The Free Toaster
Insights and interviews at the intersection of marketing, lending, and fintech. The Bank Marketer’s Podcast.
Episodes
In this episode, Tomás returns to share what's changed since Spinwheel's $30 million funding round—including a strategic investment from Citi—and gives us an inside look at the Spinwheel Network Token, a piece of technology that changes how lenders can serve customers across the acquisition journey. Please note: Spinwheel is a sponsor of The Free Toaster Newsletter and Podcast.
About The Spinwheel Network Token.css-1t8gq41{border:none;background-image:none;background-color:transparent;box-shadow:none;color:#2F3133;cursor:pointer;font-size:inherit;padding:0;-webkit-text-decoration:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;width:-webkit-max-content;width:-moz-max-content;width:max-content;}.css-1t8gq41:hover,.css-1t8gq41:focus{-webkit-text-decoration:inherit;text-decoration:inherit;}
I sit with my co-founder Nick Madrid to discuss what we've learned in the last year of building this Podcast and Newsletter.
About Nick Madrid - Co-founder, The Free Toaster. Former Bloomberg (10 years) and Chime (3+ years). Now building media properties including The Free Toaster and the Uncovered Media brand.
Free Toaster StatsI recently sat with Alex Johnson on the Fintech Takes Podcast. I hope you enjoy! ***** (Show notes below from Fintech Takes)
Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Carlos Caro (author of the Free Toaster newsletter and host of the Free Toaster podcast) for the second episode of Facing Credit, where we unpack what’s really happening in lending right now.
This one’s about marketing; the overlooked ...
I was recently a guest on another Podcast, and the host asked me a question about what will happen to publishers' organic traffic that disappeared with the recent Google / SEO changes.
That question led me into a bit of a tangent / rabbit hole (I'll republish that episode here when it goes live in December), and I share some of my updated thoughts after having an evening to reflect on the question.
Alana Levine, Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, returns to break down the compliance challenges that affiliate marketers face. As AI reshapes the affiliate landscape, financial institutions face mounting pressure to get compliance right—or face serious consequences.
In this episode, Alana shares her fr...
We've all heard the rumors around SEO traffic drying up for publishers. Today I riff on what's going on, why it's happening, and what lenders should be doing about it. This is a supplement to something I recently published on The Free Toaster Newsletter. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/the-seo-apocalypse-has-arrived-9812 *****
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application wit...
We explore how fintech lenders could revolutionize customer acquisition by partnering with AI-powered finfluencers, alleviating current concentration in affiliate marketplaces.
Key TopicsThe Current Problem: 30-70% of fintech lender volume comes from affiliate marketplaces, creating concentration risk. Lenders spend $4B-$6B annually on affiliate ma...
We sit down with Alana Levine, Chief Revenue Officer at Fintel Connect, to uncover what financial institutions get wrong when launching affiliate marketing programs—and more importantly, how to get it right from day one.
As someone who lives in the trenches and is often the first call when lenders want to activate the affiliate channel, Alana shares h...
We sit down with Kirill Klokov, CEO of Truv, to break down everything lenders need to know about income verification providers.
Vetting Income Verification Vendors
- Why most providers use the same underlyi...
Rich Walker is back! After our first direct mail episode became the most popular episode on the show, we're back for round 2.
The 10 DM Pitfalls We Discuss1. 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 channel...
I sat down with John Henson, a fintech-savvy lawyer who formerly worked at LendingTree (both as an attorney and a general manager). He unpacks the regulatory chaos swirling around lead generation in 2025 — what’s changed, what’s still risky, and how fintech marketers can navigate it without getting burned.
In today's discussion:- The CFPB Rolled Back Rules: Credit card and personal loan lead gen just got a little more breathing...
I explain positive and adverse selection in lending using recruiting as an analogy. If you've ever hired someone, you'll instantly understand why your channels, pricing, and process determine your loan portfolio quality.
Key TakeawaysThe Big Idea: Attracting great borrowers works exactly like hiring great people.
I talk about a surprising case study where a lending product thrived in one affiliate marketplace but completely flopped in another. We explore the key differences between marketplaces that can dramatically impact performance and provide actionable insights for fintech marketers.
Key InsightsMarketers sometimes like to enter new channels gradually, conservatively even. This works in many channels like paid search, social, and direct mail.
But for fintechs, entering new affiliate channels like this can have catastrophic consequences.
In today's Podcast, I share why entering into new affiliate marketplaces "cautiously" can be dangerous for new entrants. As an alternative, I'll walk you through how to play the game in r...
We chat with Colin about how AI is changing marketplaces.
His thesis: “The rise of agentic AI will transform marketplaces from passive aggregators to active facilitators of transactions.”
To learn more, check out Colin’s take on how AI will revolutionize marketplaces: https://www.gardinercolin.com/p/ai-and-marketplaces-agent-led
About Colin Gardiner
Former econo...
We sit with credit card expert Jason Steele about what's happening behind the scenes in the industry. Jason shares how he went from tech work to becoming a respected credit card authority who writes for major publications and runs CardCon, the credit card industry conference.
We discuss:
- The "Coupon Book Problem" - Premium cards are becoming more complex w...
LendAPI lets you create application flows, credit decision engines, and complete lending products through simple drag-and-drop tools—all without hiring engineers or spending millions.
You can build and launch lending products quickly and efficiently, then use a working product to raise venture capital. Even non-financial businesses like boat dealerships are using it to replace clunky Excel-based applicat...
In this episode, I catch up with my old Columbia PhD classmate Guru Sethupathy, founder of FairNow, an AI governance platform for financial services.
About AI Governance:
- Involves three key components:
- Monitoring AI performance, explainability, and bias
- Ensuring compliance with financial regulations
- Establish...
In this episode, we speak with Greg Cox, CEO of Monevo, to discuss their recent acquisition by TransUnion and how they're transforming credit offer distribution.
Greg explains how Monevo serves as a technology layer connecting lenders and publishers, allowing lenders to distribute highly qualified credit offers to third-party websites and aggregators. The platform helps lenders target the right customers across multiple digital ch...
Rich Walker is a 35-year industry vet who’s been responsible for over 10 billion pieces of Direct Mail.
Rich has led direct marketing teams at Capital One, the Winterberry Group, Deluxe Corporation, 2nd Order Solutions, and more recently, Aven.
He also ran his own consulting shop - Pilot Performance Marketing - focused on helping lenders solve Direct Mail.
So we jumped at the opportunity to get his take on how lenders can leverage ...
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