The Free Toaster

Carlos sits with Megan Bauer, Head Of Customer Success at Spinwheel, to discuss affiliate marketing & business lessons learned playing poker. ****** This episode is reposted from Spinwheel's Video Podcast - "What's Your Wheelhouse." Check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXcLSTMLAK4

Nick and Carlos discuss an Editorial piece recently published in The Free Toaster Newsletter https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/how-lenders-win-when-ai-calls-the   The premise of the conversation -- an LLM-based personal finance tool is going to be the most effective/useful way for consumers to shop for cards and lending products. Given that future, how should CMOs at lending companies be thinking about their long-term strategy? ****** The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th 150-person, curated room Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1 Learn more: events.thefreetoaster.com   ***** Sign Up For Our Newsletter   The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Please Support Our Sponsors   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june   Fintel Connect   Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com  

Most lenders underestimate how long it takes to get onto a major affiliate platform. The honest answer is 6 to 12 months. Sometimes 18. If one of these channels is on your 2027 roadmap, you need to start now.   In this solo episode, Carlos breaks down the five phases that explain the timeline: Internal prep. Do you have a competitive product and funnel? Get your application rate above 40%. Card issuers need 70 to 80% approval rates, which implies serious work on model alignment. Personal loan lenders need a dialed-in funding rate, too. Getting the partner's attention. A single intro call can take a month or two. BD teams are busy and you are not their priority unless you are already on their short list. Getting them on board. Adding you usually redistributes revenue across their existing lenders rather than growing their top line. The business case looks very different for you than for them. The deal. NDAs, contracts, and cross-functional review. Most terms are standardized. Lenders new to the game often redline anyway and lose months for little gain. The partner does the work. Engineering and onboarding queues are out of your hands. Add it up and you're waiting 6 to 12 months for a single lead. Plan accordingly! ***** The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th 150-person, curated room Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1 Learn more: events.thefreetoaster.com   ***** Sign Up For Our Newsletter   The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Please Support Our Sponsors   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june   New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com    

Pagaya filed a lawsuit against Klarna for (allegedly) stealing is underwriting. Carlos & Nick discuss the implications for fintech marketers that share their underwriting policies with affiliate marketing platforms. Today's episode expands on coverage from this week's Newsletter. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/pagaya-sues-klarna-for-allegedly ***** The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th 150-person, curated room Early bird tickets end August 1 Learn more: events.thefreetoaster.com   ***** Sign Up For Our Newsletter   The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Please Support Our Sponsors   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june   Fintel Connect   Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

JD Power sued Chime in the Southern District of New York over its "America's #1 choice for banking" campaign, alleging breach of contract, trademark infringement, and false advertising. Carlos and Nick discuss, expanding on the coverage in this week’s Edition of The Free Toaster Newsletter.   Carlos & Nick discuss the Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders, September 23, sponsored by Experian and Engine by Gen. We talk about the open questions shaping the day: the future of search, who's native to AI, the important of human signal in a content flood, lender unit economics and the new bank formation wave, cross-channel attribution, and whether AI improves or replaces the partnership role. The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders 150-person, curated room Early bird tickets end August 1 Learn more: events.thefreetoaster.com     ***** Sign Up For Our Newsletter   The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Please Support Our Sponsors   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june   Fintel Connect   Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast  

We've been writing about Cash Flow Underwriting lately. This week we continue the conversation. We expand on what we wrote this week in The Free Toaster Newsletter: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/will-llms-solve-distribution-for   ***** The Free Toaster is hosting the Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders on September 23rd & 24th in San Francisco.  Learn more: https://events.thefreetoaster.com/   ***** The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/    

In an October 2024 article in The Free Toaster, Carlos laid out 3 things that would unlock distribution for Cash Flow Based Lenders. In today's episode, he shares the progress we've made on all 3 fronts over the last 18 months. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/where-is-the-demand-for-cash-flow-underwriting   ***** The Free Toaster is hosting the Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders on September 23rd & 24th in San Francisco.  Learn more: https://events.thefreetoaster.com/   ***** The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr

ChatGPT just integrated Plaid, giving 200 million monthly users a personalized finance experience built on real account data. Carlos and Nick break down what that means for affiliate marketing. Credit Karma's approval odds models (and Experian's) become foundational infrastructure. Intuit's $100M OpenAI deal puts TurboTax and Credit Karma inside the chat. Generic content sites ranking for "best travel credit cards" lose ground to recommendations that know you spent $8,000 on United last year. They cover which channels survive (direct mail, social, podcasts) and the question every lender and publisher needs to ask right now. Today's Pod expands on our Newsletter coverage: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/with-plaid-integration-chatgpt-is   ***** The Free Toaster is hosting the Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders on September 23rd & 24th in San Francisco.  Learn more: https://events.thefreetoaster.com/   ***** The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast  

