Congratulations to Wonga fans Jeanette, Claire and Margaret, who were the lucky winners of our recent Facebook promotion. We invited customers who love our 24/7 instant cash loan service to become a fan on Wonga’s Facebook page - and win some mutual admiration.

These lucky ladies will be receiving a monthly delivery of flowers, wine and chocolates for the rest of the year, but we would also like to thank all of our new fans who joined us and left some lovely comments. And although this particular bit of fun has drawn to a close, we still welcome new fans ANY time and may even run further promotions like this in the future.

Watch this space.

If you haven’t joined us yet, you still have until midnight on Wednesday (30 September) to become a fan on Wonga’s Facebook page and be in with a chance of winning one of three great prizes.

Join us now! Simply hit the ‘become a fan’ button on our page.

Three new fans will be picked at random and will receive special Wonga fanmail every month until 2010. This regular delivery will include wine, flowers and chocolates - in a show of mutual adoration. And if that’s not good enough, if you happen to have a live loan with us at the time, we’ll also remove the interest!

If you’re a Wonga customer, you’ve still got a few weeks to tell your friends about our cash advance service and be entered in our big birthday draw. We’re celebrating our birthday all month as you can see from this lovely video!

Leading financial website thisismoney.co.uk reports that many credit cards have bumped up their interest in time for the holiday season. Quel surprise! Not only are standard interest rates on the up, but charges for using cards abroad and withdrawing cash from the hole-in-the-wall have also taken a sneaky hike. Here’s an extract from the article:

The increases are a hammer blow to families heading off on summer holidays, which generate the biggest card bills of the year on items like hotels, food and car hire.

Britons are expected to spend £22bn on credit cards during July and August. With 13.8m customers regularly failing to pay off their balances each month, the rate increases will bring a cash bonanza for the card companies. Almost one in three customers have faced a rate rise in the past year.

Credit cards have their uses of course, but it’s the fact that 13.8m customers regularly fail to pay off their balance, plus the frequency of interest rate changes, which can sting. It’s essential to fully understand the terms of any credit offer before committing, but the trouble with credit cards is that terms can then change during the life of your card and the banks want to keep your balance running indefinitely.

They can provide cheap credit, but also hidden charges, changing costs and the risk of a spiralling balance. A small, short term loan from Wonga on the other hand may cost more in some instances, but the total amount repayable is always explained upfront, with total clarity. The interest rate won’t ever change during your loan and you repay it within a few days or weeks, depending how long you want to borrow the cash for.

We make money when you settle your loan and clear your short-term debt, not by continually extending a growing line of credit and bumping up the fees every once in a while!