People in financial distress in New Brunswick were taking out payday loans at a rate of more than 900 a week in 2024, a number that has tripled in just four years. The amount being borrowed has also been climbing. In 2024, the average payday loan was for $415.56, up 20 per cent from 2020.
Some borrowers end up juggling multiple loans, say financial counsellors
Rachel Cave · CBC News
· Posted: Oct 14, 2025 1:11 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
Payday loan borrowing climbed from $5.4 million New Brunswick-wide in 2020 to $20.2 million in 2024. (Erik White/CBC)
New Brunswickers are increasingly turning to payday loans to manage household expenses, according to data pulled from the New Brunswick Financial and Consumer Services Commission.
Borrowing climbed from $5.4 million provincewide in 2020 to $20.2 million in 2024, even though payday loans are considered a high-cost, high-risk form of credit.
“I think there’s a lot more people who are feeling a desperation,” said Jacalyn MacLean, a Saint John certified financial counsellor.
“More people in our communities are struggling now when they weren’t 10 years ago and that’s a reality that’s not going to be easily fixed.”
New Brunswick’s Cost of Credit Disclosure and Payday Loans Act aims to protect consumers by ensuring the true cost of borrowing is accurately disclosed, up front.
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