An unsecured loan isn’t always as simple as it might appear. Financial advice site Myfinances.co.uk recently highlighted the risk of an unsecured loan without a fixed interest rate. Despite the UK base rate being at a record low, the cost of many unsecured personal loans has been rising according to another consumer money site, Moneyfacts.co.uk.

Some unsecured loans come with a variable interest rate and they have been climbing while the base rate falls in some cases. It leaves the borrower with higher monthly payments, much like a mortgage when the base rate raises, and you’re still tied in for the long term. Unlike an unsecured Wonga loan, the amount to repay could change over time.

Another factor affecting the cost of an unsecured loan is the higher number of people not paying the banks back during these difficult times. It unfortunately means a higher price to pay for other customers. Here’s a brief extract from the article:

While lenders have faced strong pressure from the government to lower their mortgage rates in line with Bank of England interest cuts, many customers taking out personal loans have been shocked to find their variable rates have been increasing – while some existing borrowers have also seen rates hiked.

With an unsecured loan from Wonga you’ll always know exactly how much it will cost up-front and we never change the interest rate. Use the sliders on our home page to determine how much cash you need and for how many days. We’ll show you the cost as you go and deposit money in your bank account within an hour if you’re accepted.

OK, so size isn’t everything, but everyone at Wonga is buzzing because we’re now the second biggest business lending team on Kiva - one place above the mighty Microsoft.

Having loaned thousands of pounds, interest-free, to entrepreneurs in the developing world, the Wonga lending team has also helped more people than other business giants like Intel, IBM and Accenture. It’s largely down to Wonga’s commitment to lend £1 interest-free for each new cash advance we process, but we have also been joined by people who are keen to help with a little bit of their own cash, or some simply taking an interest in what we’re doing.

Please join our Wonga team and help us go from strength to strength - there’s no need to lend yourself but you’ll be able to see the amazing things that Kiva and our money is enabling people to do. It only takes seconds to join up.

You can also watch this brief video about Wonga’s partnership with Kiva.

SmallBizPod, a podcast, blog, news and community site for small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs, has written a piece about Wonga and our sophisticated decision-making system. Read the blog, or here’s a brief extract:

Wonga is clear they are responsible, transparent lenders and for each loan taken out with them, they give a £1 interest free loan to Kiva, the micro-finance initiative which helps grass roots entrepreneurs in developing nations.

They are not offering a service to desperate individuals. They are lending to people who judge paying for the convenience of cash now, rather than later, is worth the price.

As Errol says:

It’s not dissimilar to catching a black cab. Of course the tube or bus will be cheaper, but every-now-and-then a taxi’s more convenient, if considerably more expensive.

Not a bad metaphor.

An interesting piece of research from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) today. It reports on consumers’ less than flattering views of small print - the dreaded, often meaningless drivel that so often accompanies services, particularly financial ones.

It’s hard to get away from of course, because you have to spell out what someone is signing up for, but at Wonga we believe in trying to make our privacy policy and our loan terms as simple to understand as possible. That approach applies to the entire Wonga website and you won’t find any jargon here.

Here’s an extract from a Press Association article about the research…

Almost half of consumers believe companies use small print to make money out of them, a survey has revealed.

Some 42% of respondents to a poll about privacy and marketing thought firms used small print to sell on their details and almost 50% said it was deliberately designed to be as woolly as possible.

The results come from a study by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is calling for an overhaul of privacy and marketing small print.

The watchdog uncovered widespread cynicism among consumers - with half the sample saying they did not understand paper and online forms.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said: "Too many privacy notices involve too much small print and too much confusing gobbledegook. Privacy notices are an important way to inform individuals and ensure that organisations are open about how they use personal information.

"But no-one should need a magnifying glass or a lawyer to find out what will happen to their information, what their choices are and what their rights are. Too many privacy notices are written to protect organisations, rather than to inform consumers. What chance do people have if privacy notices are written in complex legalese?"

The ICO is concerned that too many companies baffle customers and wants organisations to make their privacy notices much clearer. The organisation has launched a national consultation on a new Code of Practice designed to help organisations provide more user-friendly privacy notices.

If you ever come up against a barrage of jargon elsewhere, feel free to check out the Wonga jargon buster!

Wonga made it onto the silver screen this week, well, the nation’s laptop screens and PC monitors anyway! Around ten brave (or was it fame seeking?!) customers came to our London offices just before Christmas to rave about our instant loans online.

They were joined by some of our better looking staff members and two very cool guys from Bonneyandklein - film producers extraordinaire. We had a hectic but very enjoyable day’s shoot and now we have a series of brilliant videos which explain what Wonga is all about and why our customers love our instant loans online.

You can check out one of the clips below, but you’ll also find more around the Wonga site, or by searching for Wonga on YouTube. Happy viewing!

In another classic example of the big banks being about as transparent as a swimming pool full of mud, Barclaycard has today announced a ‘major’ interest rate cut for its credit card customers… Only snag is that the interest cut applies to just a quarter of Barclaycard customers.

It’s certainly welcome news for those Barclaycard customers who are considered safe bets, but three-quarters of customers - some nine million - aren’t getting a bean. That’s because ‘their risk of defaulting had increased’ according to Barclays’ bosses. It smacks of Barclaycard wanting to look good but only delivering meaningful improvements to a minority. Those people still reap the rewards of recession-induced government pressure, but most people get the same, or even a worse deal.

Check out how the credit card providers have been steadily increasing their rates…

At Wonga we believe in transparency. We’ve never changed our interest rate and the same rate applies to everyone who wants to apply. We may be more expensive than a sensibly used credit card, but we’re all about offering you a short term loan, rather than trying to keep you in debt for as long as possible.

And many cheap credit card deals aren’t as cheap as they might appear once you check the small print or don’t keep up with repayments. Think short term. Think Wonga!