Test CAD Collections (Sandbox)

In the Sandbox environment, you can simulate a CAD Interac e-Transfer collection without moving real funds. A simulation goes through the same collection pipeline as a live transfer: it credits your Sandbox CAD wallet and dispatches the same webhook your server will receive in production.

The simulation endpoint is available in the Sandbox environment only. It has no equivalent in Live (Production), where collections are triggered by real Interac e-Transfers from your payers.

Before you begin

You need the following in your Sandbox account:

1 - Get your Interac email alias

CAD collections are sent to an Interac email alias assigned to your virtual account, not to an account number. Retrieve your CAD virtual account using the get virtual account endpoint. The alias is returned in the data.accountInformation.otherInfo.interacEmail field:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "We use this to communicate information to you.",
  "data": {
    "status": "approved",
    "isActive": true,
    "currency": "CAD",
    "accountInformation": {
      "otherInfo": {
        "interacEmail": "[email protected]"
      }
    }
  }
}

CAD virtual accounts do not return an accountNumber. The Interac email alias is the only addressing detail your payers need, and it is the value you pass as payee.interacEmail when you simulate a collection.

2 - Make the simulation request

Send a POST request to the simulation endpoint with your Sandbox API key.

Endpoint: POST https://sandboxapi.fincra.com/collections/transfer/simulate

curl -X POST https://sandboxapi.fincra.com/collections/transfer/simulate \
  -H "api-key: YOUR_SANDBOX_SECRET_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount": 999,
    "currency": "CAD",
    "payer": {
        "name": "John Payer",
        "interacEmail": "[email protected]"
    },
    "payee": {
        "name": "Virtual Account name",
        "interacEmail": "<Your interact email>"
    },
    "reference": "{{$randomUUID}}",
    "narration": "sandbox CAD collection test"
}'

Request fields

Response

The endpoint returns the collection payload — the same object your webhook receives:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Collection processed successfully",
  "data": {
    "_id": "6512f3a1c8d4e90012ab34cd",
    "sourceCurrency": "CAD",
    "destinationCurrency": "CAD",
    "sourceAmount": 500,
    "destinationAmount": 500,
    "status": "successful",
    "customerName": "John Doe",
    "description": "Interac e-Transfer test",
    "reference": "FNC-CAD-8241097"
  }
}

Steps 3 and 4 describe the outcomes you can trigger from here, and the webhook
each one dispatches.

3 - Simulate a standard collection

A standard collection settles immediately. Use these amounts to test the two outcomes your integration will see most often:

In both cases the collection reaches a final state as soon as the simulation completes. No further action is required from you.

4 - Simulate a collection that requires an RFI

Collections above 1000 require additional information before they can be processed. We raise a Request for Information (RFI), and the collection holds until the request is answered.

Simulate this path to confirm your integration handles a collection that has neither succeeded nor failed. When the webhook arrives:

1. Read the collection ID from data._id.
2. Retrieve the outstanding requests for that collection.
3. Submit a response to each one, with supporting documents where required.
4. Wait for Fincra to review the collection and update its status.

See Handling Requests for Additional Information for Collections for the full procedure and the Additional Information API endpoints.

Errors