Frequently Asked Questions
ACCOUNTS
HOW DO I OPEN ACCOUNT?
All you need to do is to register on our website. You will then receive an email with further instructions.
HOW MANY ACCOUNTS CAN I HAVE?
You can have one account for one person in Polaris system.
HOW CAN I GET MY ACCOUNT VERIFIED?
Verification is the process used to confirm identity based on provided documents.
Every new customer must go through the verification process to confirm his/her identity in order to use Polaris services fully.
Primary verification confirms identity and requires an upload of scanned documents (one identification document + one proof of address (1+1), or two identification documents + two proofs of address (2+2)). It is also required to complete Personal Questionnaire form on our website.
Secondary verification confirms identity through notarized paper copies of documents sent through regular post in addition to scanned versions. (one notarized identification document + one original proof of address , or two notarized identification documents + two original proofs of address). To speed up the process, please mail us documents by regular post only after successful Primary Verification.
Verification 1+1 is convenient for clients who want to order Polaris prepaid cards or use Polaris Payment Account. The clients who are planning to use Polaris without initial limitations, must provide us with 2+2 documents.
Recurrent verifications are requested from individual customers if any of the verification documents need to be renewed. We reserve the right to request a copy of a new document or proof of a new address/registration once every 12 months. Corporate customers must provide us with a new Certificate of Good Standing every 6 months.
We will inform you if additional documents are required.
ARE THERE ANY MONTHLY MAINTENANCE FEES FOR USING AN ACCOUNT?
Eligible individuals aged 18 and older, and legal persons can open a Polaris account. To enjoy all our services, you need to complete the entire registration and verification processes.
You are solely responsible for complying with any and all laws, rules and regulations of your specific jurisdiction that may be applicable to you in connection with your use of Polaris, including but not limited to, those relating to taxes, foreign currency transactions and import and export activity.
We regret that Polaris is unable to open accounts for US citizens or residents. Maintenance and servicing of Polaris account is free of charge.
IS THERE A MINIMUM OPENING BALANCE FOR AN ACCOUNT?
No, there is no minimum opening balance for Polaris account.
ARE THERE ANY MAXIMUM BALANCE LIMITS?
No, there are no maximum balance limits for Polaris account.
IS THERE ANY INTEREST RATE ON POLARIS ACCOUNT?
No, Polaris account is not a saving account, and there is no interest rate on it.
HOW DO I UPLOAD MY DOCUMENTS?
Please upload documents via Account management system for Primary verification on our website. We will send you a notification once your account is verified with us. For Secondary verification, please send notarized copies of your documents to our office.
WHAT DOCUMENTATION DO I NEED TO OPEN AN INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNT?
We will ask you to provide us the same types of documents for the Primary and Secondary verifications. There is a difference in the way these documents are delivered to us. You can find additional information hereby.
Primary Verification 1+1
one scanned copy of your identity document
one scanned copy of any official document that confirms your residential/registration address
completed electronic Personal Questionnaire form
Primary Verification 2+2
two scanned copies of your identity document
two scanned copies of a different official document confirming your residential/registration address
completed electronic Personal Questionnaire form
Secondary Verification 1+1
notarized scanned copy of any document that confirms your identity
the original official document that confirm your residential/registration address
completed paper Personal Questionnaire form
Secondary Verification 2+2
two notarized copies of different documents that confirm your identity
two original official documents that confirm your residential/registration address
completed paper Personal Questionnaire form
Please review our verification rules carefully to ensure timely verification process.
WHAT DOCUMENTATION DO I NEED TO OPEN A BUSINESS ACCOUNT?
Company registration documents (Certificate of Incorporation)
Company Statutes (Memorandum & Article of Association)
Certificate of Good Standing - not older than 6 months
Beneficial Owner Certificate
Director's authority for representation
If the company has two or more directors, a director’s signature of authorization on behalf of the company is required
Documents for all individual beneficiaries, directors, and other persons that have access to the account. Required documents are the same as for Individual Customers
Correspondence addresses of the legal entity and beneficiaries, directors, and other persons having access to the account.
If beneficiaries are legal entities, the following documents are required
Certificate of Incorporation and Certificates of Good Standing for each beneficiary not older than 6 months
Full set of documents for all directors and beneficiaries of these legal entities, in accordance with the requirements for account opening by Individual Customers.
WHAT ARE THE DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS TO VERIFY MY ACCOUNT?
