News Pod #27 - Oportun & Column Announce New Lending Partnership (And What This Means For Oportun’s Growth)

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 Data San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th The Exploratorium 150-person, curated room Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1, increasing to $1499 August 2nd Learn 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&utm\medium=podcast&utm\_campaign=july   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   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/     New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com