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Send money home:
How to send your salary to your local bank account.
This tutorial was last updated on September 2022 and is now divided in two parts: How to Send Money and How to Avoid Extra Charges. If you already know how to send money, you may skip ahead and check the latter.
There are tons of local services and online websites that offer great money exchange rates for you that need to send your hard earned money on board to your local bank, so you can finance your studies, buy stuff, pay the bills or support your family. All crew members around the world receive their wages in either US Dollars, Euros or Pounds… but how to exchange into your local currency? Here’s how:
We tried all the services that exist over the years in order to provide you with the best rates and quality of service of all. The following methods were tested by us: Xoom, Western Union, RIA, PayPal, Moneygram, Remitly and Wise, using small and big amounts to make comparison. We excluded local exchange places (like the ones in the airports) because we all know that they charge high fees and provide unfair rates.
The best service you can find, tested by us and other thousands of crew members worldwide is the one and only Wise! Created in 2010 by two friends that needed to exchange money from Euros into Pounds and Pounds into Euros, nowadays they’re one of the biggest financial solution providers of the world, with different features being released everyday.
Let’s start by creating your account:
We all agree that it is better to create your account using a computer on your free time or at home, but unfortunately almost all crew members sign up on the go, which is kind inconvenient as you not always have all the necessary documents with you. So even if you’re still doing your selection process, don’t waste time and follow this tutorial as it will be easier to sign up now than later. The process is quite fast if you have the following documents:
– A picture of your passport in good resolution.
– The full address of your company.
– Details of your paycard (OceanPay/Brightwell, Shipmoney, etc).
– A recent receipt using your paycard that also has your address on it (Ebay, Amazon, Walgreens, etc).
– Your local bank account details.
Click on our partner link to create your account:
By clicking on this link not only you support us but also receive zero fees on your first transfer, not mattering of how much the value is. Even if you already have an account, you can click on the link to activate the promotion for your next transfer!
You’ll be redirected to the start page with a preview example of an exchange rate in between Dollars and Euros. These values don’t matter as it is just an example. Proceed by clicking on “Get Started”.
Now you will create your account, start by filling your email account and creating a secure password. You can also opt to create your account using social profiles, but we don’t recommend that.
In the following screen, you can change the currencies in order to match your needs. In this example, we’re transferring 1.000 US Dollars into Philippines Pesos (PHP) but in order to fully activate your account you just need to transfer any value of your choice. Select 20$ if you just want to test the process. Wise will then ask if this is a Personal Transfer, Business Transfer or in name of another person. Select Personal Transfer as it is the only type of transfer you can make. On the next screen, fill using your details and make sure you’re selecting Personal.
Your first name and surname MUST BE EXACTLY as it shows on your passport and paycard, including your birthday and optionally your mobile phone number (you’ll receive a SMS, make sure you have cell service in order to accept it). This is one of the reasons we recommend that you use a computer to sign up, so you can skip this step for now. You can later on download the application for your mobile device and do this step in order to register your phone.
Now you will fill your address, that it isn’t where you live but the FULL ADDRESS OF YOUR COMPANY. In this example, we are using Norwegian Cruise Line address, just like as you can find on your Letter of Employment or on Google. Fill with your own company details and click to Continue.
WHO ARE YOU SENDING MONEY TO?
Always select Yourself (Myself). If you select someone else, business or charity, your transfer will automatically fail. On the next screen, fill the details of your local bank account. Wise will automatically complete your bank number and name if you type the beginning of it’s name. Always remember to double check the information before proceeding.
PAYMENT PURPOSE:
You can select any option on this step, but we always recommend to use the default one “Send money home to family”. We don’t believe that this affects your transactions, it is just as it says, in order to prevent frauds.
Other options are:
General monthly living expenses, Rent or other property expenses, Purchase of Property, Tuition fees or studying expenses, Travel expenses, Pay for goods and services, Charitable donations, other.
Review details of your transfer:
Now you’ll see a preview of your transfer. Triple check your info, select a reference if you wish (this will show on your bank extract) and accept the terms to continue.
Note that because you clicked on our partner link, you’re not being charged any fees for you transfer. If you didn’t click on our link in the beginning, you still can click on our link and refresh the page in order to apply the discount:
We now arrived on one of the most important pages of this tutorial, in which you need to select the payment method. Select DEBIT CARD on this first transaction. you will learn later in this tutorial on how to send using your Wise Bank Account.
TOP #1 Question that we receive: Why the option DEBIT CARD didn’t show up for me?
