Different sections of the society, classified according to factors like age and nationality, have varying needs for banking and managing finances. Today, we can see a number of banking apps meant to serve a particular population cohort. A similar platform – Charlie the banking app aims to solve financial problems of retirement for individuals above 62 years of age.
The objective of the startup is to prioritize retired senior citizens and help them with managing the resources they own or the money they have earned throughout their lives. Also, individual retiring in the near future can also avail their services and plan accordingly.
The CEO, Kevin Nazemi, launched Charlie officially on May 9 2023, with a funding round of $7.5 millions, led by Better Tomorrow Ventures.
Excited to be partnering with Kevin Nazemi and https://t.co/yykD8q1QTQ, alongside the @expa team, @ay_o, and @gokulr🚀🚀🚀 https://t.co/mFUW83lmc2
— Jake (@iamjakestream) May 9, 2023
Some of the features of Charlie that make it quite unique are:
- Quick and timely access to Social Security payments, with a facility to withdraw such benefits early up to four weeks,
- U.S.-based customer service,
- Competitive earnings on deposits at 3% rate,
- Absence of monthly fees or any minimum requirement,
- Advanced fraud protection,
- Savings up to $250,000 insured by FDIC,
- First card is free for all.
Charlie offers these services, without charging anything, with the help of its banking partner, Sutton Bank. Some fees might be charged for out-of-network ATM withdrawals and balance inquiries, card replacements and international transactions.
Charlie helps retired persons with their financial distress, related to spending accumulated money wisely. As the older generation is not adapted to modern technology, they face difficulties while availing online banking services. However, the pandemic has forced even these people to manage their wealth from their home – and that is where Charlie comes into play. It makes sure that the lifelong earnings are not depleted and can be used till the time these people are alive.
Thus, it can be rightly said that Charlie the banking app aims to solve financial problems of retirement. Nazemi, who already has the experience of leading healthcare technology platforms as a co-founder, launched this app keeping in mind the poor situation faced by the older generation, and the people who suffer from visual and physical ailments.
He feels that Charlie can give competition to other corporate and community banks, that do not have any facility for serving the retired community.
In future, the startup plans to introduce Home Pension feature, using which the social security check can be boosted using a part of the home equity. Moreover, some fraud-checking tools will be introduced for monitoring and tracking fraud before it occurs.
