Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Guest Post | May 31, 2022

So you have your acceptance letter and are pouring over the class directory looking at the different things you can learn and need to learn for that diploma. You can picture your dorm room and roommate, even some of the fights you’ll likely have. Even the lunches in the cafeteria are vivid in your mind.
The one thing that is a little hazy is how you plan on paying for all of it. With so many types of options, scholarships, and grants, how are you supposed to navigate it all? If you’re American, your top choice is loans. For those of us whose parents make too much money to qualify for federal student loans (information available at this link) and scholarships, but not enough to pay for college flat out, there are a few options that are still available with the help of your parents.
Quite simply, a parent college loan is a loan that parents can take out for their child or children that will help pay for college. The amount can vary from lender to lender, and some may be enough to cover the entirety of your college expenses. The biggest difference between a parent college loan and a loan co-signed by your parents is your parents are entirely responsible for paying back the loan as their name is on the paperwork.
This means that should you fail out, drop out, or discontinue school for any reason, your parents will be responsible for paying back the loan. The conclusion I am sure they’re hoping for is paying back the loan of their college graduate or, more hopefully, their college graduate can help them pay it back when they find a job in their chosen field.
Firstly, you should look into the various scholarships your school, county, and state offer students in your area. If you think it may be too late to get scholarships, you might be surprised to find a few here or there that have had few or no one applied for. With scholarships dwindling, another possibility is granted through the government or your college directly. NerdWallet makes a good point when they put private loans as their last idea to pay for college (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/how-to-pay-for-college). Before taking out loans with crazy interest rates, found out about the student work program at your school. Some schools will pay a student throughout the semester for putting in a few hours at their library, cafeteria, or working as an aid in one of the offices on campus.
Once you have gone through all other possibilities, then search for loans you or your parents can take out. While it may seem like a daunting task, paying for college is possible, and if you want to continue your education after high school, a necessity.

Now that you have made sure to exhaust all resources in the search of how to pay for college, let us talk specifically about Parent Plus Loans versus private loans. Both loans are credited to pay for the cost of education and any additional expenses the student accrues while they are in college for the semester. The one downside to loans is you may have to continue to borrow money if you are unable to stretch your savings or the loan into further semesters.
Parent Plus Loans are loans granted to the parent of the student seeking to further their education. Your parents will be the primary borrower and will put down their information rather than yours, though it will still require your FAFSA information. If you already sought government grants, you should already have the FAFSA filled out. With that information, your parents can fill out the forms online via the Federal Student Aid website.
Private college parent loans are through private lenders, including banks. These institutions should be looked into thoroughly before your parents or any lender borrows money from them. There are many websites available to compare interest rates and payment options of various lenders and finding the best loan that will be easy to pay off is key to being able to pay off the loan quickly. While the Parent Plus Loan through the government is simpler to find, you may be able to find cheaper interest rates with a company that will still defer payment until your time in college has ended.
Going to college is an adventure. It can be the best years of your life and help guide you to the career you could spend the rest of your life in. This is a stepping stone in the direction of a bright future. Once you have figured out how to pay for college, soon enough you will be picking your classes, figuring out what major will help you live your best life, and picking bedding for your dorm.
Now you can feel more prepared to discuss payment options with your parents should this be the step to take. You have information on how to find out more and learn about different options available to you. Remember, loans may be daunting, but you will usually only have to worry about them after you are graduated and in a good-paying job. Congratulations and we hope you put your best foot forward into your future.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Warren Buffett famously said: ‘Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.’
The withdrawal of nearly all Western support for Russia and Russian money has been one of history’s tide-turning moments, and among those found to be swimming naked have been solicitors. We have been hammered for our servicing of oligarchs whose money was obtained by theft, violence, corruption and other crimes. It is not good enough for us to say that others were at it, too – and that our very own government was knee-deep in the mire. We are solicitors with important values, and should examine ourselves closely in the aftermath.
Having said that, which I believe needs to be said before I turn to others who bear responsibility, I consider that many governments, and intergovernmental organisations like the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), need to consider their own failings, too.
I want to focus here on the elaborate structure which they foisted on us to stop the servicing of corrupt money – the anti-money laundering laws proliferating around the world. These have failed, too. It is not an exaggeration to say that those laws lie in ruins, having failed to stop the penetration of Western economies by corrupt Russian money.
Yet there seems no recognition that the AML regime is fatally flawed. As with all mistakes, its supporters believe that it was just not applied strictly enough, and needs to be reinforced.
To understand the depth of wrongness of the current AML concept, one need only read Catherine Belton’s book, ‘Putin’s People’, which was published in 2020. This documents in some detail the various criminal dealings which led to the rise of the Russian billionaires whose money flooded the West. She conducted dozens of interviews over many years. Even so, there are large gaps because so much took place behind an impenetrable veil of secrecy, and through multiple layers of shell companies in tax havens which lack transparency.
Yet the OECD, the EU, the UK government and others behind the construction of the AML laws expect every solicitor to conduct his or her own investigation as part of customer due diligence and ‘know-your-client’. The investigation is thus privatised and fragmented, having to be done over and over again by each solicitor or law firm as it is consulted.
Yet the depth of knowledge required – of Russian politics, of the Russian language, of the many varied players, of the multiplying companies and fronts and transactions, of Russian laws, and of historical events – is beyond the resources of a law firm. It is ridiculous to expect law firms to investigate what takes years, many interviews, and much academic knowledge. It is also a very inefficient way of going about things, because it requires the background to be re-investigated over and over again by separate lawyers and law firms. And we have just seen the results: huge compliance departments failed to stops serious penetration of our economies, with dire results.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Guest Post | April 19, 2022

