Payments7 min readUpdated October 15, 2026

What Is Interac, and How Does It Work for Merchants?

What Interac means: Interac Debit, Flash and e-Transfer, what replaced Interac Online, how Stripe and Adyen accept it, and Visa's debit rules in Canada.

Nick Bonnassies, CMO at Tagada · checked against 14 sources

Article summary

TL;DR

Interac is Canada's domestic payment network, run by Interac Corp. It powers Interac Debit, the bank card Canadians insert, tap or add to Apple Pay and Google Pay, and Interac e-Transfer, which sends money between Canadian bank accounts with an email address or phone number. It has operated since 1984 and links more than 300 financial institutions.

Interac is a Canadian network, not a bank. Interac Corp. says it has operated since 1984 and connects more than 300 financial institutions.
Interac Debit is for paying a business, in store or through Apple Pay and Google Pay. Interac e-Transfer is for sending money from one bank account to another.
Interac Online, the old bank redirect at checkout, closed on October 31, 2024. Its successor for bank account payments, Interac Direct, launched on KONEK in November 2025.
Stripe accepts Interac in person only, with automatic capture and in-person refunds. Adyen lists it online and in person, in CAD.
Most Canadian debit cards are co-badged. Online, a co-badged card usually pays as Visa Debit, and Visa's Canada rules then apply, including partial approvals for many retail MCCs.

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On this page

You searched "what is Interac", or a Canadian customer asked if you take it. Interac is the network behind most debit payments and bank transfers in Canada. Here is what each Interac product does, which one closed in 2024, how a merchant accepts Interac today, and which Visa rules apply to Canadian debit cards.

What Interac is

Interac is a Canadian payment network run by Interac Corp. It sits between banks: when a Canadian pays with a bank card or sends an e-Transfer, Interac routes the transaction from one institution to another. It is not a bank: there is no "Interac account", only your normal bank account.

Interac Corp. gives these figures on its company page, read October 14, 2026:1

It has used innovation to move Canadians forward "since 1984".
More than 300 financial institutions are connected.
Canadians completed more than 6.5 billion Interac Debit transactions in the year ending October 2023.
88% of Canadians have used Interac e-Transfer.

The network started with shared bank machines (ABMs) and debit at the till. Cash withdrawals at any Interac-enabled ABM in Canada are still part of Interac Debit.2

Interac products: what each one does

The word "Interac" covers several products, often mixed up.

Interac Debit
The bank card Canadians insert, tap or add to a phone. Interac says it works in store, in apps and online through Apple Pay or Google Pay, and in the U.S. where accepted.
Interac Flash
The contactless tap of Interac Debit. Stripe documents a limit of CAD 250, and asks for card insertion and PIN above CAD 100 or on the fourth tap in a row.
Interac e-Transfer
Money sent between Canadian bank accounts with an email address or phone number. Autodeposit skips the security question.
Interac Direct on KONEK
A newer online payment from a chequing, savings or line of credit account, approved with an online banking login. Launched in November 2025.

Sources: Interac Debit and e-Transfer pages,2 3 Stripe Terminal docs for Flash,9 Interac's KONEK release.6

Interac Online is gone. The old checkout option that sent shoppers to their bank's login page closed. Interac's notice reads: "Interac Online is no longer available as of Oct 31, 2024."5

Interac Direct is its newer cousin. On November 4, 2025, Interac announced KONEK, an e-commerce checkout built with Canadian banks, with Staples Canada as first national merchant. Customers of BMO, National Bank of Canada, RBC, Scotiabank and TD get it first. Interac Direct is the bank account option inside KONEK, "a new digital payments solution with a low cost of acceptance available exclusively on KONEK".6 Interac's business page says it supports recurring payments, refunds and split shipments, but it still showed a "Coming Soon" notice for the official launch date when we read it.7

e-Transfer for business. Interac advertises sending up to $25,000 per transaction and bulk files of up to 10,000 payments. It says fees "are set by financial institutions" and that e-Transfer for Business is ISO 20022 compliant, so invoice and customer numbers can travel with the payment.4 Personal limits also come from the bank: Scotiabank, for example, shows a daily limit per account in online banking instead of publishing one figure.14

How an Interac Debit payment works

The customer inserts or taps a Canadian debit card, or a phone holding it.
The terminal reads the card profile and decides whether to route the payment over Interac. Stripe says a co-branded Interac card must still go through Interac in person.
The terminal asks for the PIN when required, for example above the Flash limit.
The bank approves and the payment is authorized and captured in one step. Interac has no hold-then-capture.
A refund needs the same card, presented again on the terminal.

Simplified in-store flow, based on Stripe's Terminal documentation for Canada.

Stripe states that "Interac doesn't support placing a 'hold' on a card and capturing the funds later," and that a PaymentIntent set to manual capture is always declined on Interac.9

Interac Debit vs Visa Debit vs e-Transfer

Most Canadian bank cards carry the Interac mark and a second network, often Visa Debit. Visa's merchant sheet explains the split: at the point of sale, such a card is "processed as an Interac transaction in Canada, but as a Visa transaction outside of Canada", and the Visa Debit number is what lets the customer pay online, by phone and by mail order.13

	Interac Debit	Visa Debit (co-badged)	Interac e-Transfer
Who starts it	Customer pays a business	Customer pays a business	Sender pushes money to a person or business
Where	Canadian stores, ABMs, apps via Apple Pay or Google Pay	Online, phone, mail, and stores outside Canada	Banking app or online banking
Customer enters	PIN or tap	Card number, expiry, CVV	Recipient's email or phone number
Network	Interac	Visa	Interac
Card rules that apply	Interac's	Visa Core Rules	Bank transfer, no card rules

Sources: Interac,2 3 Visa Canada.13

Verdict

In a store, a co-badged Canadian card runs on Interac. Online, without a wallet, it usually runs as Visa Debit, so it follows Visa's rules.

