Terms and conditions effective before January 2, 2025
European Union Remittance Services Agreement - EU
v 2021.1 (September 22nd, 2021)
THIS REMITTANCE SERVICES AGREEMENT ("AGREEMENT") SETS FORTH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH SENDWAVE WILL PROVIDE SENDWAVE REMITTANCE AND RELATED SERVICES TO YOU. THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AFFECT YOUR RIGHTS AND YOU SHOULD READ THEM CAREFULLY. BY DOWNLOADING, ACCESSING AND USING THE SENDWAVE APPLICATION, YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT.
The Services are provided in the EU by Sendwave SA, a payment institution licensed and regulated by the National Bank of Belgium, boulevard de Berlaimont, 14, 1000 Brussels, Belgium (the “NBB”). The NBB can be contacted on +32 2 221 21 11 or at info@nbb.be.
1. Definitions in this Agreement
"You" and "your" refer to the person who downloads the Application and uses the Service.
"Sendwave", "we", "us" and "our" refer to Sendwave SA, a Belgian company registered at Place Marcel Broodthaers 8, 1060 Saint-Gilles, Brussels, Belgium, with company registration number BE 0733.531.321, licensed as a payments institution, which provides the Service under the trade names Sendwave and Wave. Sendwave SA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WorldRemit Corp a Delaware (USA) corporation licensed to provide payment and money transfer services in the United States (“Chime”). Chime and several of its subsidiaries may assist Sendwave in its provision of the Service to you.
"Application" or "app" means the technology made available by Sendwave to you on your mobile phone or other electronic device by which you may access and use the Service.
"Beneficiary" means the person to whom you send money.
"E-Wallet" means the stored value account into which your Remittance may be paid to your Beneficiary, generally accessible on your Beneficiary's mobile phone.
"Payment Account" means the credit, debit or prepaid card account or bank account (or such other source of funds that Sendwave agrees to accept from time to time for use hereunder and that you authorize Sendwave to charge) that you provide to Sendwave for Sendwave to charge for payment for your use of the Application. The Payment Account must be issued or held in your name at a financial institution acceptable to Sendwave.
"Remittance" means the transfer of funds that you request and authorize Sendwave to process through the Application for payment to your Beneficiary.
"Service" means the transfer of funds from you to your Beneficiary through the Application, and activities related to that transfer.
2. Scope of Agreement
This Agreement applies to all of the Remittances that you request through the Application.
3. Registration Information
3.1 In order to use the Application, you must be at least 18 years old, be a resident of a member state of the European Union or another origination country approved by Sendwave, have a Payment Account in your name, and be registered with Sendwave. In order to register, you must download the Application and provide Sendwave with information about yourself, such as your name, address, date and place of birth, telephone number, email address and other information or documentation, including a photo of your government-issued identification document, that will allow us to verify your identity. The home address that you provide when registering must be the same as the billing address for your Payment Account. You agree to provide complete and accurate information and/or documentation in connection with the registration process. You further agree to update this information as may be reasonable or necessary to keep it complete and accurate at all times.
3.2 Your use of the Application is subject to our ability to verify your identity. You authorize Sendwave to obtain information about you from third parties (including financial institutions, credit reporting agencies and your telephone service provider), although Sendwave has no obligation to do so. If you do not provide accurate and complete information during registration or when requesting a Remittance, we have the right to prohibit you from using the Service or the Application or to stop your requested Remittance. Inaccurate and/or incomplete information provided by you during registration or when requesting a Remittance may cause errors in your requested Remittance or may delay or restrict your access to the Application or the Service.
3.3 Each time you access the Application, you are confirming the accuracy and completeness of all of your registration information to us.
3.4 Your registration is personal to you. You should not allow your registration details to be used by anyone else. Registration with Sendwave allows your Payment Account to be accessed through the Application. If you lose your phone or believe your access to the Application has been compromised, you should contact Sendwave immediately at help@sendwave.com to change your password or disable your access to the Application.
