Wonga.com is incredibly proud to have made it into the latest Startups 100 list, which recognises the UK’s most innovative, inspiring and ground-breaking new companies.

Our unique approach to short-term lending combined with the speed, convenience and flexibility of our service has secured our place at number eight on this influential list.

This recognition doesn’t mean we can relax and enjoy the glory of our hard work; instead it fuels our fires and motivates the whole team to find better and faster ways of serving our customers.

We’re pleased as punch to have made the top ten, but watch out top five, we’re on our way!

It was great to see some Seasiders in action on Sky’s Soccer Am this weekend. We know we would say this, but we thought the new kits looked very nice indeed…

The football season kicked off last week, but not before Jamie Redknapp published his list of 10 players to watch this season in the Premier League. Wonga was pleased to see a Seasider on the list at number three, Charlie Adam.

Redknapp had this to say about the left-footer, “…He scored bundles of goals in the Championship and I think he might continue to do the same on the big stage. Free-kicks, corners, penalties: he takes the lot.

If he can produce last season’s form, he might give Ian Holloway’s Seasiders a chance. Either way, I suspect he may be in the top flight to stay.”

We sure hope Jamie’s picks are winners and Charlie Adam and Blackpool rack up more great wins like the one last week against Wigan.

Go Tangerines!

We were pleased to see Wonga tipped as one of the hot European technology companies to watch in this weekend’s Telegraph. Indeed, we occupied the number one spot in a list of the top ten firms for investors to keep an eye on.

PROfounders Capital’s Brent Hoberman, famous for co-founding of Lastminute.com, and Rogan Angelini-Hurll, general partner at PROfounders Capital, cited Wonga’s real-time loan processing technology as a key reason for their choice.

In layman’s terms that means we are able to make instant yet responsible lending decisions at anytime of day or night. Meaning, if you are approved, you get the cash you need within minutes, sent straight to your bank account.

Sometimes you have to marvel at the ingenuity of the UK banks in tackling criticism whilst protecting their income. Lloyds TSB is the latest high street giant to announce reductions in controversial unauthorised overdraft charges, whilst bumping up other fees to balance the books.

In a move designed to pacify both customers and other critics of the hefty charges, the monthly fee for ‘unplanned’ Lloyds TSB overdrafts has been scrapped and daily charges reduced. Sounds good right? How refreshing for a bank to take a financial hit in order to reduce fees for its customers.

Yeah, right. Most commentators - and no doubt many customers - noticed other charges had been introduced at the same time and the bank will no longer pay any interest on positive current account balances. In fact it’s the more ‘organised’ customers who will bear the brunt of the recent changes, with a new £5 monthly fee for planned overdrafts.

What’s more, the reductions in unplanned overdraft fees are significant, yet they were so huuuuuge in the first place that even the new, slimmer versions are pretty heavy. Anyone who is at the edge of their planned facility (already paying £5 per month for the pleasure), will then get hit with daily charges of £10 if they were to go a further £25.01 or more into the red.

For example, if you were on the limit of your planned overdraft and urgently needed £50 to pay an important bill, accessing that money for a week from an unplanned overdraft could cost you £70 in fees! Borrowing the same amount from Wonga over the same period would cost just £9.33, including our £5.50 fast cash transfer fee.

So, not only has Lloyds TSB ended free access to planned overdrafts with its current accounts (and interest payments on positive balances), but consumers could still get hit with some big costs when in need of some emergency cash. Now that’s a clever trick.�

We recently invited Wonga customers to visit London and spend an hour in a studio, talking about why they like using our online, short term loan service. Despite only offering to cover basic travel expenses, we had plenty of takers and we all enjoyed a good laugh in front of the cameras. Many thanks to everyone involved! If you are interested to know more about our flexible approach to small loans then why not listen to what genuine Wonga customers have to say? Happy viewing…

As the countdown to kick-off continues, Blackpool FC has secured a new signing for the club’s first season in the Premier League… Yep, Wonga has today been announced as the 2010/11 shirt sponsor!