1. A PROOF OF IDENTITY
Copy of your ID needs to
be valid for another 6 months
be written with Latin letters
include your photograph, date of birth, a serial number, and issue/expiration dates
It could be
Passport
Driving License (both sides)
National ID (both sides)
Government issued documents with the photo.
We will accept a good quality, color scanned copy of the document.
In case you upload documents via Account Management System, we accept the following formats: jpg/jpeg/bmp/gif/png.
Please provide us with a certified translation of the documents if originally they are not in Russian, English, French, or Czech.
For the purposes of Secondary verification, this document should be officially notarized.
If you don't have such possibility in your country, you have to print the personal application with all personal details. You need to sign this document and have it officially notarized.
The personal application should be attached to the copy of your document.
2. PROOF OF RESIDENCE
The proof of address should be at the applicant's name (we cannot accept documents with any other name than your own)*.
*As an exception we can accept documents with the family name on it (subject to the management decision).
The proof of address should bear the same address you provided during the registration. The proof of address should be complete and contain the postal code.
The proof of address should be not older than 90 days if you upload it via Account Management System and not older than 60 days if sent through regular mail. This could be a utility bill or bank statement on your name; we cannot accept bills from mobile operators due to current legal requirements. The original bank statement has to be also certified: to be stamped as a true copy by the issuing bank.
We cannot accept electronic/online downloaded documents, i.e. online banking statement, etc.
P.O. BOX address in a proof of address is not an acceptable form of a delivery address for the Polaris Financial Services and Polaris cards.
Please provide us with a certified translation of the documents if originally they are not in Russian, English, French, German or Czech.
WHAT IS A CERTIFIED TRANSLATED DOCUMENT?
A certified translation is a translation signed and dated by a professional translator who has given a professional oath in a court of law.
HOW DO I PROVIDE DOCUMENTS FOR VERIFICATION?
For the Primary verification, go to the Account Management System, and select Settings - Documents Uploading.
We strongly recommend that you use the Account Management System to upload documents as processing the documents by e-mail will take more time.
For the Secondary verification, please send your documents to our office
PO Box 309 Ugland House, Grand Cayman George Town Cayman Islands KY1-1104
HOW LONG IT TAKES TO LOAD AN ACCOUNT?
Bank Transfer
SWIFT payment could take up 2 business days
express payment could take up to 7 business days
Money transfer
Instantly (after customer proceed with top up from his side)
From Polaris prepaid cards
Funds will be credited within 24 hours.
By cheque, sent by mail or personally received
Funds will be credited within 7 business days, once it will be received by our office
Transfer between the accounts in our system
Within 10-15 minutes (both accounts should be verified)
Transfer from an authorized e-wallet
Within our business hours on a weekday
HOW LONG DOES VERIFICATION PROCESS TAKE?
The verification process takes up to 48 hours from the receipt of documents.
WHAT BANK DETAILS SHOULD I USE TO LOAD MY POLARIS ACCOUNT?
WHEN LOADING FROM ANOTHER ACCOUNT
You can find our bank details in Load account > Wire transfer in your Account management system.
WHEN LOADING FROM A PAYMENT CARD
You will need to provide your card details (card number, name, CVV code) and enter Polaris verification code, which can be found in your bank statement. Example: Polaris*12345, where 12345 is a verification code. If you can not find verification code now, you can complete the transaction later. Polaris will send you an email with one-time link to secure payment page where you will enter the verification code as you have it.
HOW MUCH DO I PAY FOR LOADING AN ACCOUNT?
1. FROM ANOTHER ACCOUNT
From another Polaris account
Internal transfers from one Polaris account to another Polaris account are free of charge.
From another bank account
The current commissions and the list of accepted currencies for bank transfer are based on individual accounts. You can calculate your commission fees via Charges calculator in Account Management System.
2. VIA CASH TRANSFER
Polaris does not charge additional fees for obtaining a money transfer.
The sender pays a fee for transferring money at the money transfer office. The commission for sending the transfer is individual for each office. We recommend that you contact an office to clarify the commission.
List of all money transfer offices with addresses, phone numbers and working hours are on our web.
3. VIA DIRECT CASH DEPOSIT
We will charge the fee as for the ordinary bank wire transfer.
You can calculate the fees in Charges calculator.
