Providing consumers with credit for big-ticket retail purchases from online merchants is the business of U.S.-based Bread, a start–up that recently received $126 million in Series B equity funding and capital financing. Bread competes against companies that issue private label credit cards (Synchrony, Citi, and Alliance Data) as well as against those offering alternative credit (PayPal, Klarna, Affirm, and FuturePay). Unlike its competitors, Bread does not wait until checkout to present credit options. Instead, options including 0% financing, short-term installments, and long-term install...