Turn unit economics into board-ready forecasts. Model CAC, LTV, churn, APR, interchange and fraud losses to plan budgets with confidence.
Why it matters
Benefits
Combine CAC with interchange, net interest margin, subscription revenue, charge-offs, recoveries, fraud losses and dispute costs to calculate contribution margin per account and payback period.
Stress-test approval rate, pricing/APR, funding cost, delinquency curves and churn to quantify how risk policy changes affect revenue, losses and required budget.
Plan burn and runway while accounting for reserve requirements, loss provisioning, and cash timing – useful for monthly close, board updates and fundraising narratives.
Compare paid search, affiliates, card partnerships, app install campaigns and referrals using cohort-based retention, activation and monetization – preventing “growth at any cost” decisions.
Use cases
Challenge
A neobank wants to scale card acquisition but interchange is sensitive to active rate, average ticket size and dispute volume. Leadership needs to know how much budget to deploy without hurting contribution margin.
Solution
The ROI Calculator & Budget Planner models cohorts by activation rate, monthly active cardholders, interchange yield, rewards cost, disputes and support cost – producing payback period, margin per active user and a budget cap by channel.
Challenge
A lender is deciding between tighter underwriting (lower losses, slower growth) and broader approvals (higher volume, higher charge-offs). Finance needs a clear view of portfolio ROI and cash impact.
Solution
Plan scenarios with approval rate, APR, term, funding cost, delinquency and charge-off curves, plus recovery timing – generating net yield, loss-adjusted LTV, and how much marketing budget can be supported per funded loan.
Challenge
A B2B payments Fintech has long sales cycles and variable take rates. The team struggles to justify SDR headcount, partner commissions and implementation costs against revenue timing.
Solution
Use the planner to model pipeline conversion, cycle length, take rate, processing volume ramp, implementation costs and churn – outputting ROI by segment, break-even month and quarterly budget by GTM motion.
More industries
FAQ
Fintech ROI must include risk, revenue timing and compliance operations. A Fintech-specific planner models interchange and rewards, APR and funding costs, delinquency and charge-offs, fraud and disputes, KYC/AML costs, and cohort churn. This produces loss-adjusted LTV, contribution margin and payback period – not just revenue minus ad spend.
Common validation metrics include LTV:CAC, payback period, activation rate, monthly active rate, churn, net revenue per user/account, take rate, gross margin, fraud loss rate, dispute rate, charge-off rate, recovery rate, cost-to-serve, and funding cost. For lenders, add delinquency buckets and net yield; for payments, add volume ramp and interchange or fee yield by segment.
Yes. Scenario outputs like runway, burn multiple, cohort contribution margin, payback period and sensitivity to loss rates help create a defensible growth plan. You can show how budget changes affect profitability and risk – and present downside, base and upside cases with clear assumptions.
Treat them as variable costs tied to volume and user cohorts. Model fraud losses and chargebacks as a percentage of processed volume or transactions, include dispute handling and support cost per case, and add KYC/AML costs per onboarding and per ongoing monitoring. The result is a more accurate contribution margin and a safer budget ceiling.
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