Jeff Keltner was the first non-founder employee at Upstart. He spent over a decade there running consumer acquisition, building the bank partnership business from zero to ten banks, and managing both sides of the affiliate marketplace. Today he hosts What the AI, a weekly podcast covering the top stories in AI with co-host Annie Delgado. This conversation goes two places. First, how a Business Development Professional can actually use AI day to day. Second, what AI does to the affiliate marketing world over the next few years. What we covered AI for the non-engineer. Jeff uses Claude, Cowork, and Claude Code as his stack. Research is the unlock. Reading 10-Ks, 10-Qs, earnings call transcripts, and conference coverage used to take days. Now it takes an hour and gives you a strong first draft. Context is everything. Generic prompts get generic output. Jeff sets up Cowork with 15 or so files about who he is, his brand voice, his audience, and his projects. When he asks for research, Claude knows it's for the podcast and can pull from past episode transcripts. Same idea works for BD. Give the model your prior meeting notes, your past correspondence, and your strategic priorities before you ask it for anything. Fathom plus Gmail as a memory system. Jeff uses Fathom for meeting notes because it emails the recap. Gmail becomes the single source of truth that any LLM can plug into. Ask Claude about a prospect and it pulls every meeting note, every email thread, every update. The Gong unlock. A sales leader fed every customer and prospect call transcript into an LLM and asked for the top five reasons deals don't close. The model aggregated across hundreds of reps in seconds. It even quantified the answers. That kind of work would have taken a quarter to do manually. Practice for high-stakes meetings. One PhD candidate fed her review committee's published writing into an LLM and asked it to simulate the defense. The model predicted 80% of the questions she actually got asked. Same approach works for board meetings, vendor pitches, and partner reviews. Plan mode for analytics dashboards. If you want to build something with Claude Code, do not start with the build. Start in plan mode. Define the four quadrants, the specific graphs, the exact conversion math you care about. The coding part is trivial. The thinking part is the work. Mac mini as the always-on AI computer. Jeff keeps a Mac mini under his desk running Claude jobs so he can shut his laptop and leave. He controls it from his phone using Claude's remote control. He warns that running four sessions at once is mentally exhausting. Each session comes back with a week's worth of work every ten minutes. On the future of affiliate channels NerdWallet's card business is down 50% from seven quarters ago. Search behavior is changing. Blue link traffic is dropping. The question every lender is asking is whether the next front door is agentic, an LLM, or something else. Trust is the most valuable position in financial services. Banks have always overpaid for the first product because they make money on products two, three, and four. That model breaks if you're paying acquisition costs on every product. Lenders that build direct trust with consumers win. Will an LLM become the new front door? ChatGPT just shipped Plaid integration. They could surface credit card recommendations from your transaction data. But the consumer adoption question is open. Jeff and Carlos disagreed on whether people will want a single super-AI that knows their finances, health, and everything else, or whether they will keep these worlds separate. Why direct mail and affiliates still dominate. Credit bureau pre-screen data. Both channels use soft pulls to target high-intent customers who can actually qualify. No LLM has cracked that yet. Jeff doubts anyone does in the next three years. If anyone does it, his bet is Meta. Carlos took the under. Crash course for new lenders entering affiliate channels Jeff's advice for any lender getting ready to approach a Karma, an Experian, or a NerdWallet: Know your conversion rate, offer rate, and completion rate cold. The big affiliates measure all of it. If you don't know your numbers, you will underwhelm. Match your credit spectrum to the placement. A 720+ approval model does not belong in a renters marketplace. Get your product mature before you scale. These channels are better-oiled machines than most lenders appreciate. Watch credit performance like a hawk. Same credit variables can perform differently through a new channel. Don't triple down just because the deal got bigger. Grow slowly. Dave Girouard's line: it's easy to lend money. It's hard to get it back. Resources: What the AI podcast with Jeff Keltner and Annie Delgado Jeff Keltner on LinkedIn     ***** For more content like this, sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick break down NerdWallet's Q1 2026 earnings, the first full read on the company since the stock dropped 32% post-print. Headline numbers look fine on the surface. $222M in revenue, 6% YoY growth, $34M in non-GAAP operating income at a 15% margin. Look one layer down and the story turns. A major insurance carrier pulled back. Small business was down 15% YoY and got zero analyst questions. And the cards business, which NerdWallet said it would stop reporting at the segment level, showed up on the investor relations site anyway. It was down 33% YoY from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026.   Today's Pod expands on our Newsletter coverage: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/nerdwallets-q1-26-earnings-why-is ***** The Free Toaster is hosting the Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders on September 23rd & 24th in San Francisco. Save the date! More details coming soon.   ***** The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/  

