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When you use GEFT (Guaranteed Electronic Funds Transfer) as your payment method, Flinks Pay collects your money using a Guaranteed Electronic Funds Transfer while assuming the EFT risk on your behalf. This product is currently offered strictly to licensed banks only. Choose this payment method if:
  • You need guaranteed payments with immediate risk transfer to Flinks.
  • You want to offer customers a secure EFT option without bearing collection risk.
  • You require real-time guarantee decisions during the payment flow.
Customer has the option to automatically proceed with the payment or to receive risk profile from Flinks and make a decision whether they want to proceed or not.

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What is GEFT?

GEFT allows you to initiate a one-time withdrawal (debit) from an end-user’s account with guaranteed settlement. For each session, Flinks evaluates the transaction and will either:
  • Provide a guarantee – the payment is approved and Flinks assumes the EFT risk; you do not need to take any additional action to initiate the payment.
  • Decline a guarantee – the payment is not approved; the user should be offered an alternative payment method outside of GEFT.

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Key Features

. The settlement is guaranteed for the customer, so they can proceed with fronting that amount to the end user.

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Guarantee System

  • Risk Assumption: Flinks assumes all EFT risks for guaranteed transactions
  • Automatic Processing: Guaranteed payments are automatically initiated without additional merchant action
  • Real-time Evaluation: Each transaction is evaluated for guarantee eligibility during the flow

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PAD Requirement

Before a debit can be processed, Flinks must have a valid Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) agreement completed by the user. Through the session creation and subsequent status updates, Flinks confirms that the user has agreed to the PAD terms before initiating the payment.

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Funds Availability

For guaranteed transactions, funds typically become available shortly after the next Payments Canada submission window. Timelines can vary by receiving financial institution. In most cases, EFT debit funds are available to Flinks within 24 hours, but this may take up to 72 hours depending on the sending institution.

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Payment Processing Windows

Flinks follows Payments Canada EFT processing windows. Guaranteed EFT payments are automatically scheduled and initiated according to these windows:
DayWindow 1 CutoffWindow 1 SubmissionWindow 2 CutoffWindow 2 SubmissionWindow 3 CutoffWindow 3 Submission
Mon-Fri2:30am EDT9:30am EDT1:30pm EDT4:30pm EDT6:00pm EDT9:00pm EDT
Sat-SunN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
HolidaysN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
Any payment created before a cutoff time will be delivered to your account within approximately 2 hours of the next window; payments created after a cutoff will be processed in the following window.

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Integration Components

A Guaranteed EFT integration typically includes three main components:
  1. Onboarding and verification
  2. Initiating and monitoring payments
  3. Reconciling payments

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Guarantee Decision During the Flow

After the user connects their external account and before the PAD agreement is presented, Flinks evaluates the transaction and issues a Guaranteed EFT status indicating whether the transaction can be guaranteed. This status is available via: If the guarantee is not offered, the session ends and the user cannot proceed with GEFT for that attempt. If the guarantee is offered, and the user accepts and signs the PAD agreement, Flinks automatically initiates the payment and updates the status.

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Payment Instructions and Settlement

When a guarantee is accepted, Flinks issues two payment instructions:
  1. EFT credit from the Flinks float account to your configured destination account
  2. EFT debit from the end-user’s account to the Flinks float account
From a settlement perspective, the key status is the EFT credit to your account, as this reflects the funds you have received. The associated debit from the end-user’s account is also reported for visibility (e.g., AML and operational review), but does not change your guaranteed position.

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Getting Started

To implement GEFT in your application:
  1. Setup Guide: Complete setup and implementation walkthrough
  2. API Documentation: Technical API reference and endpoints
  3. Event Handling: Frontend event integration
  4. Sandbox Guide: Testing and development environment setup

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Requirements

Before starting your GEFT integration:
  • Onboarding: Complete standard onboarding and verification process
  • MSB Requirements: Meet applicable MSB requirements and be approved to use the service
  • Dedicated Support: You will be supported by a Relationship Manager and Technical Account Manager
  • Production Instance: Flinks will provision your production GEFT instance and funding account details
  • Sandbox Access: Use the sandbox environment for testing and integration development
Contact your Flinks representative to begin the onboarding process for GEFT.