Research Brief: Can 5 Minutes Change Financial Behaviour?
Testing a Short, Behaviourally Informed Debt Intervention
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Cat. No.: FC5-105/2026E-PDF
ISBN: 978-0-660-99654-7
© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Finance Canada, xxxxxx 2026.
Aussi disponible en français sous le titre: Résumé de recherche : peut-on modifier son comportement financier en cinq minutes?
Foreword
Credit card debt is a growing concern in Canada. Almost half of Canadians say they carry a balance on their credit cards,Footnote 1 often at interest rates above 20%.Footnote 2 This makes the debt expensive and hard to pay off, which poses risks to Canadians’ financial well-being.
This research brief shares the results from a study conducted by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) and academic collaborators at Queen’s University and the University of Rochester. The study explored whether a short, digital intervention could help Canadians manage their credit card debt more effectively. Findings offer practical insights into how targeted, behaviourally informed interventions may influence financial decision-making in specific contexts. The study’s results can support organizations and individuals alike, whether they aim to advance Canadians’ financial well-being or improve their own.
This work represents one building block within FCAC’s broader research and interventions agenda aimed at strengthening evidence on what supports Canadians’ financial well-being. The insights may be useful to a range of stakeholders across the financial ecosystem who are seeking to design, test, or refine tools and approaches to support consumers, including financial institutions, fintech developers, employers, community organizations, consumer advocates, and researchers.
Study design
The study’s intervention was delivered through the Optimity healthy lifestyle app and consisted of a short quiz with personalized feedback and a planning prompt. More than 25,000 Canadians completed the study’s initial survey. Those who reported carrying a balance on their credit cards within the past year were randomly assigned to either a control group or an intervention group.
Participants in the intervention group were invited to complete a brief, 5-minute quiz. Participation was voluntary. The quiz featured questions on debt management strategies and principles. The goal was to nudge participants toward better credit card repayment behaviours.
Researchers then compared the results of the intervention and control groups. Participants completed a follow-up assessment between 2 and 6 months after the intervention experience, to see whether the quiz led to improvements in credit card debt levels. Researchers also examined which participants benefitted most from the intervention.
This randomized control trial provides strong evidence on the potential for short, digital interventions to help Canadians reduce their credit card debt.
Key findings
Changes in debt
We examined changes in credit card debt in two different ways.
First, we looked at how participants described changes in their debt over the study period. Participants were asked whether their credit card debt had stayed the same, increased, decreased, or been fully paid off. Results indicate that the intervention was successful in improving credit card debt outcomes. Significantly more people in the intervention group reported an improvement in their debt situation compared with people in the control group. This improvement was driven by participants reporting that they had completely paid off their credit card debt during the study period.
Figure 1. Participants reporting improvements in credit card debt
Figure 1 – Text version
30.5% of participants in the control group reported an improvement in their credit card debt situation, with 21.8% saying “My debt has reduced” and 8.7% saying “I have no more debt”.
34% of participants in the intervention group reported an improvement in their credit card debt situation, with 22% saying “My debt had reduced” and 12% saying “I have no more debt”.
Second, we examined changes in debt using reported dollar amounts. Participants were asked how much credit card debt they had at the beginning and at the end of the study. Based on these reports, we calculated how their debt changed over time. Using this approach, results show that the intervention group reduced their credit card balances by 35% more than the control group over the study period. These results held regardless of participants’ starting debt levels and the amount of time between quizzes. That said, within the 2- to 6-month follow-up window, the effects were even stronger among participants whose outcomes were measured soon after the intervention quiz. These findings align with previous research that shows that behaviour change from interventions tends to be greater over shorterFootnote 3 time periods. Importantly, the effects remained significant even after accounting for participants’ initial debt levels, indicating that the observed improvements were not simply due to lower starting balances being easier to eliminate.
Hypothetical comparison: Ali vs. Sam
To help visualize the impact of our intervention, let’s consider 2 hypothetical individuals—Ali and Sam—who each start with $3,000 in debt. Based on the study’s analyses,Footnote 4 here is what we might expect to see if these individuals were in the control and intervention groups:
- Ali, in the control group, would have reduced their debt to $845 at follow-up (2–6 months post-quiz)
- Sam, in the intervention group, would have reduced their debt even further, to $546
That represents a 35% greater reduction for Sam compared to Ali. This difference can be attributed to Sam having completed the intervention.
Importantly, this effect held even after accounting for the time taken between quizzes. This example highlights how the intervention helped participants make more significant progress in reducing their debt.
Figure 2: Hypothetical comparison showing the impact of the intervention: Debt reductions for Ali and Sam, with $3,000 of initial debt.
Who benefited most from the intervention
While the intervention showed an overall positive impact, certain groups within the study’s sample experienced greater benefits than others. For instance, female participants, those with higher and less variable income, higher education levels, lower financial stress, and/or greater confidence in managing debt showed greater improvements in credit card debt following the intervention. Stronger pre-existing financial knowledge further amplified the impact, suggesting that the intervention functioned more as a behavioural nudge than a teaching tool.
Call to action for financial literacy stakeholders
- Incorporate digital interventions into financial education: Embed short, behaviourally informed interventions into financial literacy programs, to reinforce key behaviours like debt repayment.
- Apply findings across sectors: Use insights from this study to inform financial tools and services across government, industry, and community organizations.
- Understand what drives impact: Further research is needed to uncover how digital interventions influence behaviour, whether through reminders, increased salience, or confidence boosts.
- Design for financially vulnerable populations: Tailor interventions to meet the needs of those with lower income, higher financial stress, or limited financial knowledge, using inclusive formats as supports.
- Apply a Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) lens: Explore how identity factors affect engagement and outcomes in digital interventions, to strengthen equity-informed financial strategies.
- Support timely and ongoing engagement: Consider testing periodic or “booster” interventions, to maintain momentum and help participants benefit over longer time horizons.
- Continue building the evidence base: Support and conduct further research to refine digital strategies, assess long-term outcomes, and ensure that interventions are both inclusive and effective.
- Share insights to strengthen collective learning: Report on results to help members of the financial ecosystem learn from one another and advance evidence‑informed financial literacy efforts.
Working with FCAC to scale impact
FCAC is interested in working with stakeholders across the financial ecosystem who wish to adapt, test, or scale this intervention—or similar approaches—as part of broader efforts to improve financial outcomes for Canadians. The insights from this study are intended to inform the development of a more coordinated, national approach to supporting Canadians in managing debt and strengthening financial resilience.
Organizations interested in collaborating with FCAC on future scaling or implementation initiatives are encouraged to connect with us at [fcac.research‑recherche.acfc@fcac‑acfc.gc.ca].
Conclusion
- Brief digital interventions can work: A simple, 5-minute digital quiz helped participants in the intervention group reduce their credit card debt by 35% more than those in the control group.
- Timing matters: The intervention quiz was most effective when participants were assessed soon after completing it. This aligns with other research that shows that intervention effects often wane over time.Footnote 5 Taken together, these results highlight the importance of well-timed engagement to support financial progress.
- Tailored approaches are essential: While the intervention was effective for participants who were well positioned to pay off their balances, different strategies are needed to support those facing greater financial challenges. This work underscores the importance of tailoring resources to the specific needs and capacities of different audiences to enhance impact.