Taking out a loan could be the best way to attend to pressing financial issues. But experts advise that you think about how you intend to pay back a loan before applying for one. You can expect to find lenders who can provide you with financial assistance if you have good credit but surely will face full wrath if you don’t comply with the payment terms. While you surely want to think carefully about putting a personal loan to good use, you also want to map out a strategy that can help you pay back the loan. And in a situation where it seems like you may be unable to complete the payment want to consider refinancing. You will find below all you need to know about refinancing a loan.
This is simply the process of taking out a new loan to pay an old one. And it has proven to be effective in putting to rest the stress that comes with paying back loans. This could help provide you with a good deal that comes with lower repayments and interest rates. When done correctly, this should help make debt repayment more affordable for you. And this is why you want to be critical about choosing the right refinansiering option when looking to pay back a debt.
It does come with advantages such as lower rates and giving you an option to pay back a loan. But you also want to know that there are setbacks that could come up if you are not careful. One big drawback is that it could affect your credit score seeing as you are taking up more debts to pay back an old one. But you could also be at risk of an initial high repayment option while offsetting the previous debt. But in the long run, you do have the comfort of relaxing knowing that you get a better offer that can help you with the loan repayment.
The process of paying out a loan monthly could be a lot to cope with especially if you don’t have a lot coming in at the end of the month. And many people in this situation surely will need a breather that can help them cope with the stress of repayment. This is why most people opt for refinancing. It helps to reduce the amount that you pay out monthly which surely will allow you to take up other projects.
You only want to consider an option that is cheaper and allows you to make repayments in the shortest possible time. You want to be done with it once and for all and relax better. It could be a lot stressful knowing that you have debts to pay at the end of the month, especially if you don’t take home much at the end of the month. This page has tips on how to be debt-free this year.
As soon as you conclude that you will be considering the refinance option, you want to begin by searching for the best loan financiers in the business. And this is where it gets challenging for most people as they aren’t always sure about what to look for when shopping for loans.
The new loan to shop for will have to come with a lower interest rate than the one you already have. You will need to keep in mind the overall cost at the end of the day. So you want to consider the length and if any charges come with early repayment. What you want to look out for is the option that will be cheaper in the long run. But this doesn’t mean that you should jump on any cheap refinance loans you find. You want to do well to know how to identify the best lenders in the business.
You can ask for guidance from a financial adviser who can help you with finding the right option for you. It is also possible to find good comparison sites that regularly update their website with the top-performing loans and help you compare them according to the length of repayment and interest rates. This can help you easily arrive at the best option to go with.
A higher credit score can open a lot of doors when looking to access loans as this can only help guarantee the lenders that you can payback. And if your credit score is poor may not be able to get loans with good rates as any lender looking to take the risk with you may want to do so at a high rate. There is a lot you can do to improve your credit score and you want to start by getting a credit report to know exactly where you stand. You want to also take steps to reduce your spending and pay off any credit card debt that you may have. It is always best to try and commit to loan repayments as this can help earn you points that can boost your ratings with lenders. This link https://www.investopedia.com/how-to-improve-your-credit-score-4590097 has tips on how to improve your credit score.

You can save yourself the stress of searching for the right refinance option if you use an eligibility checker that makes it easy to find out if you qualify for a type of loan. This will provide you with a long list of available options to choose from and helps you compare using criteria such as interest rates and payment term. This will provide you with an estimate of how much it will cost you without impacting negatively your credit score.
You obviously will be shopping for refinancing loans to pay back old ones. And once you do get approval want to get with the existing lenders to conclude about paying out the debt. You should ensure that you close the account with them and put a stop to any future payments. The next thing will be to ensure that you set up payments regularly for the new one and begin repayments.
The option of refinancing personal loans could be the right way to pay back a debt and be free from expensive monthly repayments. You want to follow the expert tips suggested above to help you with all you need to complete the process of paying back a loan.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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TechCrunch | Mary Ann Azevedo | Apr 6, 2022
Financial infrastructure startup Fidel API has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.The London-based company provides identity, data and payments products that it says gives developers a way to capture consent permissions and “securely” connect payment cards to a service or application.
“With this infrastructure, developers are able to create highly contextualized and event-driven user experiences at the point of purchase,” it claims. Fidel API is industry agnostic, with customers ranging in the “hundreds,” from startups to giants such as Google, Royal Bank of Canada and British Airways. Developers use the company’s tools to power a range of features, including digital receipts, omnichannel attribution, loyalty and rewards, expense management and personal finance management.
The raise is another example of how infrastructure companies in the fintech world continue to be resilient despite an apparent slowdown in global funding overall. The ability to empower other companies in the world of financial services is proving to be lucrative as well as attractive to investors. Just last week, Cross River Bank landed a $620 million investment that pushed its valuation to more than $3 billion. In February, blockchain infrastructure startup Alchemy announced that it had closed on a $200 million Series C1 equity round that valued the company at $10.2 billion.
In the case of Fidel API, Subrata says the company has built the infrastructure that can help developers create “programmable money.”
“Our role in the ecosystem is to enable other developers to build what we call programmable experiences on top of existing money flow that can be quite archaic,” Subrata said. “What we have done is build a modern connectivity layer that sits on top of the payment systems on the global net core networks. And then we expose that through a modern API for other developers to innovate on top of.”
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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