4. FROM A PAYMENT CARD (CARD TRANSFER)
For account loading by Polaris VISA Card: 2 EUR/USD/GBP
For account loading by any other card: basic tarif - 4% from the sending amount. Minimum commission fee: 1 AUD, 1 CAD, 1 CHF, 1 EUR, 1 GBP, 4 PLN, 60 RUB, 7 SEK, 1 USD
5. E-MONEY
OKPAY loading fees
Fee: 1.5%
Minimum fee: 1,00 USD or 1,00 EUR or 1,00 GBP
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount: 50,000.00 USD (4,000.00 EUR or 3,000.00 GBP)
Visa QIWI Wallet
Fee: 7 %
Minimum fee: 1,00 USD (1,00 EUR)
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount: $200 or €200
Bitcoins
Fee: 1%
Minimum fee: None
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount:
45.000 EUR
45.000 USD
800.000 CZK
170.000 PLN
Sofort - EUR
Fee: 2 %
Minimum fee: 0,1 EUR
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount: None
Trustly – SEK
Fee: 35 SEK
6. CHEQUES
This procedure may take up to 7 working days until our office receives the cheque.
Fees
EUR 2,5%, min 8.00 max 300.00
CAD 2,5%, min 10.00 max 400.00
GBP 2,5%, min 6.00 max 250.00
Any additional bank fees incurred while processing the cheques (such as verification, cashing or cancelling the cheque) will be charged from Customer's account.
HOW CAN I LOAD MY ACCOUNT?
You can load your Polaris account in any of the following ways
Bank transfer
Transfer from another account
Cash transfer to your name
Transfer from the e-wallet
Bank cheque
By payment card
FROM ANOTHER ACCOUNT
From another Polaris account
You can transfer funds between two Polaris accounts using option Withdraw from account > Internal transfer in your Account management system.
From another bank account
All instructions for payments via bank transfer are specified in the Load account > Wire transfer in the Account management system.
VIA DIRECT CASH DEPOSIT
All instructions for payments via direct cash deposit are specified in the Load account > Direct Cash Deposit in the Account Management System. You can transfer funds in any bank branch in Czech Republic and Poland.
FROM A PAYMENT CARD (CARD TRANSFER)
From Polaris prepaid cards
Place a request via option:Accounts: Deposit > Polaris card in the Account Management System.
From any other card via Accounts: Deposit > Payment card.
If you pay with your card for the first time, you will be asked to verify your payment card. We offer 2 options:
1. Our prepaid card verification tool (selfie with a card)
2. Video verification via Skype (this 2 min procedure verifies cards and updates your verification status to maximum)
VIA E-MONEY
Polaris accepts transfers from the following e-money systems:
OKPay - USD, EUR, GBP
VISA QIWI Wallet - USD, EUR
Bitcoins -USD, EUR, PLN, CZK
Sofort - EUR
Trustly - SEK
The top up request should be placed via Load account > E-money in the Account Management System.
To use this method of funding, the client must be authorized in these systems. Also, the balance of the e-wallet needs to be sufficient in order to make a transfer.
CHEQUES
Polaris accepts corporate and bank cheques for cashing.
Requirements
a) The cheque should be at the name of the company plus the Client's name, e.g., Polaris Financial Services, JOHN SMITH (9311.1) In this case leave the reverse side of the cheque empty.
b) The cheque may be at a client's name, e.g., JOHN SMITH (9311.1).
In this case, the reverse side of the cheque should bear the following note: JOHN SMITH (9311.1). Please do not forget to sign the cheque on the reverse side. THIS IS COMPULSORY!
Cheques should be sent to our office or P.O. Box
PO Box 309 Ugland House, Grand Cayman George Town Cayman Islands KY1-1104
DOES POLARIS ACCOUNT SUPPORT E-MONEY AND CRYPTO-CURRENCIES?
Yes, Polaris supports e-money and bitcoins.
WHAT LIMITATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS APPLY TO E-MONEY AT POLARIS ACCOUNT?
To be able to use the e-money systems, our customers should be authorized in these systems and have a certain e-wallet status. Also, the balance of the e-wallet, which the money will come from, should be sufficient to make a transfer.
WebMoney withdrawals are available only for the customers who have an Initial Passport certificate and above. Transfers of funds to e-wallets with Formal and Alias certificates are not possible.
To date, the WebMoney Transfer payment system is the most popular among the Runet users.
We are certified participants of the WebMoney and provide the opportunities to top up and withdraw funds through this system. We accept rubles, dollars, or euros
WHAT E-WALLETS ARE PARTNERING WITH POLARIS?
