Interac e-Transfer Automation for Therapists and Clinics
Your clients pay by Interac e-Transfer, Colib does the reconciliation. Each transfer is matched to the right client and the right invoice, the invoice is marked paid and the receipt goes out. Even when the client pays before you have created the invoice.
No More Reconciling e-Transfers by Hand
Opening every Interac email, finding the client, finding the invoice, marking it paid, sending the receipt: Colib reconciles your e-Transfers for you, several times a day.
The Sender Becomes a Client
The sender's name is compared with your active clients, whatever the upper case, accents or hyphens. When a client pays under another name, match it once by hand and Colib remembers it.
The Amount Finds Its Invoice
Colib looks for the open invoice whose balance is exactly the amount received, including the invoices of every family member when the sender is responsible for a group of clients.
Paid, Receipt Sent
The invoice becomes paid, or partially paid with the remaining balance, and the receipt is emailed to the client if automatic receipts are turned on.
How Interac e-Transfer Reconciliation Works
Interac e-Transfer is how most Canadian clients pay their therapist. Colib turns the notification email into a reconciled payment.
- In your payment settings, turn on the Interac automation and enter the email address that receives your Interac notifications.
- In that mailbox, add a rule that forwards the emails from Interac to Colib. Step-by-step guides exist for Gmail and Outlook.
- Several times a day, Colib reads the new notifications of transfers received and matches each one to a client and an invoice.
- The invoice is marked paid, the receipt is sent, and you get a notification for every automatic match or mismatch.
Put Your Interac Payments on Autopilot
Turn on automatic receipts and you have nothing left to do: when Colib finds the client and the amount matches the invoice balance, the receipt is emailed to the client right away.
One Setting
In your invoice settings, turn on automatic sending of the receipt when a payment is recorded. It applies to Interac payments matched automatically or by hand.
Match Found, Receipt Sent
Client identified and amount equal to the balance: the invoice becomes paid and the client receives the receipt, without you opening Colib.
Only When It Is Fully Paid
For a partial payment, no receipt is sent: the invoice stays partially paid until the next transfers cover the balance. Anything that does not match is left for you to check.
Paid Before the Invoice? Reconciled Anyway
Many clients send their e-Transfer right after the session, before the invoice exists, or even before you have created their client file. Colib now keeps these payments waiting and applies them as soon as the invoice or the client is created.
The Payment Waits up to 30 Days
When the client is found but no invoice can receive the payment yet, the transfer stays in your Interac payments with the status Client found, and you are notified.
The Client Can Be Created Later
If the sender is not a client yet, Colib compares the name again with your new or corrected client files for 10 days, then matches the payment to their invoice.
Not for This Invoice? Say So
One switch on the invoice, Do not match these Interac e-Transfers with this invoice, and Colib keeps your choice: the payment stays available for another invoice.
You Create the Invoice by Hand
The invoice screen shows the Interac e-Transfer received, with its amount, date, sender and reference. It is applied when you save: the invoice becomes paid and turns into a receipt. Several waiting transfers can be applied together.
The Invoice Is Created Automatically
When an appointment is marked completed with automatic invoicing turned on, the waiting transfer is applied right away: the invoice is paid, the appointment is marked paid, the client's card is not charged and only the receipt is sent.
A Draft Invoice Is Finalized
The same happens when an invoice leaves the draft status from the list of invoices. The next reconciliation catches any other case.
Automatic Reconciliation, Always Under Your Control
Every transfer received is listed, with its status, and every match can be changed.
One List of Interac Payments
Date, sender, amount, client, invoice, Interac reference and message: see each transfer and its status at a glance, Matched, Client found, No matching or Ignored.
Reconcile by Hand in Two Clicks
Choose the client, then the invoice. Colib learns the name used for Interac, so the next transfers from that client are matched without you.
Revoke a Wrong Match
Two clients with the same name? Revoke the match: the invoice is reopened, its PDF is updated and the action is recorded in the audit log. Then pick the right invoice.
Partial Payments
A transfer lower than the balance leaves the invoice partially paid. The next transfers from the same client complete it.
The Right Person Is Notified
Each match or mismatch notifies the client's practitioner, or the account owner when the practitioner has no access to financial information.
Access by Role
Matching, revoking and ignoring payments require edit rights on financial information. A practitioner who only sees their own clients only sees their transfers.
Built for Practices Paid by Interac e-Transfer
If a good share of your clients pay by e-Transfer, the automation saves you time every week.
Mental Health Practices
Psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors and social workers whose clients pay by e-Transfer after each session.
Rehabilitation and Nutrition
Speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and nutritionists who invoice many short appointments.
Solo Practitioners
No assistant to do the bookkeeping? Payments are reconciled while you see clients, and your evenings are no longer spent matching e-Transfers. Solo practices.