3.5 When you register on the Application you can choose your language (English or a number of other languages). This will be the language in which we will communicate with you during the duration of our contractual relationship and also the applicable language of this Agreement.
4. Description of the Service
4.1 You may use the Application only to send a Remittance to a Beneficiary located in a country where Sendwave provides a payment service, as designated on the Application from time to time. Sendwave and Sendwave-designated service providers will process the Remittance and make funds available for receipt by the Beneficiary as described below.
4.2 Your use of the Application or the Service does not constitute or create a fiduciary or escrow capacity between you and Sendwave. Sendwave provides a remittance service only; the funds that you direct Sendwave to pay to your Beneficiary are not held by Sendwave as a deposit or in escrow, and Sendwave is not holding or processing your Remittance as a fiduciary. Sendwave's only obligation is to pay your Remittance to your Beneficiary or to return the Remittance to you.
4.3 The Service is generally available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, although there may be times when the Service is unavailable to you or to your Beneficiary. Periods of unavailability may be caused by Sendwave's own acts (such as temporary periods when the Service is taken off-line to make upgrades or improvements), or by events beyond Sendwave's control, such as power outages, telecommunications failures, war or civil unrest, natural disasters or other acts of God. Sendwave may from time to time set limits on the value of Remittances you may send (both individually and over a period of time), as well as the value of Remittances any Beneficiary may receive. Sendwave may delay payment of your Remittance to allow Sendwave to determine that your Remittance complies with applicable law, regulation or Sendwave policies. Sendwave has the right, without notice to you, to refuse to accept or pay any Remittance that Sendwave determines in our sole discretion may violate applicable law, regulation or our policies, including laws, regulations and policies intended to help detect and prevent money-laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, and other abuses of financial services; if we accept a Remittance and then determine that it may violate any such law, regulation or policy, we may hold the Remittance until such time that the matter is resolved.
4.4 You must only use the Service to send a Remittance to people that you know personally, and not to pay for goods or services from third parties you do not know and trust. If you choose to pay third parties for goods and services using the Service, please note that Sendwave has no control over, and is not responsible for, the quality, safety, legality, or delivery of such third party goods or services, and that any such use of the Service is entirely at your own risk.
5. Authority to Charge Payment Account; Fees and Expenses
5.1 In order to use the Service, you must use the Application to direct Sendwave to withdraw the principal value of the Remittance from your Payment Account, plus any applicable fees and charges; by requesting a Remittance, you authorize Sendwave to charge your Payment Account for the principal amount of the requested Remittance and applicable fees and charges, if any. You acknowledge that Sendwave has no obligation to process or complete a requested Remittance if Sendwave is unable for any reason to obtain authorization or settlement of the funds from your Payment Account for the principal amount of the requested Remittance and all applicable fees and charges. When you request a Remittance, Sendwave obtains an authorization to charge your Payment Account. Sendwave then pays your Beneficiary. After your Beneficiary has been paid, Sendwave charges your Payment Account. By processing payments for Remittances in this way, there is no risk of loss to you. This Remittance payment process is subject to change at the sole discretion of Sendwave (for Remittances initiated after we have amended this section of this Agreement accordingly and properly notified it).
5.2 Sendwave will disclose its fees and charges for providing the Service to you before you initiate a Remittance. Sendwave's fees and charges may change from time to time and may depend, among other factors, on the principal amount of your Remittance, your type of Payment Account, your location, and the location of your Beneficiary. In addition to the fees and charges, Sendwave will also show you the foreign exchange rate (that is, the rate at which your funds will be converted into the currency to be paid to your Beneficiary) applicable to your Remittance before you send it. Sendwave's foreign exchange rates change from time to time. In addition to the fees and charges you pay when sending a Remittance, Sendwave makes money when we convert the currency you send into the currency we pay to your Beneficiary.
