Money in, money out
What each payment method costs you in time
Registration guarantees that a withdrawal will be paid. It says nothing about when. The gap between the quickest and slowest method on this register is measured in days, and the choice you make at the cashier matters more than the operator you chose in the first place.
| Method | Operators | Fastest | Median | Slowest | Lowest min |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-wallets | 1 | 8 h | 8 h | 8 h | C$10 |
| Bank wire | 1 | 12 h | 12 h | 12 h | — |
| Skrill / MuchBetter | 1 | 12 h | 12 h | 12 h | C$10 |
| Interac e-Transfer | 22 | 15 min | 20 h | 3.0 days | C$5 |
| PayPal | 11 | 1 h | 1.0 days | 2.5 days | C$10 |
| Skrill | 1 | 1.0 days | 1.0 days | 1.0 days | C$20 |
| Neteller | 1 | 1.0 days | 1.0 days | 1.0 days | — |
| MuchBetter | 4 | 1.0 days | 1.5 days | 3.0 days | C$10 |
| iDebit / Instadebit | 1 | 1.5 days | 1.5 days | 1.5 days | C$10 |
| Instadebit | 1 | 1.5 days | 1.5 days | 1.5 days | C$10 |
| Visa | 2 | 2 h | 2.0 days | 2.0 days | C$10 |
| Mastercard | 1 | 2.0 days | 2.0 days | 2.0 days | C$10 |
| Apple Pay / Google Pay | 2 | 2.5 days | 2.5 days | 2.5 days | C$5 |
| Visa Debit | 1 | 2.5 days | 2.5 days | 2.5 days | C$10 |
| Visa/Mastercard debit | 10 | 3 h | 3.0 days | 4.0 days | C$5 |
| Visa/Mastercard | 6 | 2.0 days | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | C$10 |
| Bank transfer / EFT | 1 | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | C$10 |
| Visa Direct | 1 | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | C$10 |
| EFT / bank transfer | 1 | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | — |
| Online banking / EFT | 2 | 2.0 days | 3.0 days | 3.0 days | C$5 |
| Visa / Visa Debit | 1 | 3.5 days | 3.5 days | 3.5 days | C$20 |
| Visa Direct / Mastercard Send | 1 | 4.0 days | 4.0 days | 4.0 days | C$10 |
| EFT | 1 | 4.0 days | 4.0 days | 4.0 days | C$10 |
| EFT to linked bank (min C$2, no fees) | 1 | 4.5 days | 4.5 days | 4.5 days | C$2 |
| Bank transfer | 1 | 6.5 days | 6.5 days | 6.5 days | — |
| Apple Pay | 1 | — | — | — | C$20 |
| Trustly | 1 | — | — | — | C$10 |
| Interac Online / debit | 1 | — | — | — | C$10 |
Why Interac dominates here
Interac e-Transfer is a domestic bank-to-bank rail, so a registered operator can push money into a Canadian account without an international card network sitting in the middle taking its own two to five business days. That is the whole explanation for the spread in the table above. Nothing about card withdrawals is inherently slow at the operator's end; the delay belongs to the network and the issuing bank.
The part nobody warns you about
The first withdrawal from any registered operator is slower than every one after it, because identity verification happens on the way out rather than on the way in. Upload the documents when you open the account instead of when you first try to cash out, and the difference is typically a day. This is not an operator being obstructive; a registered operator is required to know who it is paying.
Times are medians reported across the market rather than a promise from any operator. A weekend, a bank holiday or a first withdrawal will all push the real figure higher.