Your Minimum Credit Card Payment Is Going Up In Quebec Next Month

The Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC) has put out a reminder that the minimum payment for credit cards in Quebec is set to increase starting on August 1, 2020.

Minimum payments in Quebec will go up by half a percentage point to 2.5%. The legal minimum will go up by the same rate each year until it reaches a total of 5% in 2025. This new rule was put into law in 2017. 

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From August 1, the amount required as a minimum payment on the balance of a credit card will be 2.5% of the balance of the card.

Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC) 

Since August 1, 2019, the OPC says, "all new credit card contracts include from the outset a periodic minimum payment that cannot be less than 5% of the balance."

The Office claims that this is to help "prevent over-indebtedness" among the public. 

"Making only the minimum payment on a credit card can be costly for consumers," said the OPC.

"For example, for a balance of $1,000 on a card with a credit rate of 19.9%, a consumer who makes a minimum payment set at 2.5% would repay the debt in 14 years and 7 months, while paying $1,433.99 in credit fees. With a minimum payment of 5%, they would repay their debt in 6 years and would have to pay $441.87 in credit fees."