Lend Academy Podcast

SoFi is certainly one of the more interesting companies in fintech. They started life focused on student loan refinancing, a category they invented back in 2011, but have morphed into what is the most diversified company in all of fintech. They have not just moved into other areas of lending, they have moved quite aggressively […] The post Podcast 193: Anthony Noto of SoFi appeared first on Lend Academy.

Much has been written about machine learning and the impact it will have on the future of finance. But when it comes to credit one of the challenges with implementing machine learning models has been explainability. You have to be able to explain to a rejected borrower why they were denied credit. Our next guest […] The post Podcast 192: Douglas Merrill of ZestFinance appeared first on Lend Academy.

The gig economy workforce is becoming larger all the time and is expected to become 50% of all workers by 2027. Yet the traditional financial system works best for the W-2 worker, someone who has a full time job. That obviously needs to change. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is someone who […] The post Podcast 191: Johnny Reinsch of Qwil appeared first on Lend Academy.

Small businesses are the backbone of this country and no one has done more to support them than our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast. Karen Mills has been a venture capitalist for many years and was the head of the Small Business Administration in the Obama Administration from 2009-2013. So, she had a […] The post Podcast 190: Karen Mills of Harvard appeared first on Lend Academy.

The credit card space is ultra competitive. There are literally thousands of different card offerings for consumers today. It is a mature space but also one where that has not been a great deal of innovation, particularly when it comes to the non-prime consumer. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Jason Gross, […] The post Podcast 189: Jason Gross of Petal appeared first on Lend Academy.

Artificial intelligence is one of the most hyped areas of technology today particularly when it comes to finance. But there are some companies using AI to really improve financial services today and our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is one such company. Zor Gorelov is the CEO and Co-Founder of Kasisto, the leading […] The post Podcast 188: Zor Gorelov of Kasisto appeared first on Lend Academy.

For many people the mortgage application process is the most stressful of all financial transactions. It is fraught with challenges and obstacles as lenders often require a huge amount of documentation before approving a loan. But this cumbersome process is slowly changing as fintech companies address mortgage lending head on. Our next guest on the […] The post Podcast 187: Nima Ghamsari of Blend appeared first on Lend Academy.

The student loan refinancing space didn’t exist 10 years ago. Now, with the outstanding total of student loans reaching $1.5 trillion, tens of billions of student loans have been refinanced in the past decade saving students hundreds of millions of dollars in interest. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Susan Ehrlich, the […] The post Podcast 186: Susan Ehrlich of Earnest appeared first on Lend Academy.

The marketplace lending industry began with personal loans and it is still our biggest vertical when it comes to loan volume. Much of this volume has actually gone to consolidate credit card debt. Which is one of the reasons why many companies look to the credit card industry for expertise. Our next guest on the […] The post Podcast 185: Jeffrey Meiler of Marlette Funding appeared first on Lend Academy.

We often discuss banks and how they are partnering with fintechs and incorporating new technology into all areas of their operations. But credit unions are interested in many of the same initiatives. And because they often have very tight communities credit unions provide a really interesting use case for fintech. The next guest on the […] The post Podcast 184: Brian Hamilton of CU Direct appeared first on Lend Academy.

Most fintech companies are focused on lending, payments, financial management or some kind of back office tech. There are very few companies focused on the income side of the equation, particularly when it comes to helping people maximize their earnings from a second job. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Adam Roseman, […] The post Podcast 183: Adam Roseman of Steady appeared first on Lend Academy.

Machine learning in underwriting is all the rage today and has been now for a couple of years. But the first online lender to really hang their hat on this technology is Upstart. It is core to their business and it is why they applied for and received a no action letter from the CFPB […] The post Podcast 182: Dave Girouard of Upstart appeared first on Lend Academy.

Since the invention of the FICO score, when it comes to building credit there has been a real chicken and egg problem. It is difficult to obtain credit unless you have already established a decent credit score. Despite all the advances in fintech this is a problem that has remained largely unsolved. Our next guest […] The post Podcast 181: James Garvey of Self Lender appeared first on Lend Academy.

For decades community banks have been the lifeblood of small towns across America. Almost by definition they are closer to their communities than large banks or even fintech platforms. And while they don’t have the technology budgets of large banks they are acutely aware of the need to adapt to the changing needs of their […] The post Podcast 180: Kevin Tweddle of Independent Community Bankers of America appeared first on Lend Academy.

Consumers want control over their personal data, particularly their sensitive financial data but at the same time they want seamless integration when they connect their bank account to a budgeting or financial management tool. Making these two, often opposing wants, work is the job of our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast. Lowell Putnam […] The post Podcast 179: Lowell Putnam of Quovo appeared first on Lend Academy.

The securitization industry has yet to really be disrupted. It operates basically the same way it did a decade or even two decades ago. But that may be about to change. Today, there are some fintech companies looking to bring the entire securitization process on to the blockchain to reduce cost and increase transparency. One […] The post Podcast 178: Charlie Moore of Global Debt Registry appeared first on Lend Academy.

Quickbooks has been synonymous with small business accounting for several decades now. But they recently launched Quickbooks Capital to provide their small business customers with an easy and transparent way to borrow money. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is Rania Succar. She was hired away from Google to head up this new […] The post Podcast 177: Rania Succar of Quickbooks Capital appeared first on Lend Academy.

In the UK, Barclays is one of the “big four” banks with more than £1 trillion in assets. MarketInvoice is the leading fintech company that specializes in invoice finance, and though it is relatively large it will only lend around £1 billion this year. Despite the difference in size, or maybe because of it, Barclays […] The post Podcast 176: Anil Stocker of MarketInvoice appeared first on Lend Academy.

Despite the growth of the personal loan business, and in particular debt consolidation loans, the total amount of outstanding credit card debt keeps rising and is now well over $1 trillion. We need more creative ways to solve this problem. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast has taken a unique approach to credit […] The post Podcast 175: Jason Brown of Tally appeared first on Lend Academy.

The most downloaded episode of the Lend Academy Podcast in 2015 was my discussion with Kathryn Petralia, the Co-Founder and President of Kabbage. That was more than three years ago and a lot has changed at Kabbage and in the industry since then. Kabbage is one of the leading small business lenders in the country […] The post Podcast 174: Kathryn Petralia of Kabbage appeared first on Lend Academy.