They discuss NerdWallet's pivot towards insurance and the top 5 takeaways for card & personal loan marketers.

*****

Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!? If so, we have an event for you!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

88 seats are now spoken for. 62 seats left!

Learn more and request an invitation:

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=aug

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

*****

Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!? If so, we have an event for you!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

88 seats are now spoken for. 62 seats left!

Learn more and request an invitation:

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=july

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

Their marketing spend was $1.7B, up 23% year over year. Today, we dive into how Capital One used that budget and the implications for marketers in lending.

Carlos & Nick expand on the coverage in this week's Newsletter Edition. 

https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/5-things-marketers-should-draw-from

*****

Are you a leader at a consumer lender or publisher!? If so, we have an event for you!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, and EXL San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1, increasing to $1499 August 2nd 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=july

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com

*****

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, and EXL

San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1 Learn more: events.thefreetoaster.com

Today, Carlos & Nick expand on the coverage in this week's Newsletter Edition. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/samsungs-new-galaxy-card-and-its *****

Are you a leader at a consumer lender or publisher!? If so, we have an event for you!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, and Prism Data San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1, increasing to $1499 August 2nd 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=july

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 (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com

At first glance, not that exciting. Just a new partner bank.

Then we dug into the filings and found something strange: for the past nine months, Oportun had a bank partner that wouldn’t hold a single one of its new loans. Pathward originated them, and Oportun bought back 100%. Meanwhile, a growing acquisition machine in consumer lending (referrals in Q1 2025 up 352% year over year) sat idling with nowhere to run.

This is why the Column deal is more than a routine bank partner transaction. It might be the moment Oportun’s marketing team finally got the green light.

Today’s Pod expands on coverage from this week’s Newsletter: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/oportuns-bank-partner-held-no-loans

******

Come meet Carlos & Nick in San Francisco!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, and Prism Data San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1, increasing to $1499 August 2nd 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=july

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

Ross, an advisory partner at Arica Consulting with 20+ years running search across Capital One, New York Life, FrontPoint, and Greenlight, has evaluated search agencies from every angle — client, operator, founder, and agency owner. In this deep-dive with Carlos, he shares the exact questions a non-technical CMO can ask to separate the pros from the pretenders.

We cover:

• Why quality score and the keyword vs. search term gap drive everything
• The branded/unbranded commingling trap that hides massive unbranded overspend
• Why optimizing to CPL instead of CPA is the single most common mistakes agencies make
• Reading the change log, auditing Google's auto-recommendations, and the marginal vs. average CAC test
• How to start from scratch: build an MVP account, one landing page, a few keywords

This conversation is practical, in-the-weeds, and refreshingly honest.

Find Ross at recohen.com or on LinkedIn

******

Come meet Carlos in San Francisco!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, and Prism Data San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

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

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/

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=july

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com

*****

Fintel Connect's Danielle Lauzon hosts a panel unpacking findings from a Cornerstone Advisors survey of 126 senior bank and credit union marketing execs — most of whom struggle to connect marketing spend to measurable outcomes, yet keep funding the channels that merely look best in reporting.

Joining the conversation:

• Danielle Lauzon (Fintel Connect) — moderator; works on growth and strategy for the affiliate marketing platform built for financial services.
• Amanda Share — VP of Affiliates at Pagaya, which expands access to credit by pairing AI underwriting with performance marketing.
• John Hanley — EVP & CMO of Idaho First Bank and its digital brand Peak Bank, with 20 years in financial services marketing.
• Carlos Caro — founder of New Market Growth and publisher of The Free Toaster Newsletter, former Credit Karma executive and Capital One analyst.

Topics covered: why CPA and cost-per-lead mislead budget decisions, the shared-leads horror story that turned a channel toxic, why lending dashboards need credit dimensions, direct mail's chronic undervaluation, and the case for fintechs investing in brand marketing.

