Ontario lowers fees for payday loans
BELLEVILLE – Ontario is changing the maximum fee people will have to pay for short-term “payday loans.”
Starting Jan. 1, the top fee that can be charged by companies like Money Mart will be reduced from $21 to $18 for every $100 borrowed.
The cost will be reduced even further, to $15 for every $100 borrowed, starting Jan. 1, 2018.
The Canadian Payday Loan Association says on its website that payday loans are “unsecured small-sum short-term loans typically for a few hundred dollars. The average payday loan is around $300 for a period of 10 days.”
The Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services posted a press release in November proposing other changes to the 2008 Payday Loan Act and the 1990 Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act. If passed, the changes would:
- Allow municipalities to regulate the number and location of payday lenders through licensing.
- Restrict high-frequency borrowing.
- Further regulate unlicensed lenders and loan-brokers.
- Set standards for payday loan businesses for determining a borrowers ability to repay a loan.
- Protect those in debt from harmful debt-collecting practices.
QNet News will be talking to local payday-loan operators and users to learn how these changes will affect them.
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