Wall St. sold off what seemed to us like a killer performance from SoFi in Q1 2026. Carlos, Nick, and special guests Rachel Lauren react to the earnings report. This news Pod expands on our reporting from this week's Newsletter. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/sofis-best-quarter-yet-disappoints ***** The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Zak Ali runs the US business at Finder, the financial comparison site that started in Australia in 2006 and launched stateside in 2015. Lending now drives roughly 40–50% of Finder US revenue across personal loans, business loans, and earned wage access. In this conversation, Zak pulls back the curtain on how a major comparison publisher actually thinks — about Google's SEO meltdown, the reality of CPA negotiations, why YouTube has become Finder's secret weapon, and what separates the lenders who scale into category leaders from the ones who fizzle out. We also get into the part most operator conversations skip: building a personal brand while running a P&L. Zak shares his routine, his stack (he's a Claude Code power user), and how he measures whether any of it is actually working. ***** If the B2B founder-led marketing event we talked about is up your alley, register here. It's happening next week on Tuesday May 12th!   https://luma.com/aic-ny-5-12 ***** Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Nick Madrid interviews Carlos Caro live at the Fintech Summit in NYC on April 28th.   On the heels of a Curated Table Event on April 27th (sponsored by Spinwheel), Nick bumped into Carlos at the Fintech Summit and did a short Q&A on how lenders eliminate friction from their application flows. ****** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=may   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos flies solo this week (Nick is wheels-up from NYC to SF after FinTech Week) to break down three stories from this week's newsletter: OnePay's no-deposit credit builder card, Credit One Bank's embedded integration with Bright Money, and Aven's new Bitcoin-backed Visa with credit limits up to $1M. He also opens up the floor on five format ideas for the September 23rd Affiliate Marketing Summit for Lenders event in San Francisco and wants your vote. The Free Toaster publishes every Wednesday at thefreetoaster.com, curating the strongest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology, so you can stay informed without slogging through ten newsletters and an off-topic LinkedIn feed. ****** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick expand on the headline story from this week’s Newsletter. And they speculate on what this might mean for consumer lending distribution platforms. https://open.substack.com/pub/thefreetoaster/p/openai-doubles-down-hiro-finance?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web   ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/     New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick try to make sense of Wells Fargo's 60% YOY increase in new credit card customer bookings. They covered this story in Wednesday's Newsletter and they dig deeper into potential sources of their growth: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/wells-fargo-books-631000-new-credit     Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.  The events they mentioned on the show: Private Dinner - Eliminating Friction from Marketing Funnels: https://luma.com/733al355   FTW: The Official New York Fintech Week Conference | April 28–30 https://luma.com/FTW_NYC26     ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/     New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Rachael Olson spent years running product strategy on Discover's $6 billion personal loan business, and she joins the show to walk through a real lender's application from marketplace click all the way to the hard pull, screen by screen. Using a hypothetical billion-dollar lender for round numbers, Rachael shows why the highest-leverage work isn't always at the top of the funnel. A 3% lift in soft-pull submit is worth $50M. Another 3% at hard-pull submit adds $80M. That's $130M+ of upside before anyone touches the credit box. The teardown gets specific. Forced email verification before any offer is shown. Rent-or-own and vehicle questions that the soft pull will answer anyway. A long pre-soft-pull confirmation page surfacing stale data the borrower doesn't remember entering, including education and net worth. After the offer, a wall of tooltips, footnotes, and filters that could induce decision paralysis. And the origination fee: a $16,900 loan that funds at $14,872, is disclosed towards the end of the process and came as a surprise. Carlos and Rachael also dig into why mobile starters finish on desktop, why "more data is always better" breaks down once you account for the customers you scare off, and how to actually A/B test your way through changes that touch credit, compliance, and engineering at once. ***** Want to meet Rachel and Carlos in New York? If you'd like to discuss eliminating friction in application funnels with your peers, The Free Toaster in hosting a private dinner in New York City on April 27th to facilitate that discussion. And we'll be there! Register for the event here: https://luma.com/733al355 ***** Find Rachel Olson on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachael-olson-7b13525/   Find Carlos Caro on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-carlos-caro/    

Carlos and Nick welcome Amanda Braslow to the show as the newest partner in the business and GM of events. Amanda brings fifteen years from Capital One, most of it in the co-brand trenches. Her first big project putting together the Free Toaster Affiliate Marketing Summit on September 23rd in San Francisco at the Exploratorium.  Three stories this week. First, Experian extended its no-ding decline feature from credit cards into personal loans. Rakesh at Experian gave us an exclusive data point: over 40 percent of cards and loans acquired through the marketplace now come through no-ding, even though the partner roster seems to be still filling in. Carlos's take for fintech lenders is simple. Get on the phone with Experian and Credit Karma, understand how no-ding and the Karma Guarantee actually work, and get enabled. Second, Citi and American Airlines are deepening their nearly forty-year co-brand partnership, with Citi branding going up at Admirals Club entrances in Chicago, Dallas, LA, and Miami. Amanda reads this as much more than a logo refresh. American ran a real RFP, dropped Barclays as a second issuer, and Citi almost certainly paid up to lock in solo status and plant a flag for Strada Elite in the premium lounge wars. Third, Cash App rolled out buy now, pay later on peer-to-peer transfers. Send $25 or more in the last 30 days and you can convert it to a six-week installment plan at a 7.5 percent fee. Nick flags the distribution implications of 59 million monthly transacting users getting BNPL rails, and the group riffs on where this goes next. Amanda's prediction: DraftKings in your inbox offering to finance your next bet. Carlos notes the WSOP is now taking up to $10,000 in buy-ins on credit cards with no fee. Someone is going to get hurt at the end of this, and card issuers should be watching the gambling MCCs closely. Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.    ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=apr     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Deposits aren't loans. That sounds obvious, but the implications for affiliate marketing are anything but. Alana Levine joins Carlos Caro to break down how affiliate marketing works on the deposit side of the house: different unit economics, different optimization cadence, different failure modes, and a compliance environment that will humble anyone coming over from lending. Topics include how CP1K pricing works and why CPAs for high yield savings have more than doubled in the past year, what the application funnel looks like for best-in-class deposit products versus regional banks still figuring it out, why younger consumers are stickier depositors than boomers (counterintuitive but true), how Fintel runs daily budget pacing to hit billion-dollar quarterly deposit targets, and what a fintech needs to have figured out before touching affiliate at all. Alana also shares her take on the publisher landscape, the emerging LLM visibility play that's changing sponsored content strategy, and why a one-basis-point rate discrepancy on a publisher page can end up in a regulatory inquiry. If you work in lending and have always wondered how the other side operates — this one's for you.   Contact Alana at: [email protected]   ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick sit down with John Doppke, VP at Upgrade, to unpack Boost Money — a four-in-one financial account combining a checking account, secured credit-building card, high-yield savings, and interest-free cash advances.   John explains the product's free and premium ($9.99/month) tiers, the rationale behind launching Boost Money as a standalone brand with its own app and microsite, and how cash flow underwriting powers the Boost Cash advance product.   The conversation also covers the regulatory complexity of structuring cash advances as loans, the surprisingly broad income profile of Boost Money's target customer, and John's experience building alongside founder Renaud Laplanche from Lending Club to Upgrade. *****   Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.    ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=mar     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos Caro chats with Rakesh Patel, the Executive Vice President of the Experian Marketplace. For those of you not familiar with the Experian Marketplace, it got started in 2017 and it's quietly become one of the largest consumer marketplaces in the world for credit cards, personal loans, and auto insurance.    In today's episode we'll cover: -Experian's vision to become a financial co-pilot for consumers -The scale of the marketplace -The Experian Activate targeting platform -How Experian innovates with lending partners -Rakesh's advice for lenders looking to scale   ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos sits down with Dennis Fish and John Minalga of the ICS Corporation following a roundtable dinner with 16 consumer lending executives in New York City to talk about one of the most misunderstood channels in financial services: direct mail. We discussed:   Busting the "Direct Mail is Dead" Myth Direct mail accounts for roughly 40% of new accounts for many lenders. Dennis pushes back on the idea that FinTech companies should default to digital-only and shares a story from a lending conference that proves the point perfectly. Cutting Through The Clutter John argues that direct mail offers something digital can't: uncontested attention. A physical pre-approval offer carries implicit credibility and builds trust. That trust is fragile though. One misleading offer or buried fee and it's gone. Attribution DM chronically gets underfunded because digital teams harvest leads that direct mail planted. John's fix: design clean holdout tests (mailed vs. not mailed) to measure true incrementality rather than chasing perfect last-touch attribution. Dennis adds that the best marketers measure channel mix holistically. Rising waters raise all ships. USPS Discount Programs Worth Knowing Dennis breaks down postage discounts available in 2026 that most mailers aren't fully utilizing, including tactile/sensory enhancements, QR code integration, Informed Delivery, sustainability, and growth incentive programs. Stacked together, mailers can recover around 7% of postage costs, with growth incentives returning up to 30% of increased spend.   Find Dennis and John on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennisfish/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnminalga/  