5.3 If the charge to your Payment Account is returned, charged back or canceled for any reason after Sendwave has processed your Remittance request, you will be responsible to Sendwave for the principal amount of the Remittance and all associated fees and charges. You agree to pay such amounts, plus an additional service fee and/or a non- sufficient funds (NSF) fee of EUR 20, to Sendwave immediately upon demand. You authorize us to debit your Payment Account for the amount of any of the foregoing amounts. When you send a Remittance, your bank or other financial institution where you maintain your Payment Account may charge you one or more fees (including a cash advance fee). You should review your Payment Account agreement regarding such potential fees.
5.4 Although Sendwave will pay the full principal amount of your Remittance to your Beneficiary in the currency Sendwave specifies to you when you initiate your Remittance, your Beneficiary may incur costs, fees or charges from their bank, mobile phone company, E-Wallet issuer or other parties to maintain or withdraw the funds. Sendwave does not set, control or receive any portion of such costs, fees or charges. Furthermore, your Beneficiary's ability to use or withdraw the funds you send may be limited by the terms of your Beneficiary's E-Wallet issuer.
6. Reliance by Sendwave
Use care when inputting information about your Beneficiary; spell your Beneficiary’s name correctly and provide it in full, and verify that you have provided us with the Beneficiary’s correct phone number. You represent and warrant to us that all information you enter into the Application or otherwise provide to Sendwave is true and complete, including information about you, your Payment Account, and your Beneficiary. When processing a Remittance, Sendwave may rely on the registration information and Remittance information that you provide, including information about your Beneficiary. You acknowledge that any errors in the information you provide, including misidentification of your Beneficiary, incorrect or inconsistent account names and numbers, or misspellings, are your responsibility.
7. Execution of a Remittance
The Application is generally available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In most cases, your Beneficiary is paid without delay through the Application; accordingly, once you originate a Remittance, you may be unable to stop or to change it.
While most transactions are paid or made available to your Beneficiary within minutes, if Sendwave becomes aware that delivery to your Beneficiary is delayed, Sendwave will use its reasonable endeavours to contact you as soon as practicable and keep you informed about the delay.
8. Payment of Funds to Beneficiary
8.1 Sendwave and/or our designated agents or service providers will arrange for the payment of the Remittance to your Beneficiary. Sendwave reserves the right to select the form of payment to the Beneficiary. We and our agents and service providers will use reasonable efforts to provide payment in a form requested, but Sendwave is not obligated to provide payment options for a specific Remittance. Depending on the situation and the availability of various payment options, payment may be made by means of a credit to a mobile wallet, currency (cash), by check, by stored value card, credit to a bank account or credit card account or by some other payment instrument. Not all payment methods are available in all countries, and Sendwave reserves the right to change payment methods. If a Beneficiary cannot be located and identified, the Remittance may be returned to you either by a credit to your Payment Account or by check, at Sendwave's option.
8.2 Sendwave reserves the right to establish identification and verification requirements for a Beneficiary to receive a Remittance. Sendwave may rely, without further investigation, upon identification information or documentation provided by you or a Beneficiary, including any code or identifier number of the Remittance, when paying the Beneficiary. Sendwave has the right to decline to pay the Beneficiary if Sendwave cannot verify the identity of the Beneficiary or if Sendwave believes that you or your Beneficiary may be in violation of this Agreement or any applicable law, regulation or Sendwave policy. Although Sendwave has the right to establish identification and verification requirements, and the Beneficiary's failure to comply with them is a basis for declining payment of the Remittance, Sendwave has no obligation to establish any such requirements.
9. Foreign Exchange
9.1 Payments to Beneficiaries are generally made in the currency of the Beneficiary's country. If permitted by applicable law and the Application, you may request your Remittance to be paid in another currency approved and made available by Sendwave from time to time.
9.2 If a currency conversion is required, Sendwave and/or Sendwave-designated service providers will convert the currency in which you initiate your Remittance into the local currency at the Sendwave exchange rate for your Remittance in effect at the time you initiate your Remittance. Sendwave will disclose the exchange rate to you before you authorize the Remittance. Sendwave's exchange rates vary from time to time, and may differ depending on the principal value of your Remittance and other factors. In addition to the fees and charges applicable to your Remittance, Sendwave makes money when your currency is converted into the currency in which your Remittance is paid.
