NinjaLender:
Loan Marketplace.

01 // The Brief

Second-Chance
Financing.

NinjaLender identified a structural inefficiency: 87% of loan applications are rejected and discarded, yet roughly 20% of those borrowers are still creditworthy — just not for the institution they originally applied to. The platform needed a public-facing site that could translate this complex B2B proposition clearly to banks, credit unions, and alternative lenders across four international markets.

02 // The Theme

Built
From Scratch.

The entire theme was hand-written – no marketplace starter, no Elementor, no FSE block theme. Each template file, each page section, and each interaction was purpose-built to serve one audience: institutional decision-makers who need hard process clarity before committing to a platform integration. Every design decision serves a single conversion goal: Request a Demo.

03 // The Block System

ACF Blocks,
Not Builder.

Rather than a visual page builder, the theme is architected around a custom ACF block library registered entirely in PHP. Each block has a dedicated render template, a field group defined in code via acf_add_local_field_group(), and outputs clean BEM-structured markup. The client edits blocks in the Block Editor with a live preview — the developer retains full control of the DOM output.

04 // The ACF Architecture

Custom Block
Library.

Every section of the site uses a distinct, pre-styled ACF block. This eliminates the need for manual design tweaks, enabling you to build versatile layouts quickly and keep your focus entirely on the content.

• → Loan Type Cards — A custom block renders each lending category (mortgage, business, auto, payday, education, leasing, factoring, and 13 more) with an SVG icon field, short description, and a URL field. Inside the block template, a PHP loop over an ACF repeater field generates the full grid — editors add new loan types in the admin panel without touching a template file.
• → Animated How-It-Works Block — A step-by-step block drives the core value proposition. Each step has a label, heading, and icon registered as an ACF image field. GSAP ScrollTrigger picks up the block on page load and animates each step into view with staggered fade-and-slide transitions as the user scrolls.
• → Stats Counter Block — An ACF repeater of metric pairs (value + label) renders the key platform numbers. On scroll-entry, CountUp.js animates each figure from zero to its target value — reinforcing the data-driven messaging without any WordPress plugin dependency.
• → Demo CTA Block — A reusable block with headline, subline, and button fields appears at every conversion point: mid-page after the features section, post-statistics, and in the footer. A single block definition with PHP field defaults injected per placement via the block context argument.

05 // The Frontend Stack

GSAP + REST
API Layer.

With a technically literate B2B audience, the frontend had to earn trust visually and informationally — smooth animations to communicate a technical process, live API documentation to lower integration friction, and multi-language routing for four country markets without the overhead of a multisite install.

• → GSAP Data-Flow Animation — The core product diagram shows a loan application routing through the NinjaLender node and fanning out to alternative lenders. Implemented as a GSAP timeline with scrub:true — the animation is controlled by scroll position, giving users frame-perfect control over the pacing as they read. Each arrow, node, and label is a separate SVG element driven by a timeline sequence.
• → API Documentation Template — Partner institutions assess integration complexity before booking a demo. A custom page template pulls endpoint data from a structured ACF field group (method, path, parameters repeater, example response) and renders it as styled collapsible cards — no third-party doc tool, no iframe embed.
• → Multi-Market Content Routing — Four markets (Poland, Latvia, Ukraine, Croatia) each need local phone numbers, legal entity names, and compliance copy. A custom WP options page stores per-market data as an ACF field group. A helper function reads the current URL language prefix and resolves the correct values — avoiding multisite complexity while keeping all content editable in the admin.