Carlos and Nick sit with Kelvin Chen, Head of Policy at the Consumer Bankers Association. We discuss Kelvin's recent post on LinkedIn that challenges a commonly cited fact in the media that credit card balances are at record highs. Kelvin's LinkedIn post below: "Is the consumer in trouble, or is the math just misleading? 🤔 Multiple times a day, we hear affordability stories about consumers struggling with "record-high" credit card debt ($1.28 trillion). But that math is missing two massive variables: 💳 39 million more cardholders since 2017. 📈 A 40% increase in the cost of goods since 2014 ($1.00 then = $1.40 today). Once you adjust for inflation and a larger cardholder base, the real per-cardholder balance has actually stayed flat—and even dipped by about $75—over the last decade. At CBA, we believe serious debate requires starting from the same facts. That’s why we’ve published this analysis using public data—with the methodology open and the math checkable by anyone. Skeptical of research from a trade association? Good. That skepticism is why we’ve published every assumption. Read more here: https://consumerbankers.com/blog/facts-matter-once-adjusted-for-inflation-consumers-credit-card-balances-have-remained-largely-flat-for-a-decade/ "   *****   Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.    ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:   A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

[Show notes reposted below from the LendAPI Podcast]   The Free Toaster Podcast is sponsored by: -Fintel Connect -Spinwheel -Bulldog Media Group ***** LendAPI Partner Podcast with Carlos Caro, Managing Partner & Founder of New Market Growth Guest: Carlos Caro   Host: Timothy Li   In this episode of the LendAPI Partner Podcast, host Timothy Li, Founder & CEO of LendAPI, sits down with Carlos Caro, Founder of New Market Growth, to discuss the complex and rapidly evolving landscape of consumer lending. Carlos shares his deep industry expertise, detailing how lenders can successfully navigate the challenges of listing on popular affiliate platforms, the critical importance of balancing lead quality with volume, and the significance of building a strong professional network. What You’ll Learn: The real challenge of getting listed on major platforms like LendingTree or Credit Karma, and why Carlos often has to turn down 85% of lenders who approach him for placement. Why striking a balance between acquiring a high volume of leads and ensuring those leads are of top quality is essential, especially as platforms prioritize customer welfare and competitive rates. The importance of "Market Fit" and understanding the specific requirements of each platform, tailoring your offerings to match traditional products like mortgages or personal loans. How embracing innovation—such as leveraging blockchain technology for new, high-reward credit cards—can help differentiate your products in a crowded market. Actionable strategies for success, including focusing on customer needs, attending industry events, collaborating with other businesses, and staying ahead of market trends and regulatory shifts. About New Market Growth New Market Growth is a specialized consulting firm that helps lenders connect with powerful affiliate marketing channels to drive customer acquisition. Founded by Carlos Caro, who brings a rich background in lending and marketing from his time working with major financial institutions, the firm assists lenders in navigating the highly competitive consumer finance space. They focus on bridging the gap between innovative lending products and key acquisition platforms, ensuring lenders can effectively reach and serve their target markets.