If you don’t have the DEBIT CARD option, it is most likely that you didn’t followed our tutorial from the beginning, more exactly when we mentioned that you need to fill your address as it is your COMPANY ADDRESS. Go on your profile and edit the address of your account and the option DEBIT will show up.
Pay with your debit card
Now you need to fill your paycard information, it doesn’t matter if you have a Brightwell, OceanPay, ShipMoney, etc. Just fill the card details and optionally select to save your card details (recommended, so you don’t have to type the numbers all the time).
Click to pay.
Lastly, you’ll need to verify your account before starting your transfer. You can also do this step at any time by clicking on your profile details. You’ll be required to upload a picture in good resolution of your passport. If you’re registering using your mobile device and not a computer (and not following this tutorial), you’ll be required to upload a picture of your passport AND confirm your mobile device via SMS.
Also, depending on where your local bank is located, you can be required to upload a receipt of a recent transaction invoice using your paycard in which also shows up your company address. During the making of this tutorial, we used an Amazon Order as receipt.
After being redirected to a confirmation page in which you’ll be able to see all the details of your transfer, you can also check this information at any time by clicking on your profile, in which will include a summary of all your transactions. Wise will send you notifications by email and SMS every time one of your transaction completes. You can disable notifications on your settings.
Now you can start to send money at any time you wish, so it’s the time that we recommend to finally download the mobile application for your phone, available for iOS and Android.
NOTE: At the first time that you use your phone to make a transfer, you’ll need to be able to receive an SMS with an activation code. Make sure your phone isn’t on Airplane mode and that you have mobile network connection.
Creating a bank account inside Wise:
Now that you’ve learned how to send money, we will teach how to save even more money on taxes and exchange rates by creating a bank account inside your Wise account:
Open the Wise App on your phone (or login to your Wise account using a computer) and choose to create a USD* Bank Account. Within seconds you’ll possess a USD* bank account, and bank details where you can send money to for savings or in this case, to pay less taxes during transfers. (* If you receive your salary in Euros or Pounds, create an account with your respective salary currency). After you’ve created your account, choose to “Receive” in order to see your account details.
NOTE: During this tutorial we are using the Brightwell interface, but you can also do the same steps on your Northlane or Shipmoney account. For example purposes, we are using the payment information for USD and the Carnival Cruise Line address as well. Open the account where you normally receive your salary and choose the option to send money to a Bank Account. Then, fill out your information using the bank details provided on your Wise account.
Beneficiary Details:
Receiver Full Name: Your name as show on your paycard.
Receiver Street Address: Your address as show on your paycard.
Receiver City: Your city as show on your paycard.
Receiver Postal/Zip Code: Your postal code as show on your paycard.
Receiver Country: Your country as show on your paycard.
Receiver State or Province: Your state as show on your paycard.
Payment Reference: Leave Blank
Receiver Phone Number: Leave Blank
ID Number: Leave Blank
Receiver Nature of Relation Ship: Self
Invoice Number: Leave Blank
Invoice Date: Leave Blank
On Bank Details, you will use the information provided on your Wise Account.
Bank Details:
Account: Type your account number as shown on Wise.
Bank Swift Code: Type as shown on Wise.
Bank Local Routing Number: Type as shown on Wise.
Bank Address: Type as shown on Wise.
Bank City: Type as shown on Wise.
Bank Postal/Zip Code: Type as shown on Wise.
Bank Swift Branch Details: Leave blank.
Bank Branch Name: Leave blank.
NOTE: In order to see your SWIFT code, you need to select “Outside the US” on the Wise application and the code will be shown.
Now that you typed all the necessary information, choose to save those bank details on your Brightwell/Northlane/Shipmoney account so you don’t have to type it again on each transfer. The process is quite simple: You will transfer money from your payment provider into your Wise Account, and then from the Wise Account to your local bank account and then avoid the taxes that are charged for Debit Cards (you will save around 10 dollars per transaction).
From your Brightwell/Northlane/Shipmoney, it will take 2-4 days for the money to arrive on your Wise account and the transfer is either free or you will be charged 1 dollar/euro/pound. Once it arrives on your Wise account you will receive a notification, and then you can go back and follow the tutorial to send money home, but instead of using the Debit Card option, you will now be able to select the amount you have on your “Wise account”. By doing this, you will reduce the taxes charged in half and save even more money. It might sound troublesome on the first time, but by doing it once you will be already set for every single payday for as long as your #shiplife career lasts.
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