Email Money Transfer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Interac Email Money Transfer (EMT) is a funds transfer service between personal accounts at participating Canadian financial institutions. The provider of this service is CertaPay, a division of Acxsys Corporation. If your bank is in Canada you will be able to send the world's first, interbank-based Interac Email Money Transfers.
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[edit] Participating Institutions
Interac Email Money Transfers (EMT) let you send and receive money quickly and easily right out of - or right into - your bank accounts.
Since 2003, personal deposit account holders at one of the Big Five banks in Canada could send EMTs:
- Bank of Montreal
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
- Royal Bank of Canada
- Scotiabank
- Toronto-Dominion Bank
Since 2008, certain Canadian Credit Unions have also offered the service[1]. To date, the Canadian Credit Unions listed below have the ability to send "Interac" Email Money Transfers:
- Community Savings Credit Union
- Island Savings Credit Union
- Kingston Community Credit Union
- Mennonite Savings and Credit Union
- Northern Credit Union
- Northern Lights Credit Union
- OPPA Credit Union
- Prospera Credit Union
- Teachers Credit Union
- United Communities Credit Union
- Westminster Savings Credit Union
- Windsor Family Credit Union
Small business customers who bank online at TD Canada Trust, RBC Royal Bank, or Scotiabank can also send EMTs. Any personal account holder in Canada can receive funds (see below).
[edit] How it works
An Email Money Transfer resembles an e-check in many respects. The money is not actually transferred by e-mail. Only the instructions to retrieve the funds are.
- The sender opens an online banking session and chooses the recipient, the amount to send, as well as a security question and answer. The funds are debited instantly, usually for a surcharge.
- An e-mail is then sent to the recipient, with instructions on how to retrieve the funds and answer the question, via a secure website.
- If the recipient is subscribed to online banking at one of the participating institutions, the funds are deposited instantly at no extra charge.
- If the recipient's deposit account is not at one of the participating institutions or not subscribed to online banking at all, the funds are deposited within three to five business days, and a surcharge (currently $4.00) is deducted from the amount received.
[edit] Benefits and disadvantages
Unlike a cheque, the funds from an EMT are not frozen. An EMT cannot bounce, as the funds are guaranteed. As long as both sender and recipient bank at participating institutions, the funds are sent and received instantly.
However, like any online banking mode of payment, EMTs are vulnerable to phishing. Many Canadians in areas where the Big Five banks have little presence or who do not bank online are penalized by a surcharge when receiving EMTs. Unlike a real giro, an EMT requires intervention from the recipient for every single transaction. An EMT goes stale much faster than a cheque (after 30 days, the EMT is automatically cancelled and the sender is notified by e-mail to retrieve the funds.)[1].