REPOSTED FROM FINTECH TAKES. Alex's show notes below. I hope you enjoy!  -Carlos ***** Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I'm Alex Johnson, joined again by Carlos Caro (author of the Free Toaster newsletter and host of the Free Toaster podcast) to continue the conversation we started on Carlos’s podcast about MrBeast's acquisition of Step and what it means for the fintech ecosystem. This episode picks up where we left off, by looking to the past.  If you think you’ve found a new idea in financial services, you probably just haven’t done enough research yet. Celebrity fintech, especially fintech built for underserved consumers, is no exception.  In this Part 2 episode, Carlos and I explore three celebrity-backed fintech products from the 2010s era that failed in ways worth understanding for the present: The Kardashian Kard, Justin Bieber's BillMyParents prepaid card, and The Approved Card from Suze Orman. Across all three, similar questions keep popping up:  What happens when a celebrity brand collides with the realities of financial services economics?  How far can a celebrity brand take a product if the product itself doesn’t make sense for consumers?  How much does product-market fit matter if the fee structure feels exploitative?  And what can MrBeast learn from the celebrities who tried this before? Tune in for a tour through recent fintech history as we dust off a few forgotten celebrity card experiments from the sands of time, and wonder whether a celebrity brand can succeed in financial services without repeating the same mistakes. This episode is brought to you by Plaid.  Most lenders see the value of cash flow data. The hard part is getting started—and knowing what to do with it once you have it. Plaid makes it easy to access real-time cash flow and behavioral insights in seconds, through a familiar experience borrowers already trust. No heavy lift. No added friction. Learn more at www.plaid.com/ftt Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Carlos Caro: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-carlos-caro/ Follow Alex Johnson:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Tim Li, CEO of LendAPI, joins Carlos live in the DC studio for a wide-ranging conversation on how LendAPI is quietly becoming the infrastructure layer for modern lending. What We Cover: In-Store Buy Now, Pay Later Most BNPL players are built for online checkout — but 87% of commerce still happens in physical stores. Tim explains how LendAPI landed a major retailer (Sunglass brand Salmoiraghi & Viganò / Sunglass Hut adjacent) as a client looking to build a fully branded, in-store financing experience — complete with loyalty programs, insurance products, and subscription-style payment plans. The key insight: major BNPL players optimize for the transaction, not the shopping experience. Becoming Your Own Lender Tim breaks down how any merchant — from guitar shops to wellness centers — can self-finance customers using LendAPI's platform. High-margin businesses in particular can absorb default risk while collecting a down payment and building customer loyalty. Indirect Auto Lending LendAPI recently certified on RouteOne and DealerTrack, the two dominant auto dealer POS systems. Tim explains why credit unions are ready to ditch legacy LOS providers and what LendAPI offers that incumbents simply can't — speed, flexibility, and zero change-order fees. Building Through Content Tim shares his unfiltered content strategy: no ghostwriters, no AI tools — just 3,000-word blog posts written in 45 minutes at Starbucks on Saturday mornings. Two years in, LendAPI gets 3-4K website visits per day and runs entirely on inbound leads with no sales team. Find Tim Li: LendAPI.com   ***** A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=mar   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick discuss Dave's record-breaking Q4 2025 Earnings Report. They also discuss Dave's rise to $4B valuation, drop down to a $50MM valuation, and pop back to $2.85B. Additionally, we break down their customer acquisition strategy and ask questions regarding their long-term viability given the DOJ case out there. They expand on the Free Toaster article recently published here: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/how-dave-scaled-to-1637m-in-q4-revenue   Dave's Meta Ads library Carlos referenced is here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=credit_ads&country=US&is_targeted_country=false&media_type=all&search_type=page&sort_data[mode]=relevancy_monthly_grouped&sort_data[direction]=desc&view_all_page_id=1719276031734555   *****   Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.    ***** A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick try to make sense of NerdWallet's recent earnings report. They expand on the article they recently published here: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/can-nerdwallet-outrun-the-ai-disruption   Note: Carlos misspoke early in the episode when he shared the topline revenue and growth numbers. The correct numbers are $225.4MM topline revenue and 23% YoY growth.   Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.    ***** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Carlos and Nick discuss the implications of this week's headline story: Apple is now pushing the ability for Apple Pay users to pay with installments at the physical register, not just online and in apps. With iOS 26, installment options show up right inside the Apple Pay payment sheet when you tap to pay in store. What used to require opening a separate app or converting a purchase after the fact is now a one-tap decision at the moment of payment. Apple is not lending directly. Loans come from participating providers including Affirm, Klarna, Citi, and Synchrony. The feature is also rolling out internationally across Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden.   Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.    ***** A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Our host Carlos Caro sits down with Alex Johnson (founder/author at Fintech Takes) to unpack one of the more surprising stories in consumer finance: Mr. Beast's acquisition of Step, a Gen Z-focused neobank. Alex breaks down what Step actually is — a once-hyped neobank valued at nearly $1 billion in 2021 that quietly faded into obscurity, struggling like so many of its peers to crack the user acquisition code. Mr. Beast, who filed a trademark for "Mr. Beast Financial" last year, reportedly scooped it up at a significant discount, inheriting a functional neobank with banking partner Evolve Bank and Trust and ~7 million users — a small number compared to his 467 million YouTube subscribers. The strategic fit makes surface-level sense: Step already targeted teens and young adults, emphasizes financial literacy, and has a history of celebrity investors (including Steph Curry). Mr. Beast's brand speaks the same language and operates at a scale no neobank has ever had access to. But the conversation gets serious fast. Carlos and Alex explore the darker structural forces at play — the industry's pull toward gambling-adjacent products, the monetization pressures that push fintechs toward high-risk features, and the very real consequences for young, vulnerable users. Alex draws a sharp line: financial services isn't like selling chocolate bars. It's one of the only industries, alongside healthcare, where the stakes are genuinely life and death. Both Carlos and Alex walk away cautiously optimistic — Mr. Beast has the scale and the right instincts — but clear-eyed about how narrow the path to doing this well really is. Follow Alex at www.fintechtakes.com ***** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

