Same-day EFT

What EFT Rails does

EFT Rails sends each payment by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or Interac e-Transfer, chosen for that payment. An e-Transfer settles immediately and takes no date. An EFT payment carries its expected settlement date from the moment it is created. You can set the banking day the money is to arrive or take the earliest the method can honour. A date that is too soon is refused, and the refusal names the earliest date; the API reference documents the fields.

The conditions

Three conditions put an EFT credit into the payee's account today.

1. The payee's branch credits the same day. A credit to that branch can be exchanged on its Due Date, the banking day set for the money to arrive. A bank's own branches credit the same day. A branch the bank clears for another institution may need one or two business days.¹ At a branch that credits the same day, the payee's bank must make the money available within 2 hours of the exchange that brought it.²

2. The Due Date is today, and the file makes an exchange today. Banks exchange EFT files three times each business day, at 09:30, 16:30 and 21:00 Eastern Time.³ The sending bank must transmit the file early enough for it to arrive before the exchange, so your cutoff comes before that exchange.⁴ See EFT cutoff times for scheduling the file.

3. The payee's account is a chequing account. A credit to another kind of account may be treated as though the branch needs one business day, with availability by the opening of business on the Due Date.²

The hour the money is there

The exchange that carries the credit starts the 2-hour availability period at a branch that credits the same day.² Add 2 hours to the exchange time to find the latest time the payee's bank must make the money available.

Availability to the payee and settlement between the banks happen on different days. The banks settle on the business day after the Due Date, so the payee can have the same-day credit before the banks settle it.⁵

When a condition is missing

Set a later Due Date or use another payment method that fits the amount and deadline.

When the payee's branch needs one business day, set the Due Date to tomorrow and send today. The money must be available by the opening of business on the Due Date.²

A file submitted after the 21:00 exchange goes into the next business day's 09:30 exchange.³ Setting today's Due Date cannot put that file into an exchange that has already passed.

On a weekend or holiday, the Real-Time Rail runs every calendar day. A payment can be at most $100,000, and the payee's bank must make it available within 60 seconds of settlement.⁶

An Interac e-Transfer is another option at any hour. Interac says most e-Transfers arrive seconds after they are sent, and a business can send up to $25,000 depending on its financial institution and account type.⁷

For one large payment that must be final today, use a wire. A Lynx wire settles at once and is final; regular payments settle on weekdays that are not federal statutory holidays, from 12:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.⁸

Same-day debits

A same-day collection is a debit with today's Due Date. A debit is not delivered to the payor's bank before its Due Date.⁹ Keep the collection's Due Date and exchange schedule together when planning returns and reconciliation.