The Free Toaster | Carlos Caro | Substack

Klarna Just Filed for a Bank Charter. So Did Affirm, PayPal, Upstart, and Six Others.

The year fintechs stopped renting charters.

10 hrs ago • Toaster Media

Latest News

Klarna Just Filed for a Bank Charter. So Did Affirm, PayPal, Upstart, and Six Others.

The year fintechs stopped renting charters.

10 hrs ago • Toaster Media

Happen Bank Is Running Chime's Playbook in Reverse. Here's the Bet

Lend first, earn the deposit relationship later. How the bank formerly known as LendingClub is running Chime's playbook backwards.

Jul 2 • Toaster Media

What happens when consumers delegate financial decisions to agents?

Plus: How SoFi is betting it can own the AI relationship before ChatGPT does

Jun 25

Pagaya Sues Klarna for (Allegedly) Stealing Its Underwriting Model

Plus: Visa plugs into OpenAI, Experian moves loan shopping into ChatGPT, and the stablecoin war heats up

Jun 17

Latest Episodes

16:17

News Pod #22 - JD Power Sues Chime + A Preview of Our Sept 23rd Event In SF

Watch now (16 mins) | JD Power sued Chime in the Southern District of New York over its "America's #1 choice for banking" campaign, alleging breach of…

Jun 12 • Carlos Caro

12:29

E048 - Q&A on Application Friction - Nick interviews Carlos

Watch now (13 mins) | Nick Madrid interviews Carlos Caro live at the Fintech Summit in NYC on April 28th.

May 4 • Carlos Caro

10:06

News Pod #16 - OnePay, Credit One x Bright Money, and Aven's BTC Play

Listen now (10 mins) | Carlos flies solo this week (Nick is wheels-up from NYC to SF after FinTech Week) to break down three stories from this week's…

May 1 • Carlos Caro

19:13

News Pod #15 - OpenAI Acquires Hiro Finance

Watch now (19 mins) | Carlos and Nick expand on the headline story from this week’s Newsletter.

Apr 24 • Carlos Caro

Deep Dives

Media Arbitrage vs. Brand Arbitrage

The bigger lesson behind the recent SEO disruption

Oct 23, 2025 • Carlos Caro

5 Insights From SVB's The Future Of Fintech Report

And what it means for Fintech Lenders

Oct 21, 2025 • Carlos Caro

The SEO Apocalypse Has Arrived

With data from NerdWallet, Hubspot, CG.com and many others

Aug 21, 2025 • Carlos Caro

The AI Finfluencers Are Coming

The next billion dollar distribution channel for lenders

Aug 11, 2025 • Carlos Caro

Editorial

How Lenders Win When AI Calls the Shots

The game isn't psychological anymore.

Jun 25 • Carlos Caro

Will LLMs Solve Distribution For The Cash Flow Lenders?

Updating my thoughts on an October 2024 Free Toaster Editorial

Jun 4 • Carlos Caro

What I Learned At The First Free Toaster Curated Table Event

We met in NYC and spent 3+ hours talking about direct mail

Apr 22 • Carlos Caro

The 7 Traits Your Next VP of Partnerships MUST Have

And the exact interview questions to ask to vet candidates.

Jan 27 • Carlos Caro

Recent posts

Happen Bank Is Running Chime's Playbook in Reverse. Here's the Bet

Lend first, earn the deposit relationship later. How the bank formerly known as LendingClub is running Chime's playbook backwards.

Jul 2 • Toaster Media

What happens when consumers delegate financial decisions to agents?

Plus: How SoFi is betting it can own the AI relationship before ChatGPT does

Jun 25

How Lenders Win When AI Calls the Shots

The game isn't psychological anymore.

Jun 25 • Carlos Caro

News Pod #23 - Pagaya Sues Klarna for (Allegedly) Stealing Its Underwriting Model

Watch now (14 mins) | Pagaya filed a lawsuit against Klarna for (allegedly) stealing is underwriting.

Jun 19 • Carlos Caro

14:06

Pagaya Sues Klarna for (Allegedly) Stealing Its Underwriting Model

Plus: Visa plugs into OpenAI, Experian moves loan shopping into ChatGPT, and the stablecoin war heats up

Jun 17

News Pod #22 - JD Power Sues Chime + A Preview of Our Sept 23rd Event In SF

Watch now (16 mins) | JD Power sued Chime in the Southern District of New York over its "America's #1 choice for banking" campaign, alleging breach of…

Jun 12 • Carlos Caro

16:17

The Free Toaster

The Free Toaster

Curated news, insights, and interviews for fintech marketers, delivered in less than 7 minutes per week.

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If you work in fintech, you don’t need more news. You need better signals. The Free Toaster covers the shifts that actually impact lending, payments, and growth.

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