******

Come meet Carlos & Nick in San Francisco!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, and Prism Data San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

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

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

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

Carlos and Nick break down why everyone is running for the regulatory door: cheaper funding through insured deposits, control without a sponsor bank in the middle, and a political window that may not stay open.

They dig into the Klarna paradox. The company tells investors it's a spend-centric business, yet Morgan Stanley notes nearly all incremental profit comes from lending. Which one is the charter for?

Plus: what a deposit-funded fintech tier means for subprime cards, Mission Lane's filing, and who files next (Chime, anyone?).

Newsletter version of this story: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/klarna-just-filed-for-a-bank-charter

******

Come meet Carlos & Nick in San Francisco!

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, and Prism Data San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

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=july

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com

******

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

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

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=july

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 (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com

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

In this solo episode, Carlos breaks down the five phases that explain the timeline:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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

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

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

***** 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

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/

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.

******

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Jeff's advice for any lender getting ready to approach a Karma, an Experian, or a NerdWallet:

1. 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.
2. Match your credit spectrum to the placement. A 720+ approval model does not belong in a renters marketplace.
3. Get your product mature before you scale. These channels are better-oiled machines than most lenders appreciate.
4. 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.
5. 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:

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.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

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/

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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/

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:

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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: alana@fintelconnect.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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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:

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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/

"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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

The Free Toaster Podcast is sponsored by:

-Fintel Connect

-Spinwheel

-Bulldog Media Group *****

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.

• 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.

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.

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

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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. 

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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:

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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:

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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.

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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.

• 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

• 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: carlos@newmarketgrowth.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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.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=oct

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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.

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.

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.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=sep

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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.

• $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

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.

1. Monitor top finfluencers in your category
2. Start small influencer experiments now
3. Prep compliance teams for AI + social media
4. Identify potential platform partnerships

Read the article in our Newsletter: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/the-ai-finfluencers-are-coming-dc2a

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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.

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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/

***

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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.

***

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

• 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. 

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.

***

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

The Big Idea: Attracting great borrowers works exactly like hiring great people.

The parallels...

• Inbound (website traffic): People actively searching, often desperate
• Outbound (direct mail): Higher-quality prospects who aren't hunting
• Best candidates and borrowers usually aren't usually looking

• Post a $100K vs $200K director role—which gets better candidates?
• Same with loans: competitive rates attract quality borrowers
• Even small rate differences (12% vs 14%) shift your entire applicant mix

• Complex hiring processes drive away top talent with options
• Heavy loan applications do the same to good credit risks
• You're left with applicants who have time and fewer alternatives

• Audit your inbound vs outbound channel mix
• Price competitively—good borrowers shop around
• Streamline your application process ruthlessly
• Go find great borrowers instead of waiting for them

You can find a written version of today's content in our Newsletter: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/positive-negative-select-in-lending

***

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

• Don't assume success transfers between marketplaces: A product that works well with one affiliate partner may struggle with another due to fundamental marketplace differences.
• Three critical marketplace variables to consider:
  • Algorithm differences
  • Competitive landscape variations
  • Offer presentation layer discrepancies
• Strategic takeaways:
  • Consider designing different product versions for different channels
  • Expect varying unit economics across partnerships
  • Recognize that market share will naturally differ between platforms

*****

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=may

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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 you through how to play the game in reverse.

Note: If you want to hear more about this in future Podcasts, email me at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com with your questions.

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

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 loves building sticky consumer facing products via iterative data-driven methods. Built products for both large corporations and seed level startups, always with a primary focus on acquisition, conversion and monetization.

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

We discuss:

1. The "Coupon Book Problem" - Premium cards are becoming more complex with endless small benefits ($6 at Dunkin', $10 off wireless) that frustrate consumers. Jason explains why this creates space for simpler card offerings that deliver clear value.
2. What Drives Card Choices - Discover why exclusivity and status perks (like early access to products or "skip-the-line" privileges) might be more powerful than cash back for attracting high-value customers.
3. Will shopping for cards change in an AI future? - The conversation explores whether consumers are moving away from traditional comparison sites toward trusted influencers and whether AI could personalize recommendations based on spending patterns.

