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

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