The Exchange Network

There appears to be some questions regarding exactly how The Exchange network works, and what the costs are to our members. Let me take the time to explain things in a little more detail than what is on our website.

First off, there is a cost involved with every Interac transaction. When dealing with a Point of Sale transaction such as making a purchase at a store, the cost is minimal. The transaction is routed from the store, to the switch (for us a company called Threshold) and then to us. The switch charges a service fee to us for this transaction as does the Interac association.
Shared Cash transactions or withdrawals at a bank machine cost a little more. The route the transaction takes getting to the switch can be a little more involved and we are charged more for each transaction.

The charges to your Credit Union from Interac and Threshold represent the fees you see on your account whenever you use your debit card. You are charged .30¢ for each Point of Sale transaction and $1.25 for each Shared Cash transaction to offset what the Credit Union pays to provide this service. Those fees are not revenue generating for us.

In addition to these costs most bank machines that you would use to withdrawal funds from also charge you a fee. This fee is incorporated in to your withdrawal amount. Let’s say you withdrawal $80 from a TD Canada Trust machine. Your Credit Union Account will most likely read the following:

Jan 31 - IAF - $1.25
Jan 31 - IAW - $81.50

That extra $1.50 in the withdrawal amount is what you were charged by TD to use their machine.

This is where The Exchange comes in. If you were to repeat that exact transaction on a machine displaying The Exchange logo, your statement would read the following.

Jan 31 - IAF - $1.25
Jan 31 - IAW - $80.00

You are still charged the $1.25 to use your debit card, but you’re not charged any additional fees by the machine you are using.

This service is available all across Canada and at many locations throughout the USA. However, any Interac transaction done outside of Canada will result in a fee of $3.00 rather than the $1.25.

The Exchange also offers the ability to make deposits in to your HCCU account from any bank machine that accepts deposits displaying their logo. The deposits are received instantly and this is all available with your current blue HCCU Interac card.

I hope this clears up any confusion, but if you have any question please direct them to the comment section below and I’ll respond as soon as possible.