Also:

• Why metal cards might affect spending behavior
• How credit unions approach card benefits differently
• The power of word-of-mouth in card marketing
• What makes people share positive card experiences

And remember:

Jason conference — CardCon — happens May 6-8 in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Use code "TOASTER" for $50 off registration at cardconexpo.com.

Where to find Jason:

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-steele/

*****

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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

Want to chat with Carlos Caro, our host? Find him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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 applications.

Tim in unsually transparent as an early stage founder. He shared:

• $3.5 million in seed funding raised just four months ago
• How many applications they process daily
• How many lenders use the platform
• The company’s ARR and target before raising more capital

LendAPI connects with all three credit bureaus, loan servicing systems, and identity verification providers that you work with daily. Tim's vision is to become the "WordPress of lending"—making it easy for your clients to launch financial products without technical expertise.

Where to find Tim:

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothytli/

Substack (Tim’s build-in-public blog)

https://substack.com/@lendapi

LendAPI https://www.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, 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 carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

Want to chat with Carlos Caro, our host? Find him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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 center but becomes a strategic advantage
• Becomes critically important during partner due diligence
• "Light touch" governance is better than scrambling reactively
• Risk of bias or compliance issues can be existential for startups

Explainability Benefits:

• Meets regulatory requirements
• Improves customer experience
• Enhances operational understanding
• Helps identify performance optimization opportunities

Resources:

• Learn more at fairnow.ai
• Contact: guru@fairnow.ai

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

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

Want to chat with Carlos Caro, our host? Email him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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 customers across multiple digital channels while improving conversion rates. Highlights:

• How Monevo's technology handles model hosting and decisioning, with flexibility for lenders to host models with Monevo, TransUnion, or their own platforms
• Their extensive publisher network, including major players like Lending Tree, NerdWallet, Credit Karma, and Clear Score
• The company's bootstrapped journey from a £25,000 investment to a TransUnion acquisition
• How their solution dramatically reduces soft inquiry costs for lenders
• Different types of offers presented to consumers (pre-approved, pre-qualified, qualified)
• Future plans following the TransUnion acquisition, including expansion into new verticals beyond personal loans and credit cards

Greg shares insights on how Monevo makes both lender and publisher relationships more efficient by improving approval rates, boosting monetization for publishers, and delivering better-qualified users to lenders - all while maintaining flexibility in commercial agreements that align with good outcomes for all parties.

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

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com/

Want to chat with Carlos Caro, our host? Email him at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com

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 his take on how lenders can leverage Direct Mail to grow their customer acquisition programs.

We Discuss:

1️⃣ Why Direct Mail still matters -$3B in spend per year -The power of pre-screened marketing 2️⃣ Who should explore Direct Mail -High response, low LTV -Low response, high LTV -Breakdowns by product category 3️⃣ Direct Mail vs. other channels -How does it compare to affiliate marketing? -Attribution and overlaps 4️⃣ Unit economics -Cost per piece at scale (and subscale) -How costs breakdown by postage, data, creative/printing -Typical CACs & response rates 5️⃣ The mechanics of a campaign -Checklist of how to go to market -Typical GTM timelines -How to go from 0 to in market in 8 weeks 6️⃣ Building or renting a Direct Mail function -Case for keeping in-house -Case for out-sourcing 7️⃣ Optimizing the 3 big levers -List (targeting and modeling) -Offer -Creative 8️⃣ Ways to solve attribution -Invitation codes, QR codes, vanity URLs -GEO holdout tests 9️⃣ The future of Direct Mail

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

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com

Today we dig into examples of marketing from Wells Fargo and Discover to illustrate what it means to be Congruent across your marketing funnel.

