What is Interac e-Transfer?

At a glance

How it works

Interac says Interac e-Transfer for Business lets Canadian companies send, request and receive funds through their existing business banking accounts. Payments typically arrive within seconds. A business can send up to $25,000 per transaction, and up to 10,000 payments at once.

1. The payer sends the e-Transfer from their own bank to your business account.
2. With Autodeposit turned on, the money lands in your account with no login and no security question.
3. You can also use Request Money, which Interac describes as a way for a business to request and collect a payment.
4. Your bank shows the deposit on your account. You match it to the sale yourself, or through your accounting tool.

A Canadian example

A salon in Laval invoices a client $150 for a colour and cut, and the client pays by e-Transfer. The $150 lands in the salon's account, less any fee its bank charges for receiving it. The salon's bank sets that fee. It can differ from one bank to the next. The salon should ask its bank for the fee in writing. This is an example only, not a quote. No rate is used because Interac does not publish one for businesses.

What is different in Canada and Québec

• Interac e-Transfer is a Canadian service, so it works the same way across the country. Interac says more than 250 financial institutions offer it. That includes the big banks and many credit unions.
• Interac's French name for the service is Virement Interac, and its French business pages use that name.
• The Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada covers card acceptance. An e-Transfer is not a card payment, so the rules for card acceptance agreements are not the ones that apply.
• Payments Canada is building the Real-Time Rail, a new national system for instant payments. Its schedule shows a launch in Q4 2026. The first Interac e-Transfer clearing and settlement participants move over in Q1 2027. We have not seen a change announced for how businesses use e-Transfer.

What it costs and where it shows on your statement

Interac says fees for e-Transfer are set by financial institutions and vary by bank. It also says it does not charge e-Transfer fees directly to end customers. You will not see an e-Transfer on a card processing statement. It is not a card sale, so no card fee applies to it. Look on your business bank statement. Any fee shows next to the deposit or as a monthly service charge.

Where CleverPays fits in this step

The bank sends and receives an e-Transfer, and Interac runs the service. CleverPays does not process it, set its fees or decide whether a transfer goes through. We process card payments. That is a separate flow with its own fees. An e-Transfer never touches a card terminal or a card statement.

We can walk you through how e-Transfer compares with the card payments on your statement, and which sales are better suited to a payment link or an e-invoice. We can set up Clover and other terminals or gateways for the card side. We can answer your questions in English and French.

Common mistakes

• Treating an e-Transfer like a card sale. There is no card network. There is no card receipt unless you make one.
• Not asking your bank what it charges to receive e-Transfers. The fee depends on your account plan.
• Skipping the match step. Keep the sender's name and the reference with the invoice, so your books agree with your bank.

Related terms

• Interac Debit: the debit card payment made at a terminal, which is separate from e-Transfer.
• Pre-authorized debit: a payment you pull from a customer's account with their written consent.
• Electronic funds transfer: the wider family of bank-to-bank transfers.
• Payment link: a web link a customer uses to pay you online.
• Interac e-Transfer for Business: the version for business accounts, with Request Money and Autodeposit.
• Real-Time Rail: the instant payment system Payments Canada plans to launch.

Common questions