Activity Messenger Help Center

Pre-authorized debit batches (AFT) in Canada

AFT (Automated Funds Transfer) collects scheduled payments from Canadian bank accounts by file. Clients give their bank account on a form and choose a day of the month. Your team groups the payments that are due into a batch, exports an AFT file, sends it to your bank, then marks the batch processed to settle the invoices.

Activity Messenger does not send the file to your bank or receive its results. For Stripe debits, see Bank debits with Stripe. The two methods cannot be on the same form.

Before you start

Activity Messenger support switches AFT on for your organization. If you do not see Billing › Pre-authorized debit (batch AFT) or the Automated Funds Transfer (Canada) settings tab, contact support. You need access to invoices to work with batches.

1. Enter your bank details

1. Open Organization settings › Finance › Automated Funds Transfer (Canada).
2. Fill in Originator ID, Destination Data Centre, Originator name, Institutional ID Number for Returns and Account Number for Returns.
3. Click Update.

Until these are valid, export is disabled and the batch window lists what is missing. Test AFT withdrawal exports a file that withdraws $1 from a real person's account.

2. Offer AFT on a form

1. Open the form's Payment tab, then Payment options.
2. Switch on Pre-authorized debit (batch AFT).
3. Under Batch days of the month, type days from 1 to 28, separated by commas. The client picks one at checkout.
4. Set Number of payments and, optionally, Minimum amount.

If Stripe is connected, First payment by credit card collects the first payment by card and debits the rest from the bank account. Each client has one bank account on file; saving a new one replaces the old account on upcoming AFT payments.

3. Create a batch

1. Open Billing › Pre-authorized debit (batch AFT).
2. Click +.
3. Choose From and To. Go back to this date also includes older unpaid, unprocessed AFT payments.
4. Click Create.

The batch attaches AFT payments scheduled in the period that are unpaid, not failed, not cancelled, on a finalized invoice with a balance, and have a valid bank account. A draft with the same dates is reused.

4. Review the draft

Open the batch. You can:

• Filter by Paid, Not paid, Failed payment, Refunded or Void.
• Use Candidates (shown when some exist) to attach matching unpaid payments.
• Use Deleted to review payments deleted after they were attached, then click Sync.
• Click Sync to attach or release payments based on the current dates.

In the ⋯ menu, Modify changes the dates without syncing; open the batch and click Sync. Archive hides a draft, and Restore returns it from the Archived filter.

5. Export and send the file

Under Export, click AFT. The batch receives an AFT file number. Payments with a missing or invalid bank account are skipped and noted in the Log. Send the file to your bank yourself.

6. Mark the batch processed

Use Mark as processed only after the file was sent. Choose a Process date. The payments are marked paid on that date and applied to the invoices. The batch is then frozen: it cannot be edited or returned to draft. If the bank reports failures later, open each affected invoice and update the failed payment.

Settings reference

Common questions

Does Activity Messenger send the file to my bank? No. Download it with AFT and send it yourself (step 5).

Why is the AFT button disabled? A required bank detail is missing or invalid. The batch window lists each one.

Why does Mark as processed fail? A deleted payment is still attached (click Sync), a payment has no valid bank account, or its invoice is not finalized or has no balance.

What does it cost? A fee on settled AFT payments is added to your monthly subscription invoice, with a maximum of $5.00 plus applicable sales taxes. The settings tab shows the percentage and minimum.