytime you repay a cash advance on time.

It means other potential lenders, such as mortgage providers, banks and credit card companies, get almost instant visibility of your trustworthy use of our service. Anecdotal evidence from testers and customers suggests it’s a very quick way of improving your ‘FICO‘ score, which is a rather mysterious rating used by some credit bureaus and can play a deciding role in applications with some lenders.