UltraFICO Takes Shape with FICO x Plaid, CFPB Targets ECOA Rules, Made Card Bets on Homeowner Rewards

Hey Toaster Readers,

This week is sponsored by our friends at Spinwheel.

FICO and Plaid are pairing traditional scoring with live cash flow data through the new UltraFICO Score. The CFPB proposes limiting fair lending liability by removing “disparate impact” from ECOA, a shift that would require proof of intentional discrimination and change how lenders document and defend their credit decisions. And Made Card raised new funding to build a rewards product around real homeowner spending, including mortgage payments.

The rest of the week brought plenty of signals. Wealthfront is testing mortgages. Klarna is launching a stablecoin. OpenAI rolled out shopping research in ChatGPT. Worldpay introduced tools for agentic commerce. Cash App is piloting a real time score. And a Colorado ruling added pressure to BNPL models.

Earnings stayed solid across the board. Intuit posted strong Q1 growth led by QuickBooks and Credit Karma. Oportun logged another profitable quarter with better credit trends. Pathward finished the year with higher noninterest income. Green Dot’s embedded finance engine kept picking up speed. loanDepot narrowed its loss on stronger margins. BILL delivered steady core revenue gains and new partnerships. Better lifted revenue and continued pushing AI deeper into underwriting.

Quick note. There is no The Free Toaster Jobs Edition this week while the team takes a short Thanksgiving break. You can read last week’s issue here and subscribe to get the next one when it’s back next Friday.

One more thing before we dive in. We are planning a small dinner meetup in Q1 to connect folks in consumer lending who care about building strong direct mail programs. Likely in NYC. If you want details as we finalize plans, reply to this email with “DM meetup” and we’ll keep you posted.

Here’s what’s happening across fintech right now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

— Carlos Caro, Founder at New Market Growth
— Nick Madrid, Co-Founder of Uncovered Media and Ghostmode

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