A couple of weeks after rebranding, Bread Financial launched a feeless, unlimited 2% Cashback Amex Express credit card.
Valerie Greer, EVP Chief Commercial Officer, said the new product, Bread’s most significant partnership, is a part of a years-long transformation toward simple, transparent consumer-focused financial products.
“We’re excited about our flagship product as we start to lean much heavier into the direct-to-consumer business,” Greer said. “We’ve predominantly gone to market through partnerships, and this is our first that we’re bringing directly to consumers. It promotes the vision and the brand promise we have: simple, transparent terms, and easy-to-use products.”
Greer said the card has great value for customers across a broad spectrum of credit health with 2% cashback on everything and no minimum, no reward caps, annual fee, or foreign exchange fee.
She did not specify the exactTransUnion or Fico score range. She said it also comes with American Express benefits, like lounge buddy granting passes to 340 airport lounges worldwide, travel insurance for car rentals, retail insurance, and emergency assistance.
The stats support it
The release coincided with a study Bread had conducted on 2,000+ Gen Z and Millennial customers that affirmed the targets the firm had already aimed for: the cash flow-focused audience wanted cashback.
“This was just to inform our overall understanding of where consumers’ minds were at where they were thinking to lean in from a spend perspective in the near term,” Greer said. “Millennials and Gen Z, they’re very focused around budget cashflow, wanting to make sure they can handle their purchases in a responsible way. Being able to offer this part in a responsible way allowing them to move into credit in a way that manages that budget flow, was important to us.”
The study, a Spring/Summer spending survey in partnership with Lucid holdings, found that younger generations loved transparency and access; for Gen Z, it’s not just the utility of the product but also the ability to use the rewards when and where they wanted to,” Greer said.
“We have cards in more than one in seven adult wallets,” she said. “That gives us a lot of information in data around what customers are looking for and how to use that data to open up credit access to people who might be early in their credit journey.”
Greer said that the Amex, in the particular card, joins those other offers alongside private label programs, like pay installment and consumer side lending. Bread aims to empower and democratize financial access through products like Bread Pay BNPL loans and Bread Savings.
‘A multi-year transformational effort’
“We’ve gotten through a multi-year transformational effort,” Greer said. “Over the last two years, we’ve simplified and streamlined our business model.”
She explained the Bread roadmap, from selling off the LoyaltyOne Airline rewards brand to driving toward a focused tech-driven financial services company. The combination of investments in data, analytics, and techs like AI and ML all broadened the Bread product suite.
“That all culminated last week when we changed our ticker symbol from ADS to BFH bread financial holding,” she said. Will Stredwick, SVP and GM Global Network Services at Amex, said the partnership brings Amex features to more people.
“We’re excited to be partnering with Bread Financial to offer their customers a new leading cashback product backed by the American Express Network with compelling value, rewards, and services,” Stredwick said.
“This partnership expands and extends the backing of the American Express network to more people, providing important card protections, offers, and access they expect from American Express.”
