Your Minimum Credit Card Payment Is About To Increase In Quebec
And it will keep increasing until 2025.
The Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC) put out a reminder on Tuesday that the minimum payment on Quebec credit cards is set to jump to 3% of consumers' balance as of August 1 — an increase of 0.5%.
The minimum payment will continue to increase every year until it reaches 5% in 2025. The change is "part of the government's efforts to prevent debt," according to the OPC, measures that came into effect in 2019.
Le paiement minimum sur les cartes de cr\u00e9dit sera \u00e0 3 % du solde \u00e0 compter du 1er ao\u00fbt! https://www.opc.gouv.qc.ca/actualite/conseils/article/le-paiement-minimum-sur-les-cartes-de-credit-sera-a-3-du-solde-a-compter-du-1er-aout\u00a0\u2026— OPC (@OPC) 1626803998
"Paying more than the minimum on a credit card allows consumers to save significantly on credit fees," the office said in a statement.
"For example, on a $1,000 balance on a card with a 19.9% credit rate, a consumer making a minimum payment of 2.5% would pay off the debt in 14 years and 7 months, paying a credit fee of $1,443.99. For a minimum payment of 5%, he would pay off his debt in 6 years and have to pay $441.87 in credit fees."
The OPC also encourages people who have trouble making minimum credit card payments to seek out free advisory services from a consumer association.
Since 2019, new Quebec credit cards all have minimum payments set to at least 5% of the card balance.