Effective Date: March 1, 2025 | Last Updated: March 2025
Waari LLC ("Waari," "we," "us," or "our") is a financial technology company incorporated in Louisiana, USA. We operate a digital platform at waari.app that enables international money transfers, domestic person-to-person transfers, community savings (Waari Pari), airtime top-ups, and bill payments for the African diaspora and their families.
Waari is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). We process payments in partnership with Stripe, Inc. (a licensed money transmitter in all 50 US states) and deliver funds via Pawapay Ltd. to mobile money networks across West Africa and beyond.
Contact us at: hello@waari.app or support@waari.app
To use Waari, you must:
Before sending your first transfer, you must complete identity verification through our partner Persona. This requires a government-issued photo ID, selfie liveness check, and the last 4 digits of your Social Security Number.
We support delivery to: Mali (Orange Money), Senegal (Orange Money, Wave), Côte d'Ivoire (Orange Money, MTN MoMo, Moov), Ghana (MTN MoMo, Vodafone Cash, AirtelTigo), Nigeria (MTN MoMo, Airtel), Kenya (M-Pesa), and agent cash pickup locations in West Africa.
Waari enables users to send money to other Waari account holders within the United States instantly via our internal wallet system.
Waari Pari is a digital rotating savings platform (tontine) that allows groups of 2–20 trusted members to pool contributions and take turns receiving the full pot. We support US members paying via ACH or card and African members contributing via Orange Money, Wave, MTN MoMo, or USSD. A coordination fee of 0.5% of each pot is deducted at payout.
Goal-based community collections (collectes) for funeral funds, community projects, or family emergencies. Standard transfer fee applies to the final payout.
Mobile airtime top-ups (3–5% margin) and bill payments ($1.99–$2.99 flat fee) for recipients in supported countries.
The exact fee is always displayed before you confirm any transaction.
Waari displays a competitive rate based on the mid-market rate with a small margin (typically 0.5% or less). You always see the exact recipient amount before confirming. Rate is locked for 15 minutes.
ACH payments use Plaid to verify bank account ownership. By selecting ACH, you authorize Plaid to authenticate your account, verify ownership, and assess risk. Your bank credentials are never stored by Waari. The Plaid consent record constitutes proof of your authorization.
Completed transfers that have been delivered cannot be reversed. Refunds are available for transfers in Processing status (within 30 minutes), Failed transfers (3–5 business days), and Pending cash pickup after 30 days. Email support@waari.app with your transfer reference number.
You may not use Waari to send funds to sanctioned individuals, launder money, finance terrorism or criminal activity, circumvent currency controls or tax reporting, conduct structured transactions to evade reporting thresholds, or use false identity information.
Waari maintains a full AML compliance program including KYC verification, OFAC and global sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) filing, Currency Transaction Report (CTR) filing for transactions over $10,000, and five-year recordkeeping as required by the Bank Secrecy Act.
Waari Pari is a technology platform, not a bank or financial guarantor. Waari does not guarantee that all group members will make their contributions. The Group Admin is responsible for inviting trusted members, setting group rules, and resolving disputes. Members who miss 2 contributions in any 12-month period may be removed from the group and barred from joining new groups for 90 days.
Waari uses Plaid bank verification, Stripe Radar fraud detection, SMS two-factor authentication (required for every transfer), Comply Advantage sanctions screening, velocity limits, 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption, and encryption at rest. The Plaid consent record — including login timestamp, device fingerprint, IP address, and account ownership confirmation — constitutes legally binding proof of your transaction authorization.
Contact support@waari.app first — most issues resolve within 1–3 business days. Unresolved disputes are subject to binding arbitration under AAA Consumer Arbitration Rules. Class action waiver applies. Governing law: State of Louisiana.
Waari's total liability for any claim is limited to the greater of fees you paid in the 90 days preceding the claim or $100. Waari is not responsible for failures caused by Stripe, Pawapay, Orange Money, Wave, MTN, or any other third-party network.
We will notify you of material changes by email at least 30 days before they take effect and post updated Terms at waari.app/terms. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.