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Beginning Aug. 1, new regulations governing credit card payments in Quebec will require that the minimum monthly payment on a credit-card bill be no lower than two per cent of the balance.

The province’s Consumer Protection Act also calls for the minimum monthly payment threshold to be increased by half a percentage point annually after Aug. 1, 2020, until it reaches five per cent after six years.

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The regulations also call for any new credit card agreement to immediately establish that the minimum monthly payment cannot be lower than five per cent of the balance.

The Office de la protection du consommateur notes, however, that credit cardholders already in agreements that call for a minimum monthly payment of two per cent or more of their balance will not be affected this year by the changes.

The Office has posted a calculator online that allows users to establish the total credit charges on any given credit card balance. By inputting various percentages of how much of their balance is paid off, the user can see how costly it is to only cover the minimum monthly payment of their bill.

For example, a balance of $1,000 on a credit card with an annual credit rate of 19.9 per cent would see a consumer paying the monthly minimum require 25 years and 10 months to pay off that balance — and pay $3,001.40 in credit payments while doing so.