Interac e-Transfer Fees Are Changing on Nov 1, 2025 – What That Means for Your Invoices & Cash Flow

Interac will change how it charges banks and credit unions for e-Transfers on November 1, 2025. The wholesale pricing moves from volume tiers to a flat fee. Your bank decides what you pay, but this shift can affect the fees on your business account and the way you invoice. Let’s keep it simple and practical.

The change in plain terms

What Interac is changing

• Today, Interac bills financial institutions on tiers. If a bank processes few e-Transfers, it pays $0.43 per transaction. High-volume banks pay $0.09 or $0.06.
• From Nov 1, 2025, Interac will charge a flat wholesale fee: $0.08 for transactions between different institutions and $0.04 when both sender and recipient bank at the same institution. Interac calls those “non-on-us” and “on-us.”

Why this matters to you

Interac does not bill you directly. Banks and credit unions set customer fees, and they can include e-Transfers in a package or charge per transfer. The Competition Bureau said the retail fees are at each institution’s discretion and confirmed the flat-fee shift for Nov 1, 2025.

What you might pay as a business

Pricing varies. A few public examples give a sense of range:

• RBC lists $1.50 to send an e-Transfer from many business accounts. Receiving is shown as free on that page.
• Scotiabank offers business plans where e-Transfers are included as “free” within the plan’s monthly package.
• BMO notes that an Interac e-Transfer fee applies on some business accounts and labels it non-refundable.

These are examples, not a rule for every plan. Your branch can confirm your exact charges.

Quick context that affects bounced payments

There is a separate federal rule on NSF fees for personal deposit accounts. Ottawa approved a $10 cap with timing set for March 12, 2026. This cap does not apply to business accounts. It still helps owners who pay themselves from a personal account or get paid by consumers.

What to do before November 1

1) Audit your account plan and fee line items

Open your last two statements. Find any per-transfer fee or package line tied to e-Transfers. If your bank adjusts pricing after the Interac change, it will show up there first. Interac’s own page reminds consumers and businesses to contact their institution for retail fees.

2) Check your send limits and features

For larger invoices, Interac e-Transfer for Business supports limits up to $25,000 per transaction at participating institutions. That can remove a wire for many use cases and speed settlement.

Useful features to turn on now:

• Autodeposit so funds land right away without a security question.
• Request Money so your client gets a prompt with amount and memo, and you get confirmation when it is paid.
• Bulk payables or receivables if you send many payouts or collect many small amounts.

3) Map the wholesale change to your costs

If your institution had lower volume, its wholesale cost per e-Transfer could drop from $0.43 to $0.08 on most transactions. If both parties bank at the same institution, the wholesale fee would be $0.04. Banks set retail pricing, but this shift reduces the gap between small and large players.

4) Update invoice instructions

Keep e-Transfers, but be clear:

• List your business email or mobile set up for Autodeposit.
• Add Request Money links for clients who prefer a prompt.
• State that e-Transfers are for Canadian payments, with card or EFT listed as alternates for others. Limits and availability vary by institution, so the Interac pages are your best reference.

5) Use the richer data

Interac e-Transfer for Business supports ISO 20022-style remittance details. That helps reconciliation. Your accounting stays cleaner and cash posting gets faster.

What exactly changes in the fine print

Interac publishes the wholesale fee table. Highlights for Nov 1, 2025:

• Send Money and Retail Request Money
  • $0.08 per “non-on-us” transaction
  • $0.04 per “on-us” transaction
  • $0.10 paid to the receiving institution on fulfilled Request Money
  • $0.01 per Request Money initiation
• Business Request Money
  • Choice of 35 bps capped at $3.50 or a $0.35 flat fee per transaction, with $2,000 one-time onboarding for each non-retail customer that qualifies
• Bulk
  • $0.05 per payable
  • $0.02 per receivable request and $0.03 per fulfillment
  • Legacy file fees remain listed for some flows
• Other operational fees apply to institutions, not end users.

One more note from regulators. The Competition Bureau will keep an eye on Interac’s shift to the flat fee. The Bureau’s statement repeats that customer pricing is up to the financial institution.

How this ties to invoicing and cash flow

Short version. Faster funds in and fewer exceptions help your DSO and your headspace.

• Shorten the time from invoice to cash. Request Money creates a clear call-to-pay and gives both sides real-time confirmation. That makes follow-up easier.
• Reduce posting lag. Rich remittance fields mean fewer manual matches in your ledger.
• Avoid avoidable holds. Autodeposit cuts the back-and-forth on security questions and reduces failed deposits.
• Keep an eye on retail fees. Some plans include e-Transfers, others charge per send. Examples above show how different that can look.

If you use Vitality Cash for invoicing and tracking, set three simple rules:

1. Tag any e-Transfer payments so you can see volume and cost by month.
2. Add a template with your Autodeposit email and a Request Money link.
3. Set an alert if an invoice goes past a set day count, then send a Request Money nudge.

Those steps fit the Interac feature set and help you spot fee creep if your bank changes pricing after Nov 1.

FAQs

A short checklist for October

• Confirm your current e-Transfer fee and any monthly package terms.
• Turn on Autodeposit and test a Request Money flow with a friendly client.
• For high volume payouts or collections, test Bulk with a controlled file.
• Add an internal note to review your statement after Nov fees post.

You do not have to switch rails to keep costs in check. Start with visibility, then tune your invoice instructions. If you want, I can reshape this into a one-page playbook for your team with your bank’s exact fees and your Vitality Cash tags so you can see the impact in real numbers.