The sender opens an online banking session and chooses the recipient, the amount to send, as well as a security question and answer.

An e-mail or text message is then sent to the recipient, with instructions on how to retrieve the funds and answer the question, via a secure website.

[5]) If the recipient is subscribed to online banking at one of the participating institutions, the funds are deposited instantly at no extra charge.

Some e-Transfers can be automatically cancelled after 24 hours or after a period of up to 30 days, depending on the bank / the user.

An e-Transfer cannot bounce, as the funds are guaranteed, having been debited from the sender's account immediately upon initiating the transfer.

However, in some cases, for example two people with different banking institutions, transfers may take anywhere between near instant, or up to a few hours for the receiving party to get their emailed notice.

[7][8][9] In the same year, a paper published on arxiv.org examined the security and privacy of Interac e-Transfer and came to the conclusion that "Standard e-Transfers are potentially insecure against redirections" and that "the platform fails to protect its customers' privacy" due to relying on technologies such as e-mail and SMS.