The Ins and Outs of E-Transfers: What Happens if Your TD E-Transfer is Not Accepted?

INTERAC e-transfer is a very common and convenient way to send money to friends or merchants, as it only takes a few minutes! 

However, if you’ve noticed that the e-transfer you sent wasn’t accepted by the recipient, you may wonder what will happen to the balance of money that you removed from your account. If an e-transfer isn’t accepted, can you reclaim the funds? 

If you have an account at TD Bank, keep reading below to learn how TD handles unaccepted e-transfers, along with other related FAQs that you may find useful!

What happens if an e-transfer is not accepted (TD Bank)?

When you send an e-transfer to a recipient, your accounts will go through a couple of different processes. 

If your TD bank account is set up for auto-deposit, the money you send to your recipient will be entered into their bank balance within seconds of sending the funds. 

However, if your account is not set up for auto-deposit, the recipient will have to undergo a two-factor authentication process by accurately answering a security question. 

Therefore, when sending the funds, you will have to choose a question and provide the answer to your recipient in order for them to accept the money into their account. 

If the recipient doesn’t answer the security question accurately, the money will be sent back to your bank account. Once the money is put back into your account, you can rearrange a new e-transfer with your former recipient or decide on another form of payment.

How to reclaim a TD INTERAC e-transfer

If the e-transfer you sent wasn’t claimed by the recipient, the money will automatically be re-deposited into your bank account. Therefore, you won’t have to go through any process to reclaim the funds. 

However, if the money wasn’t deposited due to a delivery issue, such as a full inbox or server/IP address problem, you will receive an email notifying you that an error occurred. In these cases, you will have to go into your TD account and manually cancel the e-transfer. 

Why didn’t my e-transfer go through properly?

If you’re wondering what happens if an e-transfer is not accepted, you also may be wondering why it wasn’t accepted. In most cases, if the money you sent through e-transfer wasn’t deposited into the recipient’s account, it’s because they didn’t answer the security question accurately. 

However, there are a number of other reasons why an e-transfer may not have gone through properly, from simple human error to possible fraudulent activity. 

Let’s consider these alternative reasons below, along with how to reclaim the funds for each situation:

The recipient didn’t claim the funds within the expiry date

When you send money through your TD bank account using e-transfer, the person receiving the funds has up to thirty days to claim their money. However, if they fail to accept the money within this time, the funds will be sent back to your personal bank account.

If your recipient hasn’t claimed the money within thirty days, they may not have seen the email notifying them of the transaction. The email may have ended up in their spam folder, or it may have gotten buried in a full inbox.

Therefore, when sending an e-transfer, it’s advisable to follow up with your recipient shortly after to ensure they received the email. Note that INTERAC transfer notifications can often take up to thirty minutes to show up in a recipient’s email.

You entered the wrong contact information

If the funds you sent through e-transfer haven’t arrived in your recipient’s account, it’s possible that you may have entered the wrong contact information when filling out the e-transfer form. 

If the wrong email address or phone number was used for the transfer, the money will be re-deposited into your personal bank account. Note that it may take a couple of days for the money to reappear in your account.

There’s an issue with your internet connection

Another explanation for a failed e-transfer is that your internet connection may be faulty. If your internet isn’t working properly, the TD app or website will not be able to complete the e-transfer.

If thirty minutes have gone by, and your recipient still hasn’t received the funds, check your personal bank balance to confirm whether the money was actually removed from your account.

If the funds are still present in your account, check your internet connection or reset your wifi router if you’re having trouble connecting to the TD server. Wait a few minutes and then log back into your TD account and re-process the transfer.

The transaction was intercepted by fraudsters

If your e-transfer hasn’t been processed properly, it could be that the transaction was intercepted by fraudsters. While this is far less common, fraud can occur if you or your recipient’s email account has been hacked or if someone got a hold of your banking information. 

If you suspect fraudulent activity on your TD account, contact your local TD Bank immediately and report incidents to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Other related FAQs

Now that you’re aware of what happens if an e-transfer is not accepted at TD Bank, you may have other questions regarding INTERAC e-transfers. 

To learn how to set up e-transfer on your bank account and how to cancel an e-transfer, keep reading below!

How can I send an e-transfer from my TD account?

To send an e-transfer from your TD bank account, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your TD account and select Interac e-Transfer on the left-hand side of your navigation menu.
2. On the Interac e-Transfer menu, select the Send Money option. This will take you to the e-transfer form section.
3. On the Send Money page, select which account you’d like to withdraw your money from.
4. Enter the total amount of money you wish to transfer. Note that there are daily and weekly limits to how much money you can send to another bank account, which is listed on the Fees & Limits section of the Send Money page.
5. Next, click the Recipient drop-down menu and choose the person to whom you wish to send your e-transfer. If your recipient is not in your contacts list, you can add them by selecting the Add New button.
6. If your recipient doesn’t have auto-deposit set up on their account, go to the Create a Security Question section and type in a question and answer. Re-type the answer in the Confirm Answer field.
7. As an option, you can include a message to your recipient and then click the Next button.
8. Review all the entered information to confirm it’s all accurate, and press Send Money.

How can I cancel an INTERAC e-transfer on TD?

If you would like to cancel an e-transfer you’ve already sent out, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your TD account and go to Interac e-Transfer History on your desktop. On the mobile banking app, Select the Money Sent/Money Requested section.
2. Select the transaction you’d like to cancel, and follow the steps listed on the page.

Note that if your recipient has auto-deposit enabled on their account, you will not be able to cancel the transaction. 

Conclusion: What happens if an e-transfer is not accepted? 

So, what happens if an e-transfer is not accepted from TD Bank? 

If the money was not deposited into the recipient’s account, this is likely because they didn’t answer the security question properly or did not accept the funds within the thirty-day limit.

If an e-transfer is not accepted, the money will be automatically deposited back into your bank account. However, note that it may take a few days for the funds to reappear in your bank account.

If you need to send money, but the amount is beyond the daily or weekly sending limit at TD Bank, or you need to send money to the US, we recommend that you use a money transfer service like Knightsbridge FX. Sign up for an account and start sending secure transactions today.