Polaris accepts transfers from the following e-money systems:
OKPay - USD, EUR, GBP
Visa QIWI Wallet - USD, EUR
Bitcoins -USD, EUR, PLN, CZK
WebMoney –WMZ, WME, WMR
Sofort - EUR
HOW CAN I RESET FORGOTTEN PASSWORD?
If you do not remember your password, please use Forgot your password option at first.
Please note, that password must be at least 8 characters and must contain at least one lower case letter, one upper case letter and one digit.
Symbols, such as "№;%:?* are not accepted.
Example: AAaa1234
WHY IS MY ACCOUNT NOT VERIFIED? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
The account could not be verified due few reasons
We are still expecting the verification documents from you.
The verification process is not yet completed.
The submitted documents do not satisfy the requirements of our company.
WHAT ARE OTHER METHODS OF AUTHENTICATION?
As an alternative, you can use an authentication method via SMS. SMS code will be delivered to your mobile phone number, stated in your Polaris account.
HOW DO I CHANGE MY PERSONAL AND CONTACT INFORMATION?
You can request the change of your personal data by contacting the Polaris Customer Support.
HOW CAN I WITHDRAW FROM MY ACCOUNT?
You can withdraw funds from your account in any of the following ways
Bank transfer
Money transfer
Sending money to a Polaris prepaid cards
Sending money to any VISA or MasterCard issued by different merchant
Bank cheque
Transfer to another account in the system
Transfer to an e-wallet
TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT
To another Polaris account
You can transfer funds between two Polaris accounts using option Withdraw from account > Internal transfer in your Account management system.
To another bank account
Fill out the online form via Withdraw from account > Wire transfer in your Account management system.
VIA CASH TRANSFER
Fill out the online form via Withdraw from account > Cash Money Transfer in your Account Management System to send a money transfer.
TO A PAYMENT CARD (CARD TRANSFER)
To Polaris VISA or Polaris MasterCard cards
Fill out the online form via Prepaid cards > Load card in your Account Management system.
To any other VISA or MasterCard cards
You can transfer funds from your Polaris account to any VISA/MasterCard card globally (some restrictions may apply).
VISA
All countries except: USA, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Columbia, Burma (Myanmar), Zimbabwe, Iraq, Iran, Cuba, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Lebanon, North Korea, Syria, Sudan
MasterCard
CIS countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
Non-CIS countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Israel, Cyprus, Kosovo, Macedonia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic
Countries with emitting banks which accept that kind of transfers: Australia, Bahrain, Viet Nam, Hong Kong, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Cambodia, China, Kuwait, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, USA, Thailand, Philippines, South Africa.
Transfer can be made in EUR, USD and RUB. You can transfer funds via Accounts ->Withdrawal: Payment card -> Non-Polaris-issued Credit of Debit Card in your Account management system.
To transfer you will have to input card details and in some cases - Receiver's details as well. Please send only Russian Rubles to the cards issued by banks, located in Russian Federation. You can transfer any of these currencies - USD, EUR, RUB to the cards issued outside of the Russian Federation.
TO E-WALLET
Fill out the online form via Withdraw from account > E-money in your Account Management system.
E-wallet withdrawal rules:
The withdrawal can only be possible to e-wallets registered in the name of the client. The name of the Polaris client's account must match the name of the e-wallet.
-Polaris does not permit the withdrawal of funds to e-wallets different that those used to fund the account. For example, a client cannot withdraw money to OKPAY e-wallet if he topped up the account using a CashU e-wallet.
BTC-E COUPON
You can withdraw your funds from your Polaris account to BTC-E trading platform using a coupon, which will be generated in your Polaris account (Withdrawal > E-money > BTC-E coupon). It will be necessary for you to specify generated code in your BTC-E account in order to complete withdrawal procedure.
Please note, that it is necessary to add “Username” parameter to the payment. Only the person with this name or person, who created this code, will be able to validate it.
If incorrect Username was specified (Username is spelled with an error or this user does not exist), then the code can be validated only by the user, who created this code.
Validity period for Bitcoin coupon codes.
Please note, that a Bitcoin code is valid for 120 days only. If a code was not validated within 120 days, it will become Inactive and only the customer who created it will be able to credit it back to the account.
For the codes created after the 1st of January 2016 the expiration will be set to 120 days after the current date.
VIA CHEQUES
Please send a request to info@polaris-finance.com.
Enter the amount, full name, and physical address of the recipient.
