You’ve got a busy life. We get it.
Interac e-Transfer is here to help.
What is Interac e-Transfer?
Interac e-Transfer is a fast and convenient way to send or receive money within the security of your online or mobile banking service — and you can use it to transact with a friend, a business, a charity, a babysitter … almost any person or entity in Canada with a bank account with a participating financial institution and access to online or mobile banking.
Interac e-Transfer can make a lot of your everyday payment-related activities faster and more convenient. It’s designed to help you get the most out of life — which is how most Canadians already use it.
Read on to learn more about how you can harness the power of Interac e-Transfer to streamline your life, just as millions of people across the country do today.
What can you do with Interac e-Transfer?
Questions this section will answer:
- How can I send money to someone in Canada fast?
- What are the pros of using Interac e-Transfer?
- When should you use Interac e-Transfer?
An Interac e-Transfer transaction moves money from one bank account to another, and it happens fast. While the experience may vary by financial institution, the recipient can typically see the funds in their account within minutes or even seconds of accepting the Interac e-Transfer.
Here are some ways you can use Interac e-Transfer to make life more convenient …
Pay and get paid back quickly
Interac e-Transfer is a major time saver. Using it to send and receive money is safe, easy and fast – no cash or cheques required. A transaction can be completed in seconds and you don’t have to meet up in person to make a payment. When you want to send money quickly, Interac e-Transfer has you covered.
Share costs with friends and family
Every day, millions of Canadians from coast to coast use Interac e-Transfer to send money to each other, whether they’re buying a shared gift, splitting the rent or a restaurant bill, planning a trip together … or sharing just about any cost.
Paying a business
Interac e-Transfer isn’t just for friends and family. You can use it to pay for purchases and services, too. Many local businesses may prefer it over other payment methods, so ask if they accept it.
Accept and make payments for your own business
If you’re running a freelance or side business, you can use Interac e-Transfer for your payments to suppliers and accept payments from customers. Whether you’re a budding baker or a busy babysitter, you can use Interac e-Transfer to make your small business payments a snap. It’s a fast, efficient and easy-to-use tool for keeping on top of your billing and helping your bottom line.
What are some pros of using Interac e-Transfer?
- It’s fast
- It’s easy to use
- You can send money to most Canadians— plus businesses, charities and more
- You’re paying with real money from your bank account, which helps you stay on budget
- You can request money, too
The basics of Interac e-Transfer
Questions this section will answer:
- How does Interac e-Transfer work?
- Is Interac e-Transfer a bank transfer?
- What happens when someone sends me an Interac e-Transfer transaction?
- What is Autodeposit and how do I turn it on?
- How long does it take to complete an Interac e-Transfer transaction?
- How can I use Interac e-Transfer to request money? / What is Interac e-Transfer Request Money?
Interac e-Transfer allows you to send or request money from your Canadian bank account with a participating financial institution to someone else in Canada with a bank account with a participating financial institution, either through your banking app or online banking service. Once the sender and recipient confirm the transaction, the funds appear in the recipient’s account and can typically be used within minutes, though this may take longer depending on your financial institution. Additionally, if the receipient is using the Interac e-Transfer Autodeposit feature, it deposits automatically — more on that shortly.
Sending or receiving an Interac e-Transfer is easy, and you can do it in seconds once you’re familiar with how it works …
How sending money works with Interac e-Transfer: To send money with Interac e-Transfer, all you need is a Canadian bank account with a participating financial institution, the name, email address and/or mobile telephone number of the person you are sending money to, and either a banking app or an online banking service. Ready? Here’s how to send money using Interac e-Transfer:
- Sign in to online or mobile banking at a participating financial institution and look for the option to send money with Interac e-Transfer.
- Choose the account the funds are going to come from.
- Choose a recipient — if this is the first time you’re sending them money, you’ll have to add them to your list of recipients using their name and mobile phone number and/or email address (and verify that these are correct.) They must also have access to online or mobile banking at a participating financial institution.
- Tip: If the recipient has Interac e-Transfer Autodeposit set up, you’ll see their legal name. This gives you a chance to confirm you’re sending funds to the right person. (Learn more about the Autodeposit feature here.)
- In some cases you’ll need to set up a security question for the recipient to answer to complete the transaction. (For tips about creating safe passwords, see the “How to be secure while using Interac e-Transfer” section below.)
- Enter the amount to send. The transaction limits are set by your financial institution, but are typically $2,000 to $3,000 per transaction for consumers. Transaction limits can be higher with Interac e-Transfer for Business — learn more here.
- You’ll have a chance to confirm the details again, and then send the money for the recipient to use right away.
Click here for a visual how-to on using Interac e-Transfer.
Receiving money via Interac e-Transfer: How do you accept money that someone sent you with an Interac e-Transfer transaction? It’s either easy or really easy — like so:
- First, you’ll receive an e-mail or text (SMS) message notification that informs you of the transaction. If you are not expecting an Interac e-Transfer, confirm with the sender that it is authentic through another channel.
- If you don’t have Autodeposit set up, click the link in the email or text message notification you receive and follow the instructions to deposit the money in your Canadian bank account with a participating financial institution. To complete the transaction, you’ll need to answer the security question.
- If you do have the Autodeposit feature set up, you’ll receive a notification telling you that the funds from the sender have been automatically deposited into your designated account.
That was easy, wasn’t it?
Does money actually move by email or text message during an Interac e-Transfer transaction?
Actually … no. Financial institutions use their payment networks to transfer the money to any financial institution in Canada.
When money is sent using the Interac e-Transfer service, the money doesn’t really travel by email or text message. Emails and text messages just carry the notifications to let you and the recipient know about the transaction, as well as a link to follow in order to complete the transaction if necessary.