In April 2025, Transunion completed its acquisition of Monevo (a UK-based credit prequalification platform). In today's News Pod, Nick discovers that TU paid $56MM and that TU expects the Monevo acquisition to be immaterial to FY 2026 growth for TU. (Sources of that information below). Carlos and Nick discuss the Monevo business model and speculate on why growth could be muted in the US market. Please note: While recording the Pod, Carlos thought he heard Nick say that TU expects the revenue contribution in 2026 from Monevo to be immaterial (instead of the growth contribution from Monevo in 2026 to be immaterial). That colored his commentary in the episode.    Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.  ****** "In October 2021, we acquired a 30% equity interest in Monevo Limited (“Monevo”), which we accounted for as a Cost Method Investment. On April 1, 2025, we acquired the remaining 70% of the outstanding equity of Monevo and gained control of Monevo by exercising a call option we had obtained when we made our initial investment. The strike price of the call option paid at closing was $56.0 million, which was funded with cash on hand. Cash acquired from Monevo in connection with the transaction was $0.3 million, resulting in a net cash payment of $55.7 million. There was no contingent consideration related to this transaction."   Source: https://investors.transunion.com/~/media/Files/T/Transunion-IR-V2/reports-and-presentations/transunion-q3-25-10-q.pdf   "Additional revenue growth assumptions: The impact of our Monevo acquisition is expected to be immaterial for Q1 2026 and FY 2026." Source: https://investors.transunion.com/~/media/Files/T/Transunion-IR-V2/reports-and-presentations/q4-2025-earnings-release.pdf   ***** A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Today we walk through a list of questions to ask yourself to determine whether your application experience needs a tune up. ***** About The Free Toaster Podcast:  Insights and interviews at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. Hosted by Carlos Caro, co-founder at The Free Toaster and Managing Partner at New Market Growth, a growth agency for consumer lenders. ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

This week Prithvi Prabhu drops in to help us contextualize Cash App Borrow's metrics from this Edition: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/cash-apps-invisible-200-billion-loan   Then, we discuss Mr. Beast's Fintech Acquisition and talk about why buying Fintech's could lead to trouble for the mega content creator.   Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition.  ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid add context to the story covered in the Newsletter earlier this week. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/wtf-2026-since-when-is-debit-now Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story from that edition.  ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Today we cover the 7 traits of successful VPs of Partnerships, why they matter, and how to assess them during interviews.   ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Affirm is officially making a play to become its own bank by submitting applications to establish Affirm Bank through a Nevada-chartered Industrial Loan Company (ILC). This strategic shift aims to strengthen and diversify their platform, allowing them to scale operations and offer FDIC-insured products directly to consumers. The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid comment on this and the growth in their credit card program.  Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition.  ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast     A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan     A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

Cash App Borrow is quietly building a monster (and seemingly highly profitable) consumer lending business under the radar. The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid comment on the metrics they've seen published from the business. Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition.  ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/ A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

This week Carlos Caro unpacks what Jenius Bank's exit from affiliate marketplaces could mean for other prime personal loan lenders.  Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition.  ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

In the News Pod, The Free Toaster founders - Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid - unpack select stories from the Wednesday news edition of www.thefreetoaster.com Sign up for the Newsletter to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, and then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition.  ***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors: A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]

In this episode, Tomás returns to share what's changed since Spinwheel's $30 million funding round—including a strategic investment from Citi—and gives us an inside look at the Spinwheel Network Token, a piece of technology that changes how lenders can serve customers across the acquisition journey. Please note: Spinwheel is a sponsor of The Free Toaster Newsletter and Podcast.  About The Spinwheel Network Token Spinwheel's Network Token creates a persistent, consent-based identity layer using just a phone number and date of birth. Here's what that unlocks: Skip the funnel: Instead of starting at step one with a lender, consumers can land near the end—already seeing which credit cards they can consolidate, with balances pre-populated. Real-time data: Lenders get live liability information including balances, due dates, minimum payments, and interest rates. Seamless payments: Disbursements can go directly to the credit cards being paid off, not just to a consumer's bank account. Early results show 20–30% increases in funded loans and up to 50% improvement in payoff completion rates for lenders using the token. Why This Matters for Agentic Commerce Tomás makes a compelling case that this infrastructure is a prerequisite for the AI-powered future of lending. When consumers start using voice assistants or smart agents to find and execute loans on their behalf, those agents will need frictionless access to verified financial data—and the ability to act on it. Spinwheel is building that layer now.   ***** A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

I sit with my co-founder Nick Madrid to discuss what we've learned in the last year of building this Podcast and Newsletter. About Nick Madrid - Co-founder, The Free Toaster. Former Bloomberg (10 years) and Chime (3+ years). Now building media properties including The Free Toaster and the Uncovered Media brand. Free Toaster Stats 1,200+ email subscribers (zero paid marketing), adding about 100 subs per month 13,000+ active users, 30,000+ views on www.thefreetoaster.com 118 posts published in 14 months Main Topics of Discussion Biggest lesson: Consistency matters more than predicting viral content What's working: Writing online attracts opportunities 2026 plans: Building curated events for consumer lending, launching small business lending newsletter Events vision: Intimate, niche gatherings (dinners, golf, coffee, even bounce houses for parents) - in addition to larger scale conference Contact Us If: - Operators: you want to help us plan/execute an event - Sponsors: you want to sponsor an event - Consumer lenders: you want to hear about our events/attend Email us at: [email protected]   ***** A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/  

