It was announced on August 11 through a news release that the provincial government will be changing the regulations on payday loans in the province.

Cory Peters, the director of the Credit Consumer Division at the Financial and Consumers Authority of Saskatchewan explained the changes they are making.

"They are two changes being implemented by February of 2018," said Peters. "The first change will reduce the maximum cost of a loan that a payday lender can charge. Currently, the maximum is 23 per cent, so if you take a $100 loan, the lender will get 23 dollars. That 23 percent is being lowered to 17 percent so that 100 dollars being taken out by a Saskatchewan borrower; it will now cost them 17 dollars. The second change is that the maximum non-sufficient-fund fee that a lender can charge is being lowered from 100 dollars to 50 dollars."

Saskatchewan will follow Manitoba who changed it a couple of years ago and BC who announced that they were going to change the regulations earlier this year.

"The marketplace is continually evolving, and payday loans are offered in many other provinces, and we monitor both the Saskatchewan marketplace as well as other jurisdictions to make sure our framework stays current," said Peters. "We look at the changes other provinces have made as well as the feedback we received from a consultation process with the public, stakeholders. The updates to the regulations are to protect borrowers and achieve the goals of the legislation."

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada estimated that in 2014 four per cent of Canadians were using payday loans - a number that has increased over the last couple of years.

Peters added that there are 59 registered payday loan providers in Saskatchewan but says that there are better options than using a payday loan.

"We want people to know their alternatives. A couple of our messages that we push out is for people to have a budget, to know how much money is coming, where they're spending it and to have a plan. And part number two is for that plan is to have a rainy day fund, we know it is hard to put away money, but you put away 10 dollars a week, you will have over 500 dollars, and most payday loans are for less than 500 dollars and we're trying to get people to be prepared and be able to absorb some of those bumps that life eventually throws at us."

The change to the regulations will be in place on February 15, 2018.