How to Wonga

Applying for Wonga is simple. There’s no nightmare paperwork to tackle, documents to fax or cheesy hold music to endure, because our unique service is online from start to finish. To begin, use the sliders on the home page to decide exactly how much cash you want to borrow and how many days you need it for. We'll show you the full cost and, once you're happy with everything, click apply. We'll then ask for some personal details and banking information for our super-fast credit check.

• We usually provide you with an instant answer and we deposit the cash directly into your account wthin an hour! That makes us the fastest lender in the land

• On the promised date we collect a single payment from your debit card, so you just need to ensure the required funds are available in the relevant bank account

• You can initially request up to £200 and, providing you keep using the service responsibly, we'll gradually increase your Wonga trust rating, giving you more borrowing flexibility if you ever need it. Once you have an account, you'll find application is even faster next time too! 

If you're still feeling a bit foggy, there's further introductory information below. Or check out our FAQ page for answers to most specific questions.

Short-term credit

We don’t want to keep you in debt. That may sound funny coming from any lender, but Wonga provides fast cash advances for a few days or weeks. We’ll only lend you money for up to 30 days and no futher funds will be available until the existing one has been paid back in full.

Unlike some lenders or credit card providers, we won’t keep rolling your existing balance endlessly. So please think carefully before you apply because we expect you to repay us when you promise to. If you have any doubts over whether you'll be able to do that comfortably, please don’t apply in the first place.  

Transparency

We'll always tell you upfront what the cost of your cash advance will be. There are no catches or extra costs to worry about, providing you stick to your side of the deal. Whether you are borrowing £200 or £500, you’ll pay interest of 1% per day (£1 per £100 borrowed per day). That's an official APR of 2334%, but bear in mind that APR is a measure of annual interest and a Wonga loan is only for between five and 30 days. Only using APR when considering a Wonga cash advance is a bit like trying to plan a short hotel break using the theoretical cost if you were to stay all year! We also add a £5.50 transmission fee that helps cover the cost of our super-fast cash deposit system - the quickest cash transfers on the web! Again, this is included in the total cost you'll be shown up-front.

Failure to stick to your side of the deal

The only way costs will mount beyond our initial calculation is if you don’t keep your promise. In other words, if you ask us to change your repayment date, or don’t ensure sufficient funds are available for the automated collection.

If we can’t collect payment from your debit card on the day you selected you'll have broken your promise and will incur a £10 administration fee towards the cost of a failed collection. Interest will also continue to accrue.

If we are declined by your bank a second time and haven't heard from you, you'll have failed to honour your loan agreement. We will hand your account to a debt collection partner and may add additional default charges, totalling up to £105, towards the costs of our collections efforts. Sustained failure to repay a loan will also lead to a black mark on your credit record and potential legal action, both of which could make it very difficult to gain credit in the future.

None of these things are worth risking over a few hundred pounds, so if you have doubts about whether you'll be able to repay a loan within 30 days, please don't apply in the first place.