Modern Bank Number26 Adds Old-School Overdraft Protection

Number26, an alternative finance mobile banking app, which allows its users to track and control spending with its interactive interface, is introducing old-school overdraft protection to its otherwise modern banking solution.

The two-year-old, Berlin-based company, which works in partnership with MasterCard, works by providing its users a MasterCard associated with a Number26 account. Upon use, the app works by helping its users save money through its features, such as alert notifications, disable online payments, etc., TechCrunch reported.

And now with its latest feature, its 70,000+ German and Austrian users will be able to avoid overdraft fees. Starting early next month, the app will provide an overdraft feature for its users, which will allow them to set overdraft levels and turn them on and off, thereby removing the element of surprise from their banking statement. The company has reportedly partnered with Wirecard Bank to offer its overdraft feature.

A lot of the functionalities the app provides are derived from analyzing users’ spending patterns, available credit and pending payments, which allows it to provide offerings such as giving information on due interests, according to TechCrunch.

While the company is currently only offering services in the two European countries, it is seeing rapid growth with a widening base of users who are not sticklers for traditional banking systems.

In April this year, the company raised about $10.7 million in its Series A funding from Peter Thiel’s VC fund, Valar Ventures, which also has an investment in TransferWise.