The minimum payment of your credit card that must be made each month will drop from 4.5% to 5% of the total balance from August 1.
This new measure will apply to new contracts signed before August 2019, the Office of Consumer Protection said on Tuesday, adding that “this percentage was already applied according to a credit card request in the last six years”.
What it means
For purchases of $ 1000 with a credit card, the minimum monthly consumer payment will drop from $ 45 to $ 50, which should allow him to repay his debt faster and save on interest rates.
For purchases of $ 1,000 made with a card whose credit rate was 19.9%, the consumer who only carried out the minimum monthly payment paid credit costs of around $ 3,000 over more than 25 years.
From August, with a minimum payment set at 5% of the balance, this same debt will result in credit costs of just over $ 440 over 6 years.
“As far as possible, fully paying the balance of your credit card each month is ideal: no credit costs apply. For people who have this habit, the upcoming increase of 0.5% has no consequences, ”underlines the Office of Consumer Protection.
End of the gradual increase
The gradual increase in the percentage of the credit card balance to be paid was set up in 2019 and aims to prevent the over -indebtedness of Canadians. This measure should end this year.
Recall that in 2019, minimal payment was established at 2% of the balance.