The specified amount will be deducted from your account in addition to a commission fee.
If you do not have sufficient funds in your account, your request will be unfortunately canceled.
You will receive a cheque to the address you specified in your request and this amount will be blocked on your account during the issuance procedure.
To cash a cheque, the recipient must contact the bank and request cashing. Personal data on the cheque and the bank account have to match. Cheques can be in dollars, pounds and euros.
Delivery time depends on the work of the post office, country of destination and the delivery method.
Contact our support team for more information.
HOW MUCH DO I PAY FOR WITHDRAWING FROM AN ACCOUNT?
TO ANOTHER ACCOUNT
To another Polaris account
Internal transfers from one Polaris account to another Polaris account are free of charge.
To another bank account
You can calculate the current fee via Charges calculator in Account Management System.
VIA CASH TRANSFER
The sender pays a fee for transferring money at the transfer office. The commissions for these services are individual for every office. We recommend that you contact each office to clarify the commission rates.
Polaris Financial Services does not charge any additional fees for receiving money transfers.
TO A PAYMENT CARD (CARD TRANSFER)
To Polaris VISA cards
For Express loading we will charge $3.00
For SWIFT loading we will charge $5.00
To any other VISA card
Commission fee for this type of transfer can vary, it depends on bank emitent. Please use our calculator in Overview tab in order to calculate commission fee for your transfer.
Limits for transferred amount
2 500 USD – max amount for one transaction;
4 800 USD – amount per day;
5 max amount of transactions per day;
20 000 USD – amount per month;
50 max amount of transactions per months
TO E-WALLET
OKPAY
Fee: 1.5%
Minimum fee: $1,00 or €1,00 or £1,00
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount: None
WebMoney
Fee: 2,5%
Maximum transaction amount: None
Visa QIWI Wallet
Fee: 0,79%
Minimum fee: $1,00 or €1,00
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount: $200 or €200
BTC-E coupon
Fee: 1,25% USD / 1% EUR
Minimum fee: None
Maximum fee: None
Maximum transaction amount: None
VIA CHEQUES
Cheques withdrawal tariffs
EUR 0,7%, min 12.00
Any additional bank fees incurred while processing the cheques (such as verification, cashing or cancelling the cheque) will be charged from Customer's account.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WITHDRAW FROM AN ACCOUNT?
BANK TRANSFER
application for an outgoing SWIFT payment (funds will be credited to the recipient on the same day, if the application is received before 11 am GMT)
request for an outgoing express payment (funds will be credited to the recipient on the same day, if the application is received up to 13 am GMT)MONEY TRANSFER
InstantlyBY CHEQUE, SENT BY MAIL OR PERSONALLY RECEIVED
Funds will be deducted from the client’s account in the same day. The possibilityto use the funds is specified in the beneficiary's bank account Terms of Use.TRANSFER BETWEEN THE ACCOUNTS IN OUR SYSTEM
InstantlyTRANSFER TO AN AUTHORIZED E-WALLET
Within our business hours on a weekdayTRANSFER TO VISA/MASTERCARD ISSUED BY DIFFERENT MERCHANT
It could take up to 3 business days (depends on bank issuer).
HOW DOES POLARIS PROTECT MY ACCOUNTS?
All Polaris websites including the Account Management System are protected by extended validation (EV) security certificates issued by Digicert. Also, each customer confirms all transactions with 2-factor authentication by Master PIN + email code, or SMS code.
DOES POLARIS SHARE MY PERSONAL DATA AND ACCOUNT TRANSACTIONS INFORMATION WITH ANY THIRD PARTIES?
We do not share our customer data with third parties. This information is completely confidential.
WHAT IS MASTER PIN AND WHAT DO I NEED IT FOR?
Master PIN is any four-digit number without zero that you have to choose by yourself and remember. This code is entered to confirm all financial transactions in your account. Master PIN is a transaction authentication alternative to text messages.
HOW CAN I SET UP MASTER PIN?
Please set up your Master PIN in Settings > Verification. In the first field you have to specify your Master PIN and in the second - your account password.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I FORGET MY MASTER PIN?
Any changes to your Master PIN can be done in the Account Management system. After successful authorization by phone, your request to amend the Master PIN will be accepted and processed as soon as possible.
You have one opportunity to change your Master PIN at no charge. You will be charged a fee for every further attempt. If you do not have sufficient funds in your account, you will not be able to change the Master PIN.