Fintech Takes

Fintech Takes x C&R presents Collections Conversations Episode 2: When Customer Centricity Breaks

Welcome to Collections Conversations, a new four-part podcast miniseries from Fintech Takes, sponsored by our friends at C&R Software. The series digs into how generative AI is reshaping debt collections; what it enables, what it complicates, and why it might finally force the industry to retire the word “collections” altogether. In Episode 2, I sit down with Ed Wallen [https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwallen/], CEO of C&R Software. We kick things off with a hard truth about fintech companies that pride themselves on being customer-centric: that promise most often breaks at the exact moment customers need the most empathy and the most options.  As Ed puts it, you get the Apple experience of onboarding, where everything is sunshine and rainbows, and then suddenly you get the Mad Max experience in debt collections.  Our conversation unpacks why that shift happens. One day early and one day late feel the same to the customer, but on the inside, they trigger an entirely different playbook. If replacing a customer can cost hundreds of dollars, why treat hardship as a liability instead of protecting lifetime value? What if the real choice was between a churn machine and a loyalty engine? This episode is a blueprint for anyone reimagining collections, servicing, and customer trust. Subscribe to catch more about how generative AI might finally make collections more human. This episode is brought to you by C&R Software.  More than just debt collection, C&R sets the global standard for AI-native, humanized credit management. They simplify the complex with end-to-end credit-risk lifecycle support, powered by automated workflows, AI-native intelligence, and real-time, data-driven decisioning. Learn more at https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0 [https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0]. Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson] Follow Ed: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwallen/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwallen/] Learn more about C&R Software here [https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0]: https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0 [https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0]

Fintech Recap: Clarity Crumbles, Charters Multiply, and Brex Gets Bought

Welcome back to Fintech Recap. I’m Alex Johnson, joined (as always) by my partner in recapping, Jason Mikula. Even if we aren’t sailing to BaaS Island, the news keeps flooding in. We kick off with crypto market structure, which nearly cleared Congress before imploding. The Clarity Act would’ve locked in broad crypto rules, including limits on stablecoin yield. Banks had momentum to close a key Genius Act loophole (until Coinbase pulled support at the last second). The backlash was swift: other crypto firms were blindsided, lawmakers were furious, and Brian Armstrong ended up in Davos, facing off with Jamie Dimon (who, reportedly, told him to stop lying on TV).  Then it's onto banking charters. NewBank got conditional OCC approval. Ford, GM, and PayPal all made ILC moves. Affirm filed in Nevada, citing "flexibility and diversification," but this is about control. With rising scrutiny on partner banks and consent orders in the air, a charter gives Affirm cleaner economics and regulatory insulation. Like Square and LendingClub before it, the goal is clear: own the balance sheet, shift volume gradually, and keep options open. From there, Capital One’s surprise acquisition of Brex for $5B. Most commentary focused on the exit. More interesting is what CapOne wants: startup spend volume and a wedge into high-growth business banking. Integration will take time, and as Ramp scales faster on a leaner model, pressure around ROI will be mounting. Plus, in our Can't Let It Go corner, we look at fintech's dumbest lawsuit: Prism v. TomoCredit. A fake cash flow underwriting product. A stolen trademark. Fabricated and backdated blog posts. An agreed settlement … that Tomo then refused to sign or memorialize. Meanwhile, the site still takes credit card details from consumers who can't unsubscribe. And somehow, it's still going! This episode is brought to you by Plaid.  Plaid helps lenders approve more creditworthy borrowers without taking on more risk, combining real-time cash flow data with behavioral insights. It’s a fast, familiar experience people trust, and that actually converts. Learn more at www.plaid.com/ftt [http://www.plaid.com/ftt] Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/]  And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Jason: Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/ [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/]   Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson]

Inside Net Interest

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Marc Rubinstein, author of the fantastic Net Interest [https://www.netinterest.co/] newsletter.  In this episode, we bounce through some of Marc’s most insightful writing from the past year (linked below) to spotlight the structural forces shaping 2026. We explore why the U.S. has thousands of community banks, the idiosyncrasies of our 30-year mortgage product, the growing industry focus on agentic commerce, and why stablecoin infrastructure is coalescing around large, permissioned systems — and what all of that reveals about regulatory incentives, institutional power, and the future of financial infrastructure. Highlights include: * Why the U.S. has thousands more banks than any other developed market * How agentic commerce is being driven more by investor decks than consumer behavior * Why OpenAI might accidentally save small merchants * Why stablecoins are moving onto permissioned, institution-backed rails (and will be increasingly shaped by players like Stripe). This episode is brought to you by Plaid.  Plaid helps lenders approve more creditworthy borrowers without taking on more risk, combining real-time cash flow data with behavioral insights. It’s a fast, familiar experience people trust, and that actually converts. Learn more at www.plaid.com/ftt [http://www.plaid.com/ftt] Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Net Interest [https://www.netinterest.co/] pieces discussed: * Community First: https://www.netinterest.co/p/community-first-ca0 [https://www.netinterest.co/p/community-first-ca0] * The Policy Triangle: https://www.netinterest.co/p/the-policy-triangle [https://www.netinterest.co/p/the-policy-triangle] * Inside the Affordability Crisis: https://www.netinterest.co/p/inside-the-affordability-crisis [https://www.netinterest.co/p/inside-the-affordability-crisis] * Agentic Friday: https://www.netinterest.co/p/agentic-friday [https://www.netinterest.co/p/agentic-friday] * Ready Layer One: https://www.netinterest.co/p/ready-layer-one [https://www.netinterest.co/p/ready-layer-one] Follow Marc: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-rubinstein/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-rubinstein/] Follow Alex Johnson:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson]

Fintech Takes x C&R presents Collections Conversations Episode 1: Collections in the Age of AI

Welcome to Collections Conversations, a new four-part podcast miniseries from Fintech Takes, sponsored by our friends at C&R Software. The series digs into how generative AI is reshaping debt collections; what it enables, what it complicates, and why it might finally force the industry to retire the word “collections” altogether. In Episode 1, I sit down with Naeem Abraham [https://www.linkedin.com/in/naeem-abraham-b8a0ab10], Senior Director of Product Strategy at C&R Software. We kick things off with what I call the Collections Abundance Moment, tracing debt collection’s operational powerhouse roots (where empathy was sacrificed at the altar of efficiency) to a world where the old resource constraints no longer apply. The episode dives into the mechanics of building safe, value-adding AI systems. Naeem outlines the “triangular dance floor” of competing pressures (risk, cost, and customer experience) and explains why the winners will be those who treat AI not as a system, but as intelligence.  What if every customer had a personal banker in their pocket?  What if cost no longer forced us to be adversarial?  What if the prize wasn’t collections at all, but financial well-being? This episode is a blueprint for anyone reimagining collections, credit, or customer care in the age of AI. Subscribe now to catch what’s next. This episode is brought to you by C&R Software.  More than just debt collections, C&R sets the global standard for AI-native, humanized credit management. They simplify the complex with end-to-end credit-risk lifecycle support, powered by automated workflows, AI-native intelligence, and real-time, data-driven decisioning. Learn more at https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0 [https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0]. Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson] Follow Naeem: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naeem-abraham-b8a0ab10 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/naeem-abraham-b8a0ab10] Learn more about C&R Software here [https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0]: https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0 [https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0]

Fintech Recap (Bonus): The Rise and Fall of Kontigo

Welcome back to Fintech Takes for a special bonus episode of Fintech Recap with Jason Mikula; Latin American sanctions evasion expert and author of a splendid ~5,500 word investigation on Kontigo [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/kontigo-ycombinators-venezuela-sanctions] that demands its own episode. If you haven’t yet read Jason’s piece, “Kontigo: Y Combinator's Venezuelan Sanctions Evasion Startup [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/kontigo-ycombinators-venezuela-sanctions]” in Fintech Business News Weekly – the spine of this episode – you should [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/kontigo-ycombinators-venezuela-sanctions] (full link below). This episode is a deep dive into Kontigo, a crypto‑fintech startup operating in Venezuela that marketed USDC off‑ramps and debit cards, raised money from Coinbase (among others!), and leveraged U.S. financial infrastructure (like JPMorgan Chase, Checkbook, Rain, Bridge, Lead Bank, and Stripe) … while operating in a heavily sanctioned environment. The rise and fall of Kontigo raises urgent questions about accountability, compliance, and the risks embedded in stablecoin rails.  We get into: * The foreign exchange arbitrage that made the model profitable * Why stablecoins are “speed-running BaaS” (but worse) * How product market fit in stablecoins can be code for money laundering, sanctions evasion, or financial crime * And the surreal online behavior of the CEO (shirtless hype videos included) Plus, in our Can’t Let It Go corner: agave spirit startups, Kontigo’s logo that obviously nods at the Petro [https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/heres-why-venezuelas-failed-cryptocurrency-could-not-fix-359.99-yearly-inflation] (Venezuela's failed oil backed cryptocurrency), and our favorite quote of 2026 so far! This episode is brought to you by Plaid.  Plaid helps lenders approve more creditworthy borrowers without taking on more risk, combining real-time cash flow data with behavioral insights. It’s a fast, familiar experience people trust, and that actually converts. Learn more at www.plaid.com/ftt [http://www.plaid.com/ftt] Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/]  And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Read Jason’s “Kontigo: Y Combinator's Venezuelan Sanctions Evasion Startup [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/kontigo-ycombinators-venezuela-sanctions]” here:  https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/kontigo-ycombinators-venezuela-sanctions [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/p/kontigo-ycombinators-venezuela-sanctions] Follow Jason: Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/ [https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/]   Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson]