DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS, BASIS OF PRESENTATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

We are a tech-forward financial services company that provides simple, personalized payment, lending and saving solutions to millions of U.S. consumers. Our payment solutions deliver growth for some of the most recognized brands in travel and entertainment, specialty apparel, health and beauty, jewelry, sporting goods, technology and electronics, as well as home and furniture through our co-brand and private label credit cards and pay-over-time products providing choice and value to our shared customers. Additionally, we offer Bread Financial general purpose credit cards and saving products that empower our customers and their passions for a better life.

We have continued to diversify our product mix with our brand partners through growth of our co-brand credit card programs, which, relative to our private label credit card programs, have higher Credit sales per account and an improved credit risk mix that generally results in higher transactor balances, lower delinquencies and late fees, as well as lower losses. We also offer our proprietary credit cards along with an expanding range of our Bread Pay products, which are our installment loans and “split-pay” offerings.

Our partner base consists of large consumer-based businesses, including well-known brands such as (alphabetically) AAA, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Caesars, Dell Technologies, Hard Rock International, the NFL, Raymour & Flanigan, Saks Fifth Avenue, Signet, Ulta and Victoria’s Secret, as well as small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Our partner base is well diversified across a broad range of industries and retail verticals, including travel and entertainment, specialty apparel, health and beauty, jewelry, sporting goods, technology and electronics, as well as home and furniture. We believe our comprehensive suite of payment, lending and saving solutions, along with our related marketing and data and analytics, allows us to offer products relevant across all customer segments (Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X and Baby Boomers). The breadth and quality of our product and service offerings, coupled with our customer-centric approach, have enabled us to establish and maintain long-standing partner relationships. We operate our business through a single reportable segment, with our primary source of revenue being from Interest and fees on loans from our various credit card and other loan products, and to a lesser extent from contractual relationships with our brand partners.

Throughout this report, unless stated or the context implies otherwise, the terms “Bread Financial,” “BFH,” the “Company,” “we,” “our” or “us” refer to Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis. References to “Parent Company” refer to Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. on a parent-only standalone basis. In addition, in this report we may refer to the retailers and other companies with whom we do business as our “partners,” “brand partners,” or “clients,” provided that the use of the term “partner,” “partnering” or any similar term does not mean or imply a formal legal partnership, and is not meant in any way to alter the terms of Bread Financial’s relationship with any third parties. We offer our credit products through our insured depository institution subsidiaries, Comenity Bank and Comenity Capital Bank, which together are referred to herein as the “Banks.”

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

These unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP), and should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 13, 2026 (the 2025 Form 10-K). If not significantly different, certain note disclosures included therein have been omitted from these unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements.

The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements included herein reflect all adjustments, which consist of normal, recurring adjustments that are, in the opinion of management, necessary to state fairly the results for the interim periods presented. The unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements also include amounts that relate to the previously disclosed discontinued operations associated with the spinoff of our former LoyaltyOne segment in 2021 and the sale of our former Epsilon segment in 2019. Such amounts have been classified within Discontinued operations and primarily relate to the after-tax impact of contractual indemnification and tax-related matters. For additional information about our previously disclosed discontinued operations please refer to Note 22, “Discontinued Operations and Bank Holding Company Financial Presentation” to the audited Consolidated Financial Statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Results of operations reported for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results for the

entire year. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses, and the disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. These accounting estimates and assumptions reflect the best judgment of management, but actual results could differ. The most significant of those estimates and assumptions relate to the Allowance for credit losses and Goodwill.

The accompanying unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of the Company and all subsidiaries in which we have a controlling financial interest. All intercompany transactions have been eliminated.

SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

There have been no material changes to our significant accounting policies as discussed in Note 1, “Description of Business, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies” included in our 2025 Form 10-K.

RECENTLY ISSUED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS






Accounting Standards Recently Adopted during 2026
Standard	Guidance	Timing and Financial Statement Impact
Debt – Debt with Conversion and Other Options: Induced Conversions of Convertible Debt Instruments Issued November, 2024	Improves the relevance and consistency in application of the induced conversion guidance for (a) convertible debt instruments with cash conversion features and (b) debt instruments that are not currently convertible.	Adopted January 1, 2026. Adoption had no impact on our financial reporting and will not have any impact in the near term as all of our Convertible Notes had been extinguished and no Convertible Notes remained outstanding as of December 31, 2025. Additionally, adoption did not have a significant impact on our operational processes, controls and governance in support of the new guidance.
Accounting Standards Recently Issued but Not Yet Adopted as of September 30, 2026
Standard	Guidance	Timing and Financial Statement Impact
Income Statement – Reporting Comprehensive Income – Expense Disaggregation Disclosures: Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses Issued November, 2024	Requires disaggregated disclosure within the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements of certain income statement expenses on the face of the Consolidated Statements of Income, and further disaggregation of certain expense captions into specified categories.	Effective beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2027, and effective for interim reporting periods beginning in 2028. Early adoption is permitted, although we do not plan to early adopt. Adoption is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial reporting, or on our operational processes, controls and governance in support of the new guidance.
Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Internal-Use Software: Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Internal-Use Software Issued September, 2025	Amends certain aspects of the accounting for and disclosure of internal-use software costs, including removing all references to prescriptive and sequential software development stages to align better with current software development methods, e.g., agile.	Effective January 1, 2028. Early adoption is permitted, although we do not plan to early adopt. Adoption is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial reporting, or on our operational processes, controls and governance in support of the new guidance.
Financial Instruments – Credit Losses: Purchased Loans Issued November, 2025	Amends the accounting for acquired loans (excluding credit cards) that meet certain criteria at acquisition (referred to as purchased seasoned loans) by recognizing them at their purchase price plus an allowance for expected credit losses (i.e., the gross-up approach).	Effective January 1, 2027. Early adoption is permitted, although we do not plan to early adopt. Adoption is not expected to have a significant impact on our financial reporting, or on our operational processes, controls and governance in support of the new guidance.