How a merchant accepts Interac

You don't sign with Interac directly. You go through an acquirer or payment provider that offers it. Interac's own list, read October 14, 2026, names these providers for Interac Debit in apps and browsers: Chase Merchant Services, Everlink Payment Services, First Data Canada, Moneris and PayFacto Payments.8 Its list for in-store Interac Debit is longer and includes Adyen Canada, Square Canada, Global Payments Canada and others.8

Here is what two global providers document today.

	Stripe	Adyen
Channels	In person only (Stripe Terminal)10	Online and in person11
Currency	CAD only, Canadian account and location9	CAD11
Capture	Automatic only; manual capture is declined9	Not stated on the page read
Refunds	In person, same card, partial allowed; not from the API or Dashboard9	In store the customer must be present; partial refunds online only11
Chargebacks	Not stated on the page read	"In case of technical errors and goods not received"11
Settlement	Normal Stripe payouts	3 days11

So "no chargebacks" is not quite right: Adyen lists Interac chargebacks for technical errors and goods not received. Pricing is not public on these pages. Adyen says network and interchange fees are lower than on other cards, without a number.11

For which local methods matter in each country, see our guide to local payment methods.

Visa's rules for Canadian debit cards

When a Canadian debit card pays as Visa Debit, Visa's Core Rules (April 2026) apply. Four points concern merchants and acquirers.12

You can choose debit or credit. In Canada, a merchant can elect to be a Visa Debit Acceptor or a Visa Credit Acceptor and decline the other category of domestic Visa cards (section 1.5.4.3).
Don't steer the customer. If a Visa card also bears another payment mark, such as Interac, the merchant "may not intentionally mislead the Cardholder concerning what payment service or system will be used" (section 1.5.4.3).
The statement says which network. Issuers must identify Visa Debit transactions as Visa transactions on account statements (section 4.1.4.4). That is why one purchase shows as "Interac purchase" and another as Visa Debit.
Partial approvals. Canadian acquirers must support partial authorization on Visa Debit and prepaid cards, card-absent and card-present, for a list of MCCs that includes 5411 grocery, 5310 discount stores, 5977 cosmetics, 5999 specialty retail and 7399 business services (Table 7-3, p. 542 to 543). The merchant then sends the partial authorization indicator, reverses the approval if the buyer walks away, and clears no more than the approved amount.

A partial approval means the bank approves less than the order total, for example $60 on a $100 basket, and the customer pays the rest another way. Illustrative example.

How Tagada helps

Canadian card payments, routed

On the card side of a Canadian checkout, Visa Debit and credit cards route across Stripe, Adyen and Tagada's own TagadaPay processor with one logic, with a cascade on decline, and the checkout offers Apple Pay and Google Pay. Tagada follows Visa and Mastercard rules and the laws that apply to payments.

Updated on October 15, 2026

Nick Bonnassies

CMO at Tagada

CMO at Tagada. Before Tagada, Nick built direct-to-consumer brands that generated over $115M in sales, raised over $25M in crowdfunding and sold two of them. He also works as a fractional CMO on marketing operations and AI systems.

Frequently asked questions

What does Interac mean in banking?

Interac is the Canadian network that moves debit payments and transfers between banks. When you pay with your bank card at a Canadian store, take cash from another bank's machine or send an e-Transfer, Interac routes the transaction. It is run by Interac Corp., not by your bank, and you don't open an Interac account: you use your normal bank account.

What is an Interac e-Transfer?

It is a way to send money from your bank account to someone else's using only their email address or mobile number. Both people need an account at a participating Canadian bank or credit union. The receiver deposits it after answering a security question, or automatically with Autodeposit. Interac says most business payments land within seconds.

Are there fees on Interac e-Transfer?

Interac says e-Transfer fees are set by each financial institution, so the cost depends on your bank and account plan. Limits work the same way. Scotiabank, for example, shows a daily limit specific to each account in online banking rather than one public figure. For businesses, Interac advertises up to $25,000 per transaction, depending on the bank and account type.

Can I still pay with Interac Online?

No. Interac says Interac Online is no longer available as of October 31, 2024. Online, Canadians now pay with the card number of a co-badged debit card, such as Visa Debit, with Interac Debit inside Apple Pay or Google Pay, or, at merchants on KONEK, with Interac Direct from their bank account.

Is Interac Direct the same as Interac Direct Payment?

No. Interac Direct Payment was the old name for paying with your debit card and PIN in a store, which Interac now calls Interac Debit. Interac Direct is a new online product, launched on the KONEK checkout in November 2025, that pays from a chequing, savings or line of credit account after an online banking login.

Can you use Interac outside Canada?

Partly. Interac says you can pay with Interac Debit in the U.S. where accepted, and extra fees may apply. For sending money abroad, Interac e-Transfer works with Mastercard and Western Union. A co-badged Visa Debit card pays as Visa outside Canada, wherever Visa is accepted.

Sources

Checked October 15, 2026

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