The Free Toaster

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,...

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 th...

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 eve...

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.  ***...

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, pleas...

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 Spinwhee...

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 sub...

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...

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...

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 w...

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 lendin...

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 algori...

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...

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 H...

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 abou...

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 ju...

I explain positive and adverse selection in lending using recruiting as an analogy. If you've ever hired someone, you'll instantly understand why your channels, pricing, and process determine your loan portfolio quality. Key Takeaways The Big Idea: Attracting great borrowers works exactly like hiring great people. The parallels... 1. Channel Quality Inbound (website traffic): People actively searc...

I talk about a surprising case study where a lending product thrived in one affiliate marketplace but completely flopped in another. We explore the key differences between marketplaces that can dramatically impact performance and provide actionable insights for fintech marketers. Key Insights Don't assume success transfers between marketplaces: A product that works well with one affiliate partner...

Marketers sometimes like to enter new channels gradually, conservatively even. This works in many channels like paid search, social, and direct mail.  But for fintechs, entering new affiliate channels like this can have catastrophic consequences.  In today's Podcast, I share why entering into new affiliate marketplaces "cautiously" can be dangerous for new entrants. As an alternative, I'll walk yo...

We chat with Colin about how AI is changing marketplaces. His thesis: “The rise of agentic AI will transform marketplaces from passive aggregators to active facilitators of transactions.” To learn more, check out Colin’s take on how AI will revolutionize marketplaces: https://www.gardinercolin.com/p/ai-and-marketplaces-agent-led About Colin Gardiner Former economics/statistical researcher that now...

We sit with credit card expert Jason Steele about what's happening behind the scenes in the industry. Jason shares how he went from tech work to becoming a respected credit card authority who writes for major publications and runs CardCon, the credit card industry conference.   We discuss: The "Coupon Book Problem" - Premium cards are becoming more complex with endless small benefits ($6 at Dunkin...

LendAPI lets you create application flows, credit decision engines, and complete lending products through simple drag-and-drop tools—all without hiring engineers or spending millions. You can build and launch lending products quickly and efficiently, then use a working product to raise venture capital. Even non-financial businesses like boat dealerships are using it to replace clunky Excel-based a...

In this episode, I catch up with my old Columbia PhD classmate Guru Sethupathy , founder of FairNow, an AI governance platform for financial services. About AI Governance: Involves three key components: Monitoring AI performance, explainability, and bias Ensuring compliance with financial regulations Establishing clear AI policies and procedures Why It Matters for FinTechs: Often viewed as a cost...

In this episode, we speak with Greg Cox , CEO of Monevo, to discuss their recent acquisition by TransUnion and how they're transforming credit offer distribution. Greg explains how Monevo serves as a technology layer connecting lenders and publishers, allowing lenders to distribute highly qualified credit offers to third-party websites and aggregators. The platform helps lenders target the right c...

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. So we jumped at the opportunity to get hi...