Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)

Electronic Funds Transfer – this is the place where the old-fashioned concept of money transfers converges with the modern technology of electronic funds transfer, or EFT (Electronic funds transfer). You probably use EFT all the time – it’s just a completely automatic way to transfer money from one bank account to another bank account. Data is exchanged; there is no paper money. Using a debit card in the store transfers money from your current account to the store’s bank account. Direct deposit funds transfer money from your employer’s bank account to yours. Both of these transactions are examples of EFT, like online money transfer.

But online money transfer is markedly different from EFT – it is not a way to pay bills via the Internet. Online money transfers are the modern equivalent of money transfers: you can instantly send money to someone only by transferring money (or data representing that money) from you to another person. Usually, sending and receiving parties related to a bank account requires a little more contact information.

For example, a mobile phone number or email address – an online money transfer can be made for a small fee from a secure website, a service based on any computer with access to the Internet. And there is no need to go to a bank branch to transfer funds.