Have you ever lost a bet with your wife and needed to send her the money since you were out of cash? OK, maybe I’ve lost the bet to my husband, but a girl can dream right? Anyway, say you need to pay someone back and you’d like to transfer them the money straight from your bank account to theirs. With Tangerine you can move the money by using email for free from your chequing account to a friend or relative’s bank: Here’s how.

Before You Email Any Money

First, make sure the person you are sending the money to is ready to receive it. I can just imagine my Mom’s panic if I emailed her cash. She’s not keen on technology and doesn’t use internet banking. It also wouldn’t be a great idea to email money to someone who turns out to be away for a three-week unplugged vacation.

Email them first and ask if this is a good time. It’s a good way to check that you are planning to send the money to the email address they’d like to receive it in. They may suggest another email address is better.

And the person receiving the cash does not need to have internet banking set up. They only need access to a website and some information about their own bank account. For more details, please see the companion article How to Accept an Email Money Transfer Sent from Tangerine.

How Long Will It Take to Transfer Money From Tangerine Using Email?

NOTE: No matter whether you use Interac or Email to transfer your money, if you use the choice Send Now, the amount will be taken out of your chequing account immediately!

When you look at the choices:

• Free! Tangerine Email Money Transfer (2-3 business days)
• $1.00 Interac e-Transfer (Instant)

You can probably guess that the email transfer will not be “instant.”

Actually, if you use the email money transfer to send money from your Tangerine account to another person who has a Tangerine account, it is an almost “instant” transaction. If the person is ready to receive your email, they can accept the transfer and receive the money within a few minutes. (I tested this.)

If you email money to someone who is not a Tangerine client the wait will be 2-3 business days.

I tested how long it took to transfer money by email from a person with a Tangerine chequing account to another person with a Tangerine Savings account.

• The email transfer was sent at 9:30.
• The money was deducted immediately from the Sender’s Tangerine chequing account.
• The email was received and the transfer was accepted at 9:32.
• The money appeared immediately in the Receiver’s Tangerine savings account.

I am testing how long it takes to send money to someone who does not bank with Tangerine. I’ve sent a transfer, the person has received the email and completed the information to permit the transfer.

• The Tangerine part of the transfer was done on July 14 at 2 p.m. ET.
• The email was received and the data entered to accept the transfer on July 14 at 2:05 p.m. ET.
• It’s now the morning of July 15 and it’s not there yet.
• The cash showed up in the bank account on July 16 [updated when it arrived].

How Much Money Can I Email? How Little?

Tangerine has some restrictions on its email money transfer. The program says:

• Minimum transfer $5
• Maximum amount $3 000. 000 Yes, for some reason it has three zeroes after the decimal!
• Daily maximum $3 000
• Weekly maximum $10 000
• Monthly maximum $10 000

I think those daily, weekly and monthly maximums are probably for all of your email transfers, not for only the transfers to one friend. I don’t think you can send $10 000 to each of three friends in the same month. Fortunately, not too many of us need to.

I can see where that might be a problem, though, if you were trying to transfer university tuition to 3 of your children in September. So I’ll check with Tangerine for the details.

Back again after a quick telephone call to Tangerine:
Yes, the maximum is $10 000 a month total, not per recipient. So if you’re trying to transfer large amounts in the same month, perhaps to cover children’s tuition fees, you’ll probably need to write some cheques as well as use the email transfer system. Unless they’re all going to schools with reasonable tuition fees like McGill.

How to Email Someone Money Using a Tangerine Chequing Account

1. Sign in to your Tangerine Chequing Account.
2. From the list of choices at the left side of the screen, click on Email my money.

The Email My Money Page

If you’ve never emailed money to this person before, below the To field, click on the Add recipient link.

The Add Email Recipient Popup Window

1. In the First name field, type the person’s given name.
2. In the Last name field, type their last name.
3. In the Email address field, type the complete email address.
4. In the Email Money Transfer question field, type the question they must answer to get the money.
5. In the Email Money Transfer answer field, type the answer they must give to the question to get the money.
   • The answer has to be only one word.
   • There cannot be any spaces between characters.
   • The answer can’t use numbers or special characters.
   • If the answer is a swear word it may be rejected.
6. In the Email language field, click to select the English or French button.
7. Click on the Add button.

The Email My Money Page, continued

Once you’ve set up the person to receive an email money transfer, you can send the money.

1. For the Transfer type, click to select the radio button beside Free! Tangerine Email Money Transfer
2. In the Amount field, type the number of dollars.
   I typed 200 000 000. OK, maybe I didn’t.
   When you get ready to use this field you will be shown a list of restrictions.
3. From the drop-down list in the From Field, select the chequing account from which to take the money.
   (You may have a chequing account and a joint chequing account.)
4. From the drop-down list in the To field, select the person to whom you want to email the money.
5. Your email address will be automatically filled in based on your account settings.
   Your Email Money Transfer question and Email Money Transfer answer will be filled in with the information you created under the Add recipient link.
   You can change either the question or the answer though by editing the text.
6. You can type a message of up to 250 characters to include in the email if you want.
   I typed: I still think the answer was Pineapple.
7. In the When section, click on the Now or Later button.
   NOTE: If you select Later, the money will NOT be taken out of your chequing account immediately. Be sure to make yourself a note that you have less money than you think you have! Until the transfer comes out.
   If you select Later, you can choose the date from the calendar.
8. Click on the Next button.

The You’re almost done…here’s what’s going to happen: Page

Review the information on the page.
If it looks ok, click on the Next button.

The You’re Done Page

Make a note of the confirmation number in case you need to discuss the transfer with Tangerine.

Click on Continue Banking.

The View My Accounts Page

Click on the View my Accounts link at the left side of the screen.

You’ll notice your chequing account balance has already dropped by the amount of the transfer, unless you set up a transfer to take place Later.

If you’re finished banking, click on the Log Me Out link.

For increased security, clear your browser cache and close your browser session.

What You Have To Do to Receive Money Sent by an Email Transfer from Tangerine

Now, of course, the person you sent the money to has to receive it and deposit it into their bank account. You can read the details in the companion article How to Accept an Email Money Transfer from Tangerine.

How To Change Your Tangerine Email Money Contacts

You can

• add new recipients,
• delete old ones, and
• change their email addresses and
• change their transfer questions and answers.

1. From the list of links on the left side of the screen, choose Email my money.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click on the blue link: Manage my email money contacts.
3. To edit the information for a recipient, click on the pencil button in the row with the
   person’s name.
   You can then change their
   • first name,
   • last name,
   • email address,
   • email money transfer question,
   • email money transfer answer, and
   • the email language choice of French or English.
4. Or to delete a recipient, click on the garbage can button in the row with the person’s name.
   To confirm you want to delete the person from the list, click on the Submit button.
5. Under the Receiving tab, you can choose where to deposit money received from a sender.

Related Reading

• How to Accept Money Sent to You by Email from a Tangerine Account

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Do you email money to your friends, family or colleagues? Do you prefer it to writing a cheque? Please share your views with a comment.