10. Permissible Remittance Payments
The Application is not intended for use by any person in any jurisdiction or country where such use would be contrary to law or regulation. Specifically and without limitation, you may not use the Service for any Remittance (a) induced by or involving the proceeds of crime, fraud or other improper activity; (b) exceeding Sendwave's transaction limits (whether in amount, frequency or otherwise); (c) sent for the purpose of gambling, including placing bets or paying winnings; (d) intended to be used as an escrow or similar capacity for delayed payment; (e) which Sendwave determines is suspicious or may violate applicable law or regulation, including laws intended to detect and prevent money- laundering, terrorist financing, human trafficking, fraud, or to enforce currency or exchange rate controls. You agree that you will only request a Remittance that complies with this Agreement, applicable origination country laws and applicable laws in the country of the Beneficiary. You may only use the Application to send Remittances on your own behalf. You may not resell the Application or use the Application to make Remittances on behalf of, or as agent for, another person. You will provide information and/or documentation that Sendwave may request from time to time in order for Sendwave to comply with any applicable laws, including anti-money laundering laws. Sendwave may refuse payment of any Remittance which Sendwave determines in its sole discretion does not comply with applicable law, Sendwave policy or the terms of this Agreement.
11. Right of Refund; Rejection of Remittance Request
11.1 Sendwave has the right to reject your request for a Remittance, or to decline to complete a request for a Remittance, or to impose a value or frequency limitation on your use of the Service, without cause or prior notice to you. Without limiting the foregoing, Sendwave may suspend, delay or reject your Remittance request if:
1. the value of one or more of your Remittance requests exceed any limits established by Sendwave; 2. Sendwave is unable to charge your Payment Account for the principal amount of the Remittance and related fees and charges; 3. your Remittance request is incomplete or unclear; 4. Sendwave is unable to confirm your identity or verify any registration or Beneficiary information, including the identity of the Beneficiary; 5. Sendwave suspects fraud, irregularity or illegality; 6. your name or the name of your Beneficiary is a possible match to a name on one or more applicable "watch lists" maintained by governments, inter-governmental groups or Sendwave to help detect and prevent illegal activity; 7. Sendwave and/or Sendwave-designated service providers are unable to fulfill your request for any reason.
11.2 If your request for a Remittance is declined for any reason, Sendwave will notify you promptly, by an SMS / text message or electronic mail, or by any other reasonable means of notice.
11.3 Generally, if your request for a Remittance is declined or rejected, Sendwave will refund the principal amount of your Remittance and any associated fees you may have paid, to your Payment Account, if those funds have already been withdrawn. There may be circumstances, however, where the law requires Sendwave to hold your Remittance or to pay it to another party (including a government agency). If that happens, Sendwave will inform you, if we are permitted to do so by applicable law.
12. Limitation of Liability
Sendwave is not responsible for any delay, failure to execute, or an error in the execution of your Remittance request due to circumstances beyond Sendwave's reasonable control, whether caused by strikes, power failures, equipment malfunctions, war, riots, governmental or court orders, work stoppages or similar occurrences or circumstances, or incorrect or incomplete information provided by you. You further agree that Sendwave may refuse to process or delay processing any request if it would violate any guideline, rule, policy or regulation of any government authority or funds transfer system.
Under no circumstances, except its own fraud or gross negligence, will Sendwave be liable for damages, whether caused by the negligence of Sendwave's employees, contractors, agents or others, beyond the sum of ONE THOUSAND EUROPEAN UNION EUROS (EUR 1,000), in addition to refunding the principal amount of the Remittance and any fees and costs you may have paid to Sendwave to send it. You may also be entitled to your attorneys’ fees and the costs of pursuing the dispute.
Notwithstanding the prior paragraph, you may contact Sendwave before you send your Remittance to request our written agreement to a higher limit on liability for a Remittance, which we may provide at our sole and absolute discretion. Sendwave may charge you for any such higher limit on liability.