I recently sat with Alex Johnson on the Fintech Takes Podcast. I hope you enjoy! ***** (Show notes below from Fintech Takes) Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Carlos Caro (author of the Free Toaster newsletter and host of the Free Toaster podcast) for the second episode of Facing Credit, where we unpack what’s really happening in lending right now. This one’s about marketing; the overlooked starting point of every loan.  Everything in lending sits downstream of how you acquire customers and what it costs to reach them. And right now, that system is in flux. AI has upended the old rules of digital acquisition. Google’s “Helpful Content” update triggered what Carlos describes in his writing as the “SEO Apocalypse”, a collapse that’s wiping out 50–90% of organic traffic and forcing publishers, affiliates, and lenders to rewrite their playbooks. The rise of AI-generated search results and zero-click answers means the economics of attention have changed for good. Carlos and I dig into: How AI is breaking traditional digital marketing and reshaping lender acquisition costs What Google’s updates mean for SEO, SEM, and the affiliate ecosystem How creators like My Rich BFF and MrBeast are becoming the new distribution channels for lenders And what “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) might mean for the next phase of search Tune in for Carlos’s take on how lenders, publishers, and fintechs can survive the SEO extinction event (and what it’ll take to win attention in the AI age). Plus, we reference these three Free Toaster pieces throughout the conversation; consider them required reading: The SEO Apocalypse Has Arrived How New Balance's CMO Turned Around A 15-Year Decline Reddit Isn't an Affiliate Channel This episode was brought to you by Marqeta. Don’t sacrifice agility for stability. With Marqeta, launch payments experiences that perform at scale and flex with your business. Learn more at https://marqeta.com/ftt Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Carlos Caro: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-carlos-caro/ Follow Alex Johnson:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

I was recently a guest on another Podcast, and the host asked me a question about what will happen to publishers' organic traffic that disappeared with the recent Google / SEO changes. That question led me into a bit of a tangent / rabbit hole (I'll republish that episode here when it goes live in December), and I share some of my updated thoughts after having an evening to reflect on the question. PS: If you want to sponsor our Podcast in 2026, now's the time to get in touch. Email me at [email protected]   ***** A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=oct A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth: New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/  

Alana Levine, Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, returns to break down the compliance challenges that affiliate marketers face. As AI reshapes the affiliate landscape, financial institutions face mounting pressure to get compliance right—or face serious consequences.   In this episode, Alana shares her framework for managing affiliate compliance at scale, the real-world costs of getting it wrong, and how the rise of influencer marketing and LLMs is creating additional complexity for the next 12-24 months. We discuss... The Six Compliance Blind Spots Partner vetting: Creating systematic rules for who represents your brand Content accuracy: Managing product changes across dozens of live campaigns Compensation models: Understanding regulatory limitations on affiliate payments Disclosures: FTC requirements and commercial relationship transparency Data capture: Navigating GDPR, CCPA, and FCC lead buying rules Audit readiness: Maintaining documentation for regulator reviews Managing Compliance at Scale Manual workflows vs. automated solutions: When to invest Key players: PerformLine, BrandVerity, Fides, Red Marker, Fintel Check Cost reality: ~$100K for dedicated compliance support at $1M affiliate spend Real examples of tools catching violations before regulators notice Publisher Adaptation and the Future SEO traffic down 30% for content-heavy publishers Why paid replacement traffic is more expensive and lower converting Alana's prediction: Affiliate spend will increase, quality will improve   ***** About Alana Levine Alana is the Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, an award-winning performance marketing technology company dedicated to driving growth in the fintech, banking and insurance space. They're on a mission to create greater transparency and become the place to be for innovative fintechs and banks to connect with targeted influencers and publishers in the space. As a leading banking and fintech affiliate network in North America, Fintel is proud to power the affiliate programs for partners like Scotiabank, Tangerine Bank, Ramp, Rho, BMO, and others.   ***** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=oct A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

We've all heard the rumors around SEO traffic drying up for publishers. Today I riff on what's going on, why it's happening, and what lenders should be doing about it. This is a supplement to something I recently published on The Free Toaster Newsletter. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/the-seo-apocalypse-has-arrived-9812 *****   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=sep   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. www.newmarketgrowth.com If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

We explore how fintech lenders could revolutionize customer acquisition by partnering with AI-powered finfluencers, alleviating current concentration in affiliate marketplaces. Key Topics The Current Problem: 30-70% of fintech lender volume comes from affiliate marketplaces, creating concentration risk. Lenders spend $4B-$6B annually on affiliate marketing but lack control over rankings and algorithms. The Finfluencer Opportunity: Top creators are severely under-monetizing. Vivian Tu (Your Rich BFF) made $3MM from 5MM followers—just $0.60 per audience member. Credit Karma generates $12.31 per member. At Credit Karma rates, Vivian could earn $61.5MM annually. The AI Revolution: Digital twins will allow Finfluencers to scale 1:1 advice 24/7. These AI assistants will answer questions in the creator's voice, recommend products, and handle compliant application handoffs. The AI chatbot market is exploding from $14B (2025) to $47B (2029). Why This Will Happen: Consumers already trust AI for 80% of customer service interactions. Lenders historically resist new channels (internet applications, mobile banking, social ads) before eventually adopting them. Key Stats $6.50 return for every $1 spent on influencer marketing Only 13% of influencers earn over $100K annually AI could save financial services $80B in customer service costs by 2026 The Bottom Line A platform will emerge where Finfluencers launch always-on AI assistants with seamless affiliate integration. Early-mover lenders who master compliance will create an edge while more conservation competitors remain skeptical. Action Items for Lenders Monitor top finfluencers in your category Start small influencer experiments now Prep compliance teams for AI + social media Identify potential platform partnerships Read the article in our Newsletter: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/the-ai-finfluencers-are-coming-dc2a   *****   A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=aug   A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

