You can receive an Interac e-Transfer by email or SMS text message.
Interac is the online payment system that communicates between Canadian banks and credit unions.
How to receive an Interac e-Transfer?
- When someone sends you an e-transfer, you will get an email or text message alert.
- Read it carefully to make sure that it’s not fraudulent.
- Then follow the instructions in the message to select your financial institution and log into your account.
- If applicable, you’ll be prompted to enter the security answer set up by the sender.
- Once you select the account where you’d want to deposit the funds and click “accept,” you’ll receive the money in your account.
How to accept e-transfers with auto-deposit?
Within the bank’s online e-transfer menu, you may find an option to set up or manage an auto deposit.
Once you register your email address or phone number, anybody who sends you an e-transfer won’t need to create a security question.
Instead, the money will automatically be deposited into the account you select when you register for auto-deposit.
How to decline an e-transfer?
If you don’t want to accept a transfer, you can simply ignore it. The e-transfer will expire in 30 days and funds will be re-deposited to the sender’s account.
Alternatively, you can follow the instructions in your e-transfer notification to log into your account, and select “Decline” rather than “Accept.”
The sender will then have to cancel or re-send the transfer. If the sender fails to take any action, the money is re-deposited into their account 15 days after the transfer expires.
However, if you have set up an auto deposit, you can’t decline e-transfers.
How to cancel an e-transfer?
Once an e-transfer has been deposited, it can’t be cancelled or reversed.
But if it hasn’t been accepted or auto-deposited, you can cancel the e-transfer by logging into your account, selecting the Interac e-transfer transaction, and choosing the “cancel” option.
Your bank may charge you to cancel the transfer.
International Interac e-transfers
Only Canadians can send and receive Interac e-Transfers with an email address or mobile phone number.
Interac has teamed up with Mastercard and Western Union to facilitate international transfers through some banks. But there are fees and you’ll need the recipient’s banking details to create the transfer.