Autodeposit: Interac e-Transfer Autodeposit is a feature that makes sending and receiving money even easier. If you have Autodeposit enabled, funds sent to your designated email address via Interac e-Transfer go directly into your account without the need to answer a security question. Deposit times may vary, because of routine fraud checks between the sending and receiving financial institutions. Click here to learn more about using the Autodeposit feature, and reasons why you should consider it (for one thing, it can help protect you against email fraud).
Request Money: You can use Interac e-Transfer Request Money to ask someone to send you money, too. You can learn more here about how to use the Request Money feature — and see some reasons to use it, like taking the awkwardness out of asking someone to pay you.
How to get started using Interac e-Transfer
Questions this section will answer:
- Can you send money using Interac e-Transfer without a bank account?
- Do you need a bank account to receive an Interac e-Transfer?
- How much does it cost to send money with Interac e-Transfer?
- What information does someone need to send you money with Interac e-Transfer?
- What is a cheap/low-cost way to send money?
You need to have a Canadian bank account at a participating financial institution to send and receive money via Interac e-Transfer via mobile or online banking. You also need an email address, so you can receive notifications about your transaction.
When you’re receiving money, the sender can choose to notify the receiver via email or text message.
How much does it cost to send money using Interac e-Transfer? The amount depends on your financial institution. Interac e-Transfer transactions might even be included with your banking service package — either up to a certain number, or unlimited.
For this and other specific questions about using Interac e-Transfer, contact your financial institution.
Safeguard your transactions: Interac e-Transfer is a safe money transfer service, thanks to measures Interac and your financial institution have put in place. But before you begin, it’s still an excellent idea to make sure you’ve reviewed our security tips about how to safely use Interac e-Transfer.
What we’ve learned so far about Interac e-Transfer
Got all that? Time for a quick recap, just in case:
- Interac e-Transfer is one of the fastest ways to send money.
- It’s also convenient and easy to use.
- And it’s safe — see below to learn about the security features of Interac e-Transfer.
What else can Interac e-Transfer help you do?
Once you get into the swing of using Interac e-Transfer, you may start to think of other ways it can make your day-to-day life more seamless. You may also notice suggestions from your financial institution and other service providers on new and convenient ways to make the Interac e-Transfer service work for you. For example, you can use it to:
Exchange money between different bank accounts within your household: Interac e-Transfer comes in handy if your personal account is at one financial institution, but you need to split bills with a family member or contribute to a joint account with your partner.
Stay on budget: Using Interac e-Transfer can make it easier to stick to a personal budget — because you’re paying with money that’s in your bank account. Plus, you can keep track of your spending by using the Interac e-Transfer memo field.
Payments for your small business: Interac e-Transfer also works well as a business payment tool — use it to power your passion project-slash-side hustle. Learn more about using Interac e-Transfer as a business tool here.
… and finally, you can use Interac e-Transfer to send money to someone abroad if you bank at a participating financial institution.
Ways to use Interac e-Transfer in Canada
- Pay for a purchase
- Send money as a gift
- Pay a vendor or small business
- Make a donation
- Split a bill with friends
- Pay the rent
- Request money from someone
How to be secure while using Interac e-Transfer
Questions this section will answer:
- Is Interac e-Transfer safe?
- Is there a risk with Interac e-Transfer?
- Can you cancel an Interac e-Transfer?
- How do you make a good Interac e-Transfer security question?
Interac e-Transfer is a safe digital money transfer service.
When you send money using Interac e-Transfer, the money is transferred using established and secure banking procedures financial institutions have used for years to settle cheques, bank machine deposits and withdrawals. Funds never travel by email or text. These are simply used to notify you that money was sent or requested, as well as provide instructions to deposit.
That being said, everyone has a part to play when it comes to digital security. Here are some things you can do to help ensure your transactions are safe and secure.
Sending money
Scams preying on Canadians have been on the rise in recent years; here are some common tricks to know about. One of the most important rules to follow: Don’t send or accept money to/from people or organizations you don’t know.
Use a security question and answer that will stump any fraudster
If you don’t have Autodeposit set up, make sure the answer to your security question isn’t easy to guess, and don’t base it on publicly available information (for example, “What city do you live in?” might fail on both counts). If you have to send the security answer to someone, don’t tell them using the same communication channel you’re using for the transaction.
Receiving money
Be vigilant about notifications. When you receive what appears to be an Interac e-Transfer notification, but the email or text comes from someone you don’t know, it’s unexpected, or you suspect it to be fraudulent, don’t respond or click any links. Instead, confirm that the transaction is genuine by contacting the sender through another channel. (One reason to be suspicious? The email address looks wrong, even slightly: Fraudsters often use slight variations on official names. Here, you can learn more about recognizing phishing and fraud techniques.)
Safeguard your email inbox
When it comes to staying safe online, our email and password security are often the weakest links. One of the best ways to secure your Interac e-Transfer transactions is to look after your overall digital self-care. How are you doing? Take our digital checkup to find out.
Reminder: Only send money to people or organizations you know and trust. As the sender, you can’t cancel an Interac e-Transfer transaction once the money is deposited by the recipient (and if they have the Autodeposit feature set up, the deposit could happen automatically, following routine fraud checks by sending and receiving financial institutions).
You can read more about the safety features of Interac e-Transfer at this page.
Where to learn more about Interac e-Transfer
Want to know more about how to bring the convenience of Interac e-Transfer into your life? Learn more about how to use Interac e-Transfer and other products here.
And visit this page to read more about what it can do for you.
Interac e-Transfer is all about making life easier.