We sit down with Alana Levine, Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, to uncover what financial institutions get wrong when launching affiliate marketing programs—and more importantly, how to get it right from day one. As someone who lives in the trenches and is often the first call when lenders want to activate the affiliate channel, Alana shares her unfiltered pre-launch checklist and the hard-won insights that can save months of frustration and wasted budget. We discuss... The Strategic Foundation Why geographic reach can make or break your affiliate program The "me too" product problem and how to overcome it Application experience as everyone's shared challenge Budget reality check: Why $50k is the healthy starting point Setting realistic CPA expectations (especially for fintechs) Operational Requirements The critical role of existing digital marketing experience Why your current application page won't work for affiliate traffic Tracking and attribution: The technical foundation that publishers demand Written publisher guidelines as legal and risk management tools Performance reporting beyond basic conversion tracking Common Pitfalls The biggest stumbling block: Defining success metrics clearly Why volume, quality, and channel contribution all matter How to test your success criteria with external parties Timeline and Commitment The 6-month minimum commitment reality Month-by-month breakdown of the typical program journey Why 18-24 months is the real timeline for hitting potential Understanding the "zero to one feels like an eternity" phase Industry Context The massive scale of affiliate marketing in financial services How top fintech lenders achieve 45%+ acquisition through affiliates The $4B-$6B annual spend opportunity in consumer lending ***** About Alana Levine Alana is the Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, an award-winning performance marketing technology company dedicated to driving growth in the fintech, banking and insurance space. They're on a mission to create greater transparency and become the place to be for innovative fintechs and banks to connect with targeted influencers and publishers in the space. As a leading banking and fintech affiliate network in North America, Fintel is proud to power the affiliate programs for partners like Scotiabank, Tangerine Bank, EQ Bank, Borrowell and others.   ***** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=aug A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

We sit down with Kirill Klokov, CEO of Truv, to break down everything lenders need to know about income verification providers.  Vetting Income Verification Vendors Why most providers use the same underlying data sources The power of back-testing analysis on your own data Smart questions sophisticated lenders ask during RFPs The Consumer Experience Why 35% of users drop off at bank login screens How to build a smart "waterfall" approach (spoiler: start cheap, then hit instant databases) The messaging that actually works with borrowers Beyond Basic Income Verification Why a "complete product" covers W2s, gig workers, benefits, and self-employed How payroll data beats bank data for complex income situations The complexity of underwriting sales reps vs. salaried workers AI's Impact on Lending How AI is eliminating manual QA and bug fixes Why payroll data becomes more valuable as AI-generated fraud gets better The future of mortgage loan officers (hint: they're not going anywhere) Truv's New Business Model Their shift from per-transaction pricing to "pay when the loan closes" How this aligns incentives and removes upfront risk for lenders Find Kirill Klokov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirillklokov/ *** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

Rich Walker is back! After our first direct mail episode became the most popular episode on the show, we're back for round 2. The 10 DM Pitfalls We Discuss 1. Attribution Nightmares People get your mail, then go to Credit Karma to respond. Your CFO freaks out about "paying twice" but that's just how the channels work together. Rich breaks down holdout testing and why you need to stop thinking about this as double-paying. 2. When Campaigns Go Off The Rails  Your mail program is humming along, then suddenly a campaign tanks for no reason. 80% of the time you'll figure out what happened, but 20% you just shrug and move on. Rich walks through the diagnostic checklist and why organizations sometimes kill entire programs over one bad campaign. 3. The Unit Cost Trap Everyone obsesses over cost per piece, but Rich explains why lowering your mail costs often means you'll spend MORE money overall (and why that's actually good). 4. Complexity Overload You start simple, then add segments, then more segments, then product variations... suddenly only one person understands how your program works. We talk about how to dig out of this hole. 5. Testing Problems Direct mail is expensive to test, so you're always making decisions on samples that feel too small. Rich shares the "10 small tests, pick the 3 winners" approach. 6. Model Addiction Your response models get biased because you only mail to people who passed your last model. Universe testing is the cure, but it's a hard sell to the CFO. 7. Overthinking Non-Response 99.5% of your mail gets thrown away without being read. Stop trying to psychoanalyze why people didn't respond - most of them never saw your offer. 8. Funnel Blindness High click-through but low conversions? That's a signal, not a failure. Your audience is telling you something - listen to them. 9. No Testing Culture Organizations that say "we're really good at testing" usually aren't. Real testing culture means constant experimentation with the right infrastructure to support it. 10. Death by Committee Legal needs 5 days, then compliance needs 5 days, then brand wants changes... Rich explains how to get everyone aligned without killing your cycle time.   About Rich Walker: Rich Walker is a 35-year industry vet who’s been responsible for over 10 billion pieces of Direct Mail. Rich has led direct marketing teams at Capital One, the Winterberry Group, Deluxe Corporation, 2nd Order Solutions, and more recently, Aven. He also ran his own consulting shop - Pilot Performance Marketing - focused on helping lenders solve Direct Mail. *** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/  

I sat down with John Henson, a fintech-savvy lawyer who formerly worked at LendingTree (both as an attorney and a general manager). He unpacks the regulatory chaos swirling around lead generation in 2025 — what’s changed, what’s still risky, and how fintech marketers can navigate it without getting burned. In today's discussion: The CFPB Rolled Back Rules: Credit card and personal loan lead gen just got a little more breathing room. John explains what’s safe and what’s not. Mortgage Lead Gen Isn’t Dead: Despite RESPA, there are ways to play without federal headaches. State Privacy Laws Are Tightening: You might be a “data broker” without knowing it — and that’s a compliance minefield. Banks Fear AI: Rumor has it that some big banks are banning generative AI in lead gen. John weighs in on the reality. Some Lead Gen Is Still Garbage: Learn how to spot sketchy providers before you get sued. ...and much more.  Memorable Quotes “Everything is UDAP.”  “If you don’t understand how they’re generating the leads, you’re buying problems.” “Nobody ever got fired at a bank for saying no.” About John Henson John Henson is a rare breed: a lawyer who understands marketing. He spent 6 years at LendingTree running lead gen and compliance, so he knows the real-world challenges fintechs face. Now, he helps companies stay out of trouble while growing smart. Follow him on LinkedIn for sharp insights. *** A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine. https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:   Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo! https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:   New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others. Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators. If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at [email protected]   Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/