{"podcast":{"title":"The Free Toaster","slug":"the-free-toaster-7173245","podcast_index_feed_id":7173245,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/thefreetoaster/feed.xml","website_url":"https://thefreetoaster.podbean.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/20058005/The_Free_Toaster_Podcast_Logo_1_9g674.jpg","author":"thefreetoaster","episode_count":84,"summary":"The Free Toaster is your best resource at the intersection of marketing, lending, and fintech. We deliver news, data, and insights to help you acquire more customers.","last_synced_at":"2026-08-01T10:19:33.484383+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245"},"episode":{"title":"News Pod #27 - Oportun & Column Announce New Lending Partnership (And What This Means For Oportun’s Growth)","slug":"news-pod-27-oportun-column-announce-new-lending-partnership-and-what-this-means-for-oportun-s-growth","published_at":"2026-07-17T20:56:20+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245/news-pod-27-oportun-column-announce-new-lending-partnership-and-what-this-means-for-oportun-s-growth","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245","url":"https://thefreetoaster.podbean.com/e/news-pod-27-oportun-column-announce-new-lending-partnership-and-what-this-means-for-oportun-s-growth/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/rvrse86gvdgxpni4/News_Pod-7_17AUDIO.mp3","summary":"Carlos & Nick discuss this week’s story - “Oportun and Column Announce New Lending Partnership to Expand Access to Responsible Credit.” 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 DataSan Francisco - September 23rd & 24th The Exploratorium 150-person, curated room Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1, increasing to $1499 August 2ndLearn 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&…","meta_description":"Carlos & Nick discuss this week’s story - “Oportun and Column Announce New Lending Partnership to Expand Access to Responsible Credit.” At first glanc…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1135,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-free-toaster-7173245/episodes/news-pod-27-oportun-column-announce-new-lending-partnership-and-what-this-means-for-oportun-s-growth/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-free-toaster-7173245/news-pod-27-oportun-column-announce-new-lending-partnership-and-what-this-means-for-oportun-s-growth.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}