The visuals from our Newsletter will help: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/congruence

A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:

Streamline your lending application pages with 2-fields.

To see a demo, click below to chat with their Head of Growth.

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter:

www.thefreetoaster.com

We Discuss:

Product vs. Distribution: Kevin explains why both product development and getting your product to customers are equally important.

Experimenting with Marketing: Kevin talks about the need to test different marketing channels and how to do it quickly.

Evaluating Marketing Channels: Kevin shares a simple framework to decide if a marketing channel is worth investing in:

Does it resonate with your audience?

Can it scale as you grow?

Are the economics (costs and returns) good?

How stable is the channel or partnership?

Speed and Cycle Time: Kevin emphasizes the need to test ideas fast and make decisions quickly.

Strategic Partnerships: Kevin talks about the value of finding strong partners who can help your business grow.

A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:

Streamline your lending application pages with 2-fields.

If you’re anything like us, friction on application pages makes you nauseous.

It makes your CACs go up. It makes your volumes drop. It causes your CFO and CEO to say mean things.

The trouble is, application friction isn’t easy to fix. Your prod/eng is busy. We get it.

Spinwheel’s APIs streamline a lending application form with just a phone number and a birthdate - like magic (but it’s really just smart tech)! Then you get a 20-30% lift in your application rate.

Additionally, they can give you real-time, verified consumer credit data and seamless payment processing, which can help you serve customers beyond the initial application.

To see a demo, click below to connect with their Head of Growth and see this thing in action.

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan

Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter: www.thefreetoaster.com

Timestamps:

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Where to find Tomas:

• LinkedIn

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe and review our show. If you’re interested in being a guest, email me at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Timestamps:

(00:00) David Nohe, CEO of Fingoal

(01:59) The 101 on CFPB Rule 1033

(09:32) Consumer consent

(18:04) Future of subscription models

(22:52) Funnel dynamics / friction

(24:09) Credit bureau vs. open banking data

(26:43) Why be concerned or optimistic

(32:10) Banks' strategic opportunities

(41:37) Wrap up and dinner bet

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Where to find David Nohe:

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter/X - @fingoaldavid

References:

Ten Take-Aways on 1033 for Community Bankers https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ten-take-aways-1033-community-bankers-david-nohe-yo8cc/?trackingId=WR0OUVGdRGahil7tCSZ48w%3D%3D

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Why personalization matters (04:06) Hyper-niche lending products (05:37) Social media and niche content (08:43) Opportunities in financial services (12:57) Where I see this all going (15:01) Wrap up

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

The case for building hyper-niche lending products https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/hyper-niche-lending-products

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Timestamps:

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

Plaid & MoneyLion’s announcement: “The power of cash flow underwriting with instant onboarding: Introducing Layer and Consumer Report”

https://plaid.com/blog/layer-consumer-report-instant-onboarding/

Carlos’ piece: “Where's The Consumer Demand For Cash Flow Underwriting (CFU)?” https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/where-is-the-demand-for-cash-flow-underwriting

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction to Fintech and Cashflow Underwriting

(01:21) The Article and Its Insights

(02:38) AI-Generated Overview of The Petal Case Study

(09:21) End of AI-Generated Overview

(09:26) Analyzing Cashflow Underwriting

(11:36) Challenges in Cashflow Underwriting

(15:54) Marketing Cashflow Products

(20:03) Potential Solutions and Future Outlook

(25:26) Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

Carlos’ piece: “Where's The Consumer Demand For Cash Flow Underwriting (CFU)?” https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/where-is-the-demand-for-cash-flow-underwriting

Alex Johnson’s piece on Cash Flow Underwriting: https://fintechtakes.com/articles/2024-05-22/cash-flow-underwriting/

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Timestamps:

(00:00) What is New Market Growth (01:30) Early years in affiliate marketing (03:53) Credit Karma (06:50) My first business: legal services marketplace (09:10) Return to fintech + personal brands (12:19) Founding New Market Growth (14:27) Current focus + looking out to the future (15:55) Wrap up