Everyone here is bouncing around with excitement and looking forward to the new footie season with even more excitement than usual. Especially after the World Cup washout.

Our founder & CEO said of the deal, “We are still relatively young but we’re growing fast and have big ambitions, just like Blackpool. Their rise through the divisions and fairytale promotion last year was an inspiration for football fans all over the country, so it’s a great fit for Wonga.

“Seasiders are renowned for their passion, something we have bags of too. We want to help make this campaign exciting for everyone and have plenty of ideas for making a visit to Bloomfield Road a day to remember. It’s sure to be a rollercoaster of a season and we can’t wait for the ride to begin.”

The Wonga logo will be seen on the team’s shirts in all friendly, Premier League and cup games and will make a first appearance tonight, when Ian Holloway’s men travel down to Devon for their pre-season training camp.

C’mon The Seasiders!

UK high street banks are still under pressure to reduce the fees they charge for unauthorised overdrafts, despite winning a Supreme Court case last year, but they continue to find other ways to keep the money flowing in. This recent article in the Independent highlights the ’seesaw’ approach, with some controversial overdraft fees coming down, whilst other fees for regular use of accounts go up…

… the introduction of “more transparent” daily overdraft fees from Halifax last December and the new £5 monthly fees from Lloyds TSB from this December means that customers need to grab their calculators and double-check that their bank account is the most cost-effective for the way they manage their money over the month. For example, Alliance and Leicester charge 50p per day (up to a maximum of £5 per month); Halifax charge £1 every day a customer is overdrawn (£2 per day over £2,500); and now Lloyds TSB is going to add its two-penn’orth of confusion courtesy of an additional monthly fee on top of any interest already payable.

These are not unauthorised overdraft fees the newspaper is referring to, but charges for customers accessing an approved facility. As pressure has increased on fees for going over your agreed limit - sometimes as high as £20 per day - the banks have gradually nudged up the charges for approved overdraft use, giving them the ability to bring down some of the other fees.

Some of the fee structures being implemented are no doubt more transparent than they were, at first glance, but the motives driving these changes are anything but transparent.

Wonga provides a clear alternative for anyone considering going over their overdraft limit when in need of some emergency cash for a short period of time. We are a responsible lender and the cost will be fully displayed for you, before you apply.

Check out our new TV ad, hitting the nation’s TV screens today. The theme is little loans, lots of control - as we’re the only short-term lender allowing you to control the exact size, length and cost of a cash advance.

Every business likes to offer flexibility these days; whether it’s a multitude of phone tariffs to pick from, a burger served with or without gherkins, open-ended DVD rentals or laptops available in every colour of the rainbow. But one industry that’s not famous for bending to your needs is the personal loans market.

Indeed, traditional bank loans are generally very rigid in terms of how much you can apply for and how long you’ll be making repayments. Typically you’ll be offered four or five fixed amounts when looking to get an unsecured loan - such as £3,000, £5,000 or £10,000 - plus a small choice of loan lengths, say from one to ten years. But what if you only need a small sum of cash for a few days or weeks?

Payday loans have taken off in the UK in recent years and cater for people in need of a few hundred pounds, but they are not much more flexible than bank loans in many cases and the costs are high. Generally you can only pick from a few sizes of loan, in increments of £100 for example, plus you’ll need to repay on your payday, regardless of when you apply. The fees charged are also usually fixed, with a set fee per hundred borrowed.

Wonga is bucking the trend for loan products that suit the lender, by providing small, short term loans on your terms. The loan calculator on the home page allows you to select exactly how much cash you need and then control the cost by deciding how many days you want it for. The shorter the cash advance, the lower the interest and cost of repayment. As you move the sliders to determine loan amount and length, you’ll see the exact cost of repayment changing accordingly.

What’s more, this level of flexibility continues once you’ve been accepted and have received your cash. By logging in to the My Account section of the site you can repay a Wonga loan at any time and save money on the original cost calculated. That’s because you pay interest by the day and there are no catches or penalty fees for early repayment - something else the traditional loan industry is renowned for.