Clinics With Several Practitioners
Dozens of transfers a week, for several practitioners: each match notifies the right practitioner, and your administrative staff only handles the exceptions. Multi-clinic management.
Child, Couple and Family Therapy
A parent or partner pays for several people? When the sender is responsible for a group of clients, the invoices of every member of the group are considered.
Clients Who Pay Right Away
Clients who send the transfer as soon as the session ends, before you write the invoice, or who pay in several installments.
How Security Works
The automation is built on a simple principle: Colib reads the Interac notifications you choose to forward, and nothing else.
No Access to Your Bank
Colib never asks for your banking credentials and never connects to your bank account. It cannot move money: the transfer is deposited in your account exactly as before.
You Choose What Is Forwarded
Your forwarding rule only targets the emails sent by Interac (notify@payments.interac.ca). Your other emails never leave your mailbox, and a copy of each notification stays with you.
Only Transfers Received
Colib only analyzes the notifications of transfers you received. Money you sent, expiry reminders and any other email reaching the Colib address are ignored.
Linked to Your Account Only
A notification is attributed to a clinic only if it was forwarded by the address that clinic entered in its settings. Each address can be used by a single Colib account, and the addresses of Interac itself are refused.
Read by a Program, Then Deleted
The Colib Interac mailbox is only used by our program. Nobody reads the emails, and they are deleted automatically once processed. The payment details kept are stored with the rest of your data, in Canada.
You Stay in Charge
Only users with edit rights on financial information can match, revoke or ignore a payment, and revocations are recorded in the audit log. Turn the automation off at any time: your addresses are removed.
Set Up in a Few Minutes, With the Mailbox You Already Have
No bank connection and no new account to open: Colib only needs a copy of the Interac notifications you already receive.
Gmail and Google Workspace
Create a filter on the emails from Interac and forward them to Colib. Gmail step-by-step guide.
Outlook and Microsoft 365
Add a forwarding rule in Outlook on the web; it keeps working when your computer is off. Outlook step-by-step guide.
Check That It Works
Once the automation is on, an Interac Payments menu appears in Invoices. Each new transfer is listed there after the next reconciliation.
Key features for Therapists in Canada
Our secure EMR platform provides the tools you need to successfully run your practice.
Scheduler
Create appointments in seconds, or allow your clients to book. Two-way Google Calendar & Outlook sync and virtual appointments are available with all our plans.
Charts/Notes
Digitizing your notes and charts is simple and fast with our speech recognition tool and our AI-powered note generation tool ✨.
Easy Booking
Mobile-Friendly
Colib is accessible everywhere from any device, at any time. Your clients get a secure portal.
Receipts & Payments
Facilitate insurance reimbursements with digital receipts and payments with our online card payment system.
Interac e-Transfer reconciliation -- frequently asked questions
Can't find your answer? Contact us.
Which plan includes the Interac automation?
Every plan, at no extra cost. Plans start at $3 per appointment ($9/month minimum). See our pricing.
How does Interac e-Transfer reconciliation work?
You turn on the automation and forward your Interac notification emails to Colib. Several times a day, each transfer received is matched to a client by the sender's name and to an open invoice by its amount, then the invoice is marked paid. Transfers that cannot be reconciled automatically are listed for you to reconcile by hand.
Can the automation run on autopilot?
Yes. With automatic receipts turned on in your invoice settings, a transfer matched to a client for the exact balance marks the invoice paid and the receipt is emailed to the client automatically. Partial payments and mismatches are left for you to check.
What if my client pays before I create the invoice?
The transfer waits up to 30 days. It is applied to the client's next invoice, whether you create it by hand, it is created automatically after the appointment, or it leaves the draft status.
What if the sender is not a client yet?
For 10 days, Colib compares the sender again with the clients you create or correct. As soon as the client file exists, the payment is linked to it, then to the invoice.
What if the client uses a different name for Interac?
Match the transfer by hand once from the list of Interac payments. Colib remembers the name used for Interac and recognizes the client automatically next time.
Does Colib need access to my bank account?
No. You forward the Interac notification emails you already receive to Colib. Colib never connects to your bank.
Is it secure to forward my Interac emails to Colib?
Yes. Only the emails sent by Interac are forwarded, Colib cannot move money, the emails are read by a program only and deleted once processed, and a notification is only attributed to the clinic whose address forwarded it.
Are some invoices never matched automatically?
Yes: drafts, paid or cancelled invoices, invoices older than 6 months or not in Canadian dollars, invoices addressed to a third-party payer, invoices paid by card through online booking, and invoices where you turned off the matching.
Can I undo a match?
Yes. Revoke it from the list of Interac payments: the invoice goes back to unpaid or partially paid, then match the transfer with the right invoice or ignore it.
Explore More Colib Resources
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