These Are The Tools Buyers, Sellers, And Real Estate Pros Should Be Using In 2025

This article has been produced in partnership with Interac.

In the fast-paced, high-stakes world of real estate, verifying someone’s identity is no menial task — and it’s never been more important.

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller trading hands on a home, a renter signing a fresh lease, or a professional who oversees hundreds of deals a year, modern digital verification tools are poised to reshape how you protect privacy, validate identities, and close your real estate deals with confidence in today's market.

A leading player in the digital verification space is Interac VerifiedTM; a suite of services from one of the most trusted sources for secure transactions, Canada-wide.

Combining ease of use with serious security measures, Interac Verified sets a new standard for how the real estate industry handles identity verification through trusted data sources and government-issued documents in 2025. And if you're not already using this suite of resources — well, the time is now.

Why Real Estate Needs Verification Innovation

Real estate has long been a magnet for fraudsters; the risk isn't a new one. But as the sector continues to digitize, it faces increasingly sophisticated threats, including identity theft and data breaches. Manual verification methods — still common across the industry — don't only open the door to these risks, but they’re also inefficient when compared to digital methods. These traditional methods can result in delayed transaction turnarounds and increased risk due to human error.

What's more, professionals are under pressure to meet ever-evolving regulations, such as Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) obligations, Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) strategies. Failing to comply can jeopardize business — not to mention client experience (and trust).

This is where the three Interac Verified offerings come into play — Interac® document verification service, Interac® verification service, and, introducing: the new Interac Verified credential service. Each of these services help streamline onboarding, support compliance, and deliver fast, safe ways to confirm a person is who they say they are.

Interac Document Verification Service

Interac document verification service uses a simple three-step process: A user takes a photo of an accepted government-issued ID, snaps a live selfie to be used for a biometric liveness check, and, in minutes, they can have their identity verified.

For real estate pros with businesses acting as relying parties, onboarding is as simple as configuring your desired verification method via the Interac Verified business portal, and then prompting users to verify with Interac document verification service.

Accepted documents include Canadian driver’s licences, passports (Canadian and select international), provincial photo ID cards, permanent resident cards, select provincial photo health cards, Indian Status cards, and veteran’s service cards¹.

This type of digital service isn't just convenient in today's real estate market, but it can actually help support compliance. For example, as of last January, the Law Society of Ontario requires law firms using digital signing platforms (ex: DocuSign) to verify client identity using approved methods. Interac document verification can directly support this requirement, making it especially useful for real estate lawyers and agents (and those working with these professionals to get their real estate deals done).

Interac Verification Service

The second offering in the Interac suite of verification solutions, Interac verification service allows users to verify who they are using their existing online banking login with a participating Canadian financial institution². Once logged in, they can consent to securely share personal data (like name, address, and date of birth) with the requesting business, and swiftly and easily complete verification.

Again here, real estate professionals follow the steps outlined above for relying parties. Once users move through the verification steps, your business will receive the requested verification data in seconds.

For buyers and renters, the ability to verify identity and data so quickly — and without fumbling with physical documents — makes for a frictionless user experience. Meanwhile, Interac verification service helps streamline real estate professionals’ compliance with FINTRAC rules and reduces time spent on manual checks.

Supported by leading Canadian financial institutions and used by businesses nationwide, this service helps minimize fraud risk, by leveraging the security services built to protect Canadians and their financial assets. When it comes to fast onboarding, fewer errors, and top-tier security, Interac verification service just makes sense — especially for those in the know in real estate.

Interac

Introducing: Interac Verified credential service

Combining the strengths of Interac document verification service and Interac verification service, the new Interac Verified credential service introduces a reusable credential that can streamline verification across the real estate transaction journey.

Designed with both security and simplicity in mind, this credential allows users to verify once*, and then safely share only the necessary identity information with relying parties; no repeated document uploads, no redundant steps.

By leveraging trusted sources — such as online banking logins and accepted government-issued IDs — and storing credentials directly on a user’s smartphone (protected by smartphone-level security measures and encryption), the Interac Verified credential service offers real estate pros a more holistic, efficient, and privacy-conscious way to move through client transactions³. For renters, buyers, and sellers, the credential service means faster interactions — and greater peace of mind.

Signaling strong industry confidence, FCT — the leading provider of title and real estate solutions nationwide — is deploying the new service across its digital real estate ecosystem, establishing a foundation for smarter and more secure Canadian real estate transactions.

Verification For All

For buyers and sellers, Interac Verified brings confidence to processes that can often feel murky. For renters, it reduces the hold-ups in application processes — especially in hot, fast-moving, and competitive markets. And for real estate professionals — from agents and lawyers to mortgage specialists and developers — Interac Verified streamlines operations and supports critical compliance needs.

In short: the Interac Verified suite of tools is the resource that everyone in real estate should be reaching for in 2025 — and beyond.

To learn more about Interac Verified and its role in transforming digital verification across Canada, get in touch with the Interac Verified team.

*With the Interac Verified credential service, users can reuse their information stored in a credential to validate their identity for a period of up to 12 months.

¹For full list of government-issued documents eligible for verification by the Interac document verification service, clickhere.

²For a list of participating banks or credit unions that can be used to log in or access the Interac verification serviceor generate an Interac Verified credential, clickhere.

³For full list of government-issued documents eligible for verification to generate an Interac Verified credential, clickhere.

Interac and the Interac Verified logo are trademarks of Interac Corp. Used under licence.

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This article was produced in partnership with STOREYS Custom Studio.