Affiliate Marketing For Lenders
This Podcast is for consumer lenders who want to grow their affiliate marketing programs. It’s hosted by Carlos Caro, a successful marketing agency founder and former fintech executive. Prior to founding New Market Growth, Carlos was a General Manager and Head Of Business Development at Credit Karma, Head of Customer Acquisition at Caribou, and a former leader in Capital One’s credit card business. NMG focuses on helping lenders build and optimize affiliate programs, and Carlos is here to share how to do it yourself. Subscribe to this Podcast to hear from Carlos and other industry leaders as they demystify what it takes to win the affiliate marketing game.
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Episodes
6 hours ago
6 hours ago
This week Prithvi Prabhu drops in to help us contextualize Cash App Borrow's metrics from this Edition:https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/cash-apps-invisible-200-billion-loan
Then, we discuss Mr. Beast's Fintech Acquisition and talk about why buying Fintech's could lead to trouble for the mega content creator.
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday.And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story (or two) from that edition. *****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=feb
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.
If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Friday Feb 06, 2026
Friday Feb 06, 2026
The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid add context to the story covered in the Newsletter earlier this week.https://www.thefreetoaster.com/p/wtf-2026-since-when-is-debit-now
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday.And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on a select story from that edition. *****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.
If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026
Tuesday Feb 03, 2026
Today we cover the 7 traits of successful VPs of Partnerships, why they matter, and how to assess them during interviews.
*****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.
If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Friday Jan 30, 2026
Friday Jan 30, 2026
Affirm is officially making a play to become its own bank by submitting applications to establish Affirm Bank through a Nevada-chartered Industrial Loan Company (ILC). This strategic shift aims to strengthen and diversify their platform, allowing them to scale operations and offer FDIC-insured products directly to consumers.
The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid comment on this and the growth in their credit card program.
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday.And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition. *****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=jan
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.
If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Friday Jan 23, 2026
Friday Jan 23, 2026
Cash App Borrow is quietly building a monster (and seemingly highly profitable) consumer lending business under the radar.
The Free Toaster hosts Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid comment on the metrics they've seen published from the business.
Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday.And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition. *****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Friday Jan 16, 2026
Friday Jan 16, 2026
This week Carlos Caro unpacks what Jenius Bank's exit from affiliate marketplaces could mean for other prime personal loan lenders. Sign up for The Free Toaster Newsletter (www.thefreetoaster.com) to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, published every Wednesday.And then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition. *****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Thursday Jan 08, 2026
Thursday Jan 08, 2026
In the News Pod, The Free Toaster founders - Carlos Caro and Nick Madrid - unpack select stories from the Wednesday news edition of www.thefreetoaster.comSign up for the Newsletter to get our curated news at the intersection of consumer lending & marketing, and then come here on Fridays to get our hot takes on select stories from that edition. *****To support The Free Toaster Podcast, please visit our sponsors:
A word from our sponsor, Bulldog Media Group:Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche. https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Wednesday Dec 17, 2025
Wednesday Dec 17, 2025
In this episode, Tomás returns to share what's changed since Spinwheel's $30 million funding round—including a strategic investment from Citi—and gives us an inside look at the Spinwheel Network Token, a piece of technology that changes how lenders can serve customers across the acquisition journey.Please note: Spinwheel is a sponsor of The Free Toaster Newsletter and Podcast.
About The Spinwheel Network Token
Spinwheel's Network Token creates a persistent, consent-based identity layer using just a phone number and date of birth. Here's what that unlocks:
Skip the funnel: Instead of starting at step one with a lender, consumers can land near the end—already seeing which credit cards they can consolidate, with balances pre-populated.
Real-time data: Lenders get live liability information including balances, due dates, minimum payments, and interest rates.
Seamless payments: Disbursements can go directly to the credit cards being paid off, not just to a consumer's bank account.
Early results show 20–30% increases in funded loans and up to 50% improvement in payoff completion rates for lenders using the token.
