Starting August 1, you're going to have to start paying down more of your credit card's minimum monthly payment.
New regulations governing credit card payments in Quebec will require that the minimum monthly payment on a credit-card bill be no lower than 2% of the balance.
The new 2% minimum monthly payment will be increased half a percentage point every year after August 1 of next year, until it gets to five per cent after six years.
But if you're getting a new credit card, the five per cent minimum will apply right away.
Existing credit card holders who already have to pay 2% or more of their balance won't be affected by the changes.
"The intention here is to prevent debt problems and we're informing consumers that paying the minimum can be very costly and take a long time to reimburse," said Charles Tanguay of the Quebec Consumer Protection Office.
"It means that increasing the rhythm of reimbursement can save you a lot of money."
Tanguay said for example, if you had a balance of $1,000 on a credit card with an annual credit rate of 19.9 per cent and only paid the monthly minimum, it would take you 25 years and 10 months to pay off that balance — and pay just over $3000 credit payments while doing so.
Tanguay said they've posted an online calculator that allows you to figure out the total credit charges on any given credit card balance.