Under no circumstances will Sendwave be liable for any incidental, indirect, special, punitive or consequential damages or the like.
THE APPLICATION AND SERVICE ARE PROVIDED TO YOU ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. SENDWAVE MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WITH RESPECT TO THE APPLICATION OR THE SERVICE. SENDWAVE DOES NOT WARRANT THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE APPLICATION OR THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION RELATED THERETO AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS LIABILITY FOR NON- FUNCTIONALITY OF THE APPLICATION AND THE SERVICE, OR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY INFORMATION. NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, IMPLIED, EXPRESSED OR STATUTORY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND FREEDOM FROM COMPUTER VIRUS, IS GIVEN IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE APPLICATION OR THE SERVICE.
13. Error Resolution; Refund and Cancellation Policy
For error resolution, transaction cancellation, questions, complaints or a written explanation of your rights, contact us at help@sendwave.com.
Because Sendwave credits Remittances to Beneficiaries immediately, your Remittance is typically not cancellable or refundable. If you believe that you sent a Remittance in error, you must contact us within thirty (30) minutes after you initiated it at help@sendwave.com or by calling the phone number listed on https://www.sendwave.com/contact, and we will attempt to recall it. If your Remittance has not yet been credited to your Beneficiary’s account, we will refund it to you (including all fees, if any) within three (3) business days. However, if the Remittance has already been credited to your Beneficiary's account, we will make reasonable efforts to reverse or retrieve it, but we may be unable to do so.
If you notify us that the account number, telephone number, Beneficiary name or other information that you provided to us when you initiated your Remittance was incorrect, we will promptly use reasonable efforts to recover the amount of your Remittance, but we may be unable to do so if your Remittance has already been paid or credited in accordance with the information you provided.
You have a right to dispute errors in your transaction. There is no charge for this service. If you think there is an error, you must contact us immediately at help@sendwave.com, and in any case within 13 months after the execution of the transaction, and provide your name, contact information, the Beneficiary's name, the date of your transfer, as well as the reason you believe there has been an error. Sendwave will investigate and determine whether an error occurred, and we will promptly reply to you within 15 business days of receipt of your complaint; or, in exceptional circumstances, we will send you a holding reply within 15 business days specifying the deadline by which you will receive our final response, being no later than 35 business days from the date of your initial complaint. We will inform you of the results of the investigation within three (3) business days after the investigation is completed. You may request copies of any documents we used in our investigation. If Sendwave was at fault, we will refund the total amount your paid, including fees, if any.
If Sendwave has charged your Payment Account for a Remittance which you did not authorize, we will refund the amount of the Remittance – save to the extent you are liable under article 15 of this Agreement – promptly and at the latest by the end of the business day following the day on which we were notified of or otherwise became aware of the unauthorized Remittance. However, in case there are reasonable indications of a fraudulent activity by you, our obligation to refund will be suspended, pending further investigation, and such investigation will be undertaken promptly.
Sendwave will pay all refunds (whether resulting from a canceled or disputed remittance) either by a credit to your Payment Account or by check, at Sendwave's option. Alternatively, you can choose to have Sendwave process the remittance again for no additional charge. However, if Sendwave has not charged your payment account, but an authorization hold for the amount to be charged by Sendwave has been placed on the funds at your bank, Sendwave will cancel the transaction and request that the authorization hold at your bank is released. This process can take several days; that timing depends on the relationship between your bank and our payment processor, over which we have no control. Except for our obligation to investigate and refund described above, Sendwave is not liable to you for any loss resulting from Sendwave's inability to cancel or refund a Remittance.