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Timestamps:

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Common struggles:

1. Cross-functional dysfunction
2. Model misalignment
3. (Non)compliance 
4. Application friction
5. Mispricing
6. Access to big affiliates
7. Concentration
8. Cold starts
9. Lack of differentiation
10. CPA game
11. Thinking it’s easy

Timestamps:

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Summary of the 4 levels:

𝟭𝟬𝟭 - 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 

We're focused on the volume of leads and the cost of acquisition. The rest of the operation looks a lot like affiliate programs in other industries. There's not much attention placed on the quality of accounts that we acquire.

𝟮𝟬𝟭 - 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that not all leads are created equal and not all lead sources are created equal. We pay more attention to what happens to a customer post-booking. 

How much revenue are they driving? 

What are the delinquency rates? 

What are the loss rates? 

We start to think about the relationship between LTV and cost of acquisition.

𝟯𝟬𝟭 - 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that when we make a change to our business, the affiliate reacts in a certain way, and that in turn has a knock-on effect on our business. We also start to overanalyze why volumes dropped and why applicant quality is changing. We often get distracted by a lot of these questions as there are often no actions we can take as a result of our curiosity.

𝟰𝟬𝟭 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁

We learn that our success relies on delivering exceptional products and exceptional buying experiences for our affiliates' customers. Under this frame, we recognize that each affiliate's a little different. They all have different buying experiences, data assets, customer types, and integration capabilities. We try to reverse engineer our business to best fit each partner. We notice that we were overanalyzing the volatility in our programs, and conclude that our investigations were often unproductive.

Timestamps:

(00:00) 301 Intro

(04:20) 301 Strategy

(15:55) 301 Challenges and realities

(18:43) Recap of 101-301

(21:48) 401 Deep dive - becoming leaders

(30:48) Model alignment

(41:48) Wrap up

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

A written summary of the 4 levels of Operational Maturity: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-carlos-caro_operational-maturity-affiliates-activity-7204481122464907264-f_hC

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Summary of the 4 levels:

𝟭𝟬𝟭 - 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 

We're focused on the volume of leads and the cost of acquisition. The rest of the operation looks a lot like affiliate programs in other industries. There's not much attention placed on the quality of accounts that we acquire.

𝟮𝟬𝟭 - 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that not all leads are created equal and not all lead sources are created equal. We pay more attention to what happens to a customer post-booking. 

How much revenue are they driving? 

What are the delinquency rates? 

What are the loss rates? 

We start to think about the relationship between LTV and cost of acquisition.

𝟯𝟬𝟭 - 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗽 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲

We learn that when we make a change to our business, the affiliate reacts in a certain way, and that in turn has a knock-on effect on our business. We also start to overanalyze why volumes dropped and why applicant quality is changing. We often get distracted by a lot of these questions as there are often no actions we can take as a result of our curiosity.

𝟰𝟬𝟭 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁

We learn that our success relies on delivering exceptional products and exceptional buying experiences for our affiliates' customers. Under this frame, we recognize that each affiliate's a little different. They all have different buying experiences, data assets, customer types, and integration capabilities. We try to reverse engineer our business to best fit each partner. We notice that we were overanalyzing the volatility in our programs, and conclude that our investigations were often unproductive.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Why maturity matters

(04:36) The 4 levels

(10:18) 101 deep dive

(17:56) 201 deep dive

(26:15) Wrap up and next steps

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

A written summary of the 4 levels of Operational Maturity: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-carlos-caro_operational-maturity-affiliates-activity-7204481122464907264-f_hC

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

We’ll discuss levers in the following categories:

• Eligibility
• Impressions/placements
• Click-through rate
• Application rate
• Approval rate
• Funding rate
• CPA/Payouts

Timestamps:

(00:54) Recapping previous episodes (01:50) A big misconception (03:02) Key levers (09:30) CTR (18:37) Application rate (21:35) Approval rate (27:09) Funding rate (29:49) CPAs / payouts (31:43) Conclusion and final thoughts

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

Click-through rates by ad rank/placement on Google: https://firstpagesage.com/reports/google-click-through-rates-ctrs-by-ranking-position/

Outline of levers discussed in the show

https://medium.com/@newmarketgrowth/your-affiliate-marketing-levers-9f98092ab37b

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

We cover:

• How to build a list of potential affiliate partners
• Why “getting in” isn’t an easy as you think
• How to build a pitch for potential partners
• Where to host your targeting model
• Guiding principles for targeting model development

Timestamps:

(00:43) Outline of today's episode

(04:25) Building a list of potential partners

(09:25) Why getting into publishers isn't easy

(14:15) Crafting your pitch 18:18 Hosting your targeting model

(18:18) Hosting Your Targeting Model

(22:20) Targeting model platforms

(36:56) Guiding principles

(41:45) Wrap up / final thoughts

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References:

Credit Karma Lightbox

https://www.creditkarma.com/about/commentary/credit-karma-welcomes-team-bitmatica

Monevo

https://www.monevo.com/us

Eagle Data

https://www.eagledata.biz/

https://medium.com/@carlos.ny/a-chat-with-travis-broad-ceo-at-eagle-data-a6409c6683a7

MoneyLion

https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/moneylion-inc-nyseml-q1-2024-earnings-call-transcript-1299056/

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

We cover:

• Size of publicly traded affiliate networks
• How many consumer loans are opened per year on affiliate networks
• Why your CMO, CPO, CRO, and CFO should care
• A 60-second elevator pitch for your CEO

Timestamps:

Where to find Carlos:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

References (affiliate marketplace public filings):

Credit Karma

https://investors.intuit.com/_assets/_719de469f18090d69a0faddc62c8f705/intuit/news/2024-05-23_Intuit_Reports_Strong_Third_Quarter_Results_and_1188.pdf

Experian

https://www.experianplc.com/content/dam/marketing/global/plc/en/assets/documents/results-and-presentations/2024/experian-roadshow-jan-to-mar-2024.pdf

NerdWallet

https://investors.nerdwallet.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nerdwallet-reports-first-quarter-2024-results

Lending Tree

https://investors.lendingtree.com/static-files/6091a1b9-f0c2-4d4e-b6c0-990085edb7a5

QuinStreet

https://investor.quinstreet.com/static-files/726eb814-7f4e-47ee-9d01-5a200817a027

MoneyLion

https://investors.moneylion.com/news/detail/122/moneylion-announces-first-quarter-2024-results

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions for a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

Additionally, we discuss:

• What mindset to bring to the game
• Our super-lever: approval rate
• Notes for performance marketers new to affiliates

Timestamps:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter/X

Find Us:

Don't forget to subscribe to Affiliate Marketing for Lenders. If you’re interested in being a guest on the show (or if you have questions you'd like me to address in a future episode), send me a note on LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com.

TL;DR - For 15 years, New Balance watched its revenues decline. Consumers saw its sneakers as “dad shoes”—safe, comfortable, but uncool. Traditional direct-response marketing wasn’t reversing the trend. In April 2020, a new CMO, Chris Davis, arrived with a bold idea: flip the marketing mix from a 70% reliance on direct-response ads to a brand-led approach. It was a big gamble that took nearly 19 months to pay off, but when it did, New Balance emerged as a revitalized global brand.

Written version: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/how-new-balance-s-cmo-turned-around-a-15-year-decline

About Us:

The Free Toaster is a newsletter for at the intersection of marketing, lending, and fintech. We deliver news, data, and insights (like today's episode) to help you acquire more customers. Sign up to get it shipped weekly to your inbox.

www.thefreetoaster.com

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