The Free Toaster
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.
Episodes
Carlos and Nick welcome Amanda Braslow to the show as the newest partner in the business and GM of events. Amanda brings fifteen years from Capital One, most of it in the co-brand trenches. Her first big project putting together the Free Toaster Affiliate Marketing Summit on September 23rd in San Francisco at the Exploratorium.
Deposits aren't loans. That sounds obvious, but the implications for affiliate marketing are anything but.
Alana Levine joins Carlos Caro to break down how affiliate marketing works on the deposit side of the house: different unit economics, different optimization cadence,...
Carlos and Nick sit down with John Doppke, VP at Upgrade, to unpack Boost Money — a four-in-one financial account combining a checking account, secured credit-building card, high-yield savings, and interest-free cash advances.
Carlos Caro chats with Rakesh Patel, the Executive Vice President of the Experian Marketplace. For those of you not familiar with the Experian Marketplace, it got started in 2017 and it's quietly become one of the largest consumer marketplaces in the world for credit cards, personal loans, and auto insurance.
In today's episode we'll cover:
-Experian's vision to become a fi...
Carlos sits down with Dennis Fish and John Minalga of the ICS Corporation following a roundtable dinner with 16 consumer lending executives in New York City to talk about one of the most misunderstood channels in financial services: direct mail. We discussed:
Carlos and Nick sit with Kelvin Chen, Head of Policy at the Consumer Bankers Association. We discuss Kelvin's recent post on LinkedIn that challenges a commonly cited fact in the media that credit card balances are at record highs. Kelvin's LinkedIn post below:
"Is the consumer in trouble, or is the math just misleading? 🤔 Multiple times a day, we hear affordability stories about consumers struggling with "record-high" credit c...
[Show notes reposted below from the LendAPI Podcast]
The Free Toaster Podcast is sponsored by:
-Fintel Connect
-Spinwheel
-Bulldog Media Group *****
LendAPI Partner Podcast with Carlos Caro, Managing Partner & Founder of New Market GrowthGuest:
Carlos Caro
Host:
Timothy Li
REPOSTED FROM FINTECH TAKES. Alex's show notes below. I hope you enjoy! -Carlos ***** Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I'm Alex Johnson, joined again by Carlos Caro (author of the Free Toaster newsletter and host of the Free Toaster podcast) to continue the conversation we started on Carlos’s podcast about MrBeast's acquisition of Step and what it means for the fintech ecosystem.
This episode picks up where we left off, by looking...
Carlos and Nick discuss Dave's record-breaking Q4 2025 Earnings Report.
They also discuss Dave's rise to $4B valuation, drop down to a $50MM valuation, and pop back to $2.85B. Additionally, we break down their customer acquisition strategy and ask questions regarding their long-term viability given the DOJ case out there. They expand on the Free Toaster article recently published here:
Carlos and Nick try to make sense of NerdWallet's recent earnings report. They expand on the article they recently published here:
https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/can-nerdwallet-outrun-the-ai-disruption
Note: Carlos misspoke early in the episode when he shared the topline revenue and growth numbers. The correct numbers are $225.4MM topline revenue and 23% YoY growth.
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster...
Carlos and Nick discuss the implications of this week's headline story: Apple is now pushing the ability for Apple Pay users to pay with installments at the physical register, not just online and in apps. With iOS 26, installment options show up right inside the Apple Pay payment sheet when you tap to pay in store. What used to require opening a separate app or converting a purchase after the fact is now a one-tap decision at the ...
Our host Carlos Caro sits down with Alex Johnson (founder/author at Fintech Takes) to unpack one of the more surprising stories in consumer finance: Mr. Beast's acquisition of Step, a Gen Z-focused neobank.
Alex breaks down what Step actually is — a once-hyped neobank valu...
In April 2025, Transunion completed its acquisition of Monevo (a UK-based credit prequalification platform). In today's News Pod, Nick discovers that TU paid $56MM and that TU expects the Monevo acquisition to be immaterial to FY 2026 growth for TU. (Sources of that information below). Carlos and Nick discuss the Monevo business model and speculate on why growth could be muted in the US market. Please note: While recording the P...
Today we walk through a list of questions to ask yourself to determine whether your application experience needs a tune up. ***** About The Free Toaster Podcast:
Insights and interviews at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. Hosted by Carlos Caro, co-founder at The Free Toaster and Managing Partner at New Market Growth, a growth agency for consumer lenders.
***** To support The Free Toaster Podca...
This week Prithvi Prabhu drops in to help us contextualize Cash App Borrow's metrics from this Edition: https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/cash-apps-invisible-200-billion-loan
Then, we discuss Mr. Beast's Fintech Acquisition and talk about why buying Fintech's could lead to trouble for the mega content creator.
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consume...
The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid add context to the story covered in the Newsletter earlier this week. https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/wtf-2026-since-when-is-debit-now
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story fr...
Today we cover the 7 traits of successful VPs of Partnerships, why they matter, and how to assess them during interviews.
***** To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Fintel ConnectDrive 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 ma...
Affirm is officially making a play to become its own bank by submitting applications to establish Affirm Bank through a Nevada-chartered Industrial Loan Company (ILC). This strategic shift aims to strengthen and diversify their platform, allowing them to scale operations and offer FDIC-insured products directly to consumers.
The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid comment on this and the growth in their credit card progr...
Cash App Borrow is quietly building a monster (and seemingly highly profitable) consumer lending business under the radar.
The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid comment on the metrics they've seen published from the business.
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday. And then come here o...
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