14. Your liability
You will be liable up to the maximum amount of EUR 50 for losses that result from unauthorized Remittances resulting from the misappropriation or the use of your lost or stolen mobile phone (or other electronic device by which you access and use the Service) and/or password. Your liability will however not be limited if you acted with fraudulent intent or contributed to the misuse of your mobile phone and/or password intentionally or through grossly negligent conduct. Gross negligence in particular includes but is not limited to cases in which you do not promptly notify us about a misuse, loss or theft of your mobile phone and/or password or if you do not keep them safe or disclose them to third parties. Unless you acted with fraudulent intent, you are not liable for losses resulting from an unauthorized use of your mobile phone and/or password that arise after you notified us that they were misused, lost or stolen; or if we didn’t ensure that you could make such a notification; or if it was not possible for you to detect such loss, theft or misuse.
15. Dispute Resolution
Sendwave is committed to resolving all concerns, disputes and disagreements with you promptly and fairly. If we are unable to resolve your concern, dispute or disagreement through our error and dispute resolution policies and procedures outlined above, you can initiate an out of court settlement procedure by contacting the ombudsman in financial services: Ombudsfin, North Gate II, Boulevard du Roi Albert II, n° 8, bte 2, 1000 Brussels, Belgium; e-mail: ombudsman@ombudsfin.be; tel: +32 2 545 77 70; or complete an online form on its website www.ombudsfin.be. You can also lodge a complaint in another EU country with an alternative dispute resolution organisation which is part of FIN-NET. Your right to pursue other legal remedies is not affected by initiating such an out of court settlement procedure.
You can bring legal proceedings in respect of claims or disputes arising from or related to this Agreement in either the courts of Belgium or the courts of your habitual residence in the European Union.
If both parties agree, you may also submit the matter to binding arbitration pursuant to the Belgian Law of Arbitration. In that case, there shall be three arbitrators, one chosen by Sendwave, one chosen by you, and the third chosen by the first two arbitrators. The place of the arbitration shall be Brussels, and the language of the arbitration shall be French. The decision of the arbitrators shall be final and binding between the parties, and may be registered as a judgement in any court of competent jurisdiction.
16. Written and Electronic Communications
If you would like a paper copy of this Agreement and are unable to print it, you may contact us at help@sendwave.com and we will send you one. However, in order to use the Application, you consent to receive and accept this Agreement, any amendment to this Agreement, and all notices relating to the Application and Service by means of electronic (SMS-text message or email) communications. If any change to this Agreement requires prior notice to you, Sendwave will notify you by SMS-text message or email, at the telephone number or email address that you provided when registering for the Application, or Sendwave will provide you with a link in such SMS-text message or email to where you may view the revised or amended Agreement. Sendwave will make available to you a record of each of your Remittances electronically on the Application. In order to use the Application, you must have an Android device, iPhone or any other device approved by Sendwave. You agree that if you remove your consent to receive electronic communications, Sendwave may terminate your use of the Application and Service.
17. General Terms
This Agreement, along with all the material incorporated into it by reference, constitutes the entire understanding between you and Sendwave concerning the Application and the Service. It supersedes all prior agreements, and may not be modified orally. Sendwave may modify, supplement, alter and amend this Agreement at any time, and you will be deemed to have agreed to any such changes if you continue to use the Application after you have been notified of any such changes. We may assign this Agreement or delegate our obligations under it, in whole or in part, without notice to you and without your consent. If any portion of this Agreement is determined to be invalid, the remaining provisions will nevertheless be enforceable.
18. Governing Law
This Agreement and all rights and obligations under it are governed by the laws of Belgium, without regard to its “conflicts of laws” rules that might require the application of the law of another jurisdiction. However, if you are a resident of another member state of the European Union, you may have other or different rights.
19. Privacy Policy
Our Privacy Policy describes the way Sendwave obtains, uses, stores, manages and disposes of certain information that you, as a user of our services, provide to us. You have certain rights to know what information we collect, how we use it, and how you may obtain and correct it. You consent that you have received and read the Privacy Policy, which may be found at the following link: https://www.sendwave.com/privacy.html. Sendwave's privacy policy may change in the future. If that happens, the revised version will be posted on our website, https://www.sendwave.com/privacy.html, and will be sent to current users via the email addresses associated with their Sendwave App registrations.