Why This Matters for Agentic Commerce
Tomás makes a compelling case that this infrastructure is a prerequisite for the AI-powered future of lending. When consumers start using voice assistants or smart agents to find and execute loans on their behalf, those agents will need frictionless access to verified financial data—and the ability to act on it. Spinwheel is building that layer now.
*****
A word from our sponsor, Spinwheel:
Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!
https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=dec
A word from our sponsor, Fintel Connect
Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.
https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast
A word from our sponsor, New Market Growth:
New Market Growth helps fintech consumer lenders generate explosive growth on affiliate marketing channels like Credit Karma, Experian Marketplace, LendingTree, and others.Affiliate marketing involves marketing & credit risk expertise, and NMG's founders bring this with 21+ years of lending experience and 8+ years experience as executive affiliate operators.If you'd like help planning or implementing your affiliate marketing strategy, email us at carlos@newmarketgrowth.com
Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter:www.thefreetoaster.com/
Friday Dec 05, 2025
Friday Dec 05, 2025
I sit with my co-founder Nick Madrid to discuss what we've learned in the last year of building this Podcast and Newsletter.
About Nick Madrid - Co-founder, The Free Toaster. Former Bloomberg (10 years) and Chime (3+ years). Now building media properties including The Free Toaster and the Uncovered Media brand.
Free Toaster Stats
1,200+ email subscribers (zero paid marketing), adding about 100 subs per month
13,000+ active users, 30,000+ views on www.thefreetoaster.com
118 posts published in 14 months
Main Topics of Discussion
Biggest lesson: Consistency matters more than predicting viral content
What's working: Writing online attracts opportunities
2026 plans: Building curated events for consumer lending, launching small business lending newsletter
Events vision: Intimate, niche gatherings (dinners, golf, coffee, even bounce houses for parents) - in addition to larger scale conference
Contact Us If:- Operators: you want to help us plan/execute an event
- Sponsors: you want to sponsor an event- Consumer lenders: you want to hear about our events/attend
Email us at: 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
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
Subscribe to the Free Toaster Newsletter:www.thefreetoaster.com/
Monday Dec 01, 2025
Monday Dec 01, 2025
I recently sat with Alex Johnson on the Fintech Takes Podcast. I hope you enjoy!*****(Show notes below from Fintech Takes)
Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Carlos Caro (author of the Free Toaster newsletter and host of the Free Toaster podcast) for the second episode of Facing Credit, where we unpack what’s really happening in lending right now.
This one’s about marketing; the overlooked starting point of every loan.
Everything in lending sits downstream of how you acquire customers and what it costs to reach them. And right now, that system is in flux.
AI has upended the old rules of digital acquisition. Google’s “Helpful Content” update triggered what Carlos describes in his writing as the “SEO Apocalypse”, a collapse that’s wiping out 50–90% of organic traffic and forcing publishers, affiliates, and lenders to rewrite their playbooks. The rise of AI-generated search results and zero-click answers means the economics of attention have changed for good.
Carlos and I dig into:
How AI is breaking traditional digital marketing and reshaping lender acquisition costs
What Google’s updates mean for SEO, SEM, and the affiliate ecosystem
How creators like My Rich BFF and MrBeast are becoming the new distribution channels for lenders
And what “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) might mean for the next phase of search
Tune in for Carlos’s take on how lenders, publishers, and fintechs can survive the SEO extinction event (and what it’ll take to win attention in the AI age).
Plus, we reference these three Free Toaster pieces throughout the conversation; consider them required reading:
The SEO Apocalypse Has Arrived
How New Balance's CMO Turned Around A 15-Year Decline
Reddit Isn't an Affiliate Channel
This episode was brought to you by Marqeta. Don’t sacrifice agility for stability. With Marqeta, launch payments experiences that perform at scale and flex with your business. Learn more at https://marqeta.com/ftt
Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/
And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.
Follow Carlos Caro:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-carlos-caro/
Follow Alex Johnson:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson
X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson