Fintech Takes x TruStage presents Lending, Unbundled Ep 1: Financial Accessibility and Inclusion

Welcome to Lending, Unbundled, a new series from Fintech Takes, sponsored by our friends at TruStage.

The series traces how consumer lending went from a single institution that handled everything to a modular value chain of specialized providers, each owning one piece of the loan, and asks what lending, unbundled, has cost the industry along the way.

In Episode 1, I sit down with my co-host for the series, Bjoern Nordmann (VP of New Market Development at TruStage), and special guest Rodney Hood, former NCUA Chairman and Acting Comptroller of the Currency, to talk about why a regulatory framework built for vertically integrated lenders no longer matches an industry where origination, underwriting, funding, and servicing rarely sit under one roof.

For most borrowers, that fragmentation shows up as a simple question: who do you call when something goes wrong?

Rodney traces the shift to two forces: policy, including the compliance burden that followed Dodd-Frank, and specialization (as fintech entrants and consumer expectations for speed reshaped what lenders had to offer). Rodney also makes the case that AI can help correct for bias baked into older credit models and catch hardship before it becomes delinquency.

As Rodney puts it: risk doesn't disappear because it moves, it simply changes addresses.

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This episode is brought to you by TruStage.

TruStage is a financially strong insurance and financial services provider, built on the philosophy of people helping people, meeting the needs of middle-market consumers and the businesses that serve them since day one.

We believe a brighter financial future should be accessible to everyone, and our products and solutions help people confidently make financial decisions that work for them at every stage of life. Visit https://trustage.com for more information.

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Follow Bjoern: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bjoernnordmann/

Follow Rodney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodneyhood1/