Canadians are racking up more debt
Posted Feb 5, 2013 02:11:15 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For the first time, the average consumer debt held by Canadians has topped $27,000.
The latest report from TransUnion Canada finds the total is actually $27,485 and signals the fastest debt growth since 2009.
Thomas Higgins tells 1310News, the income to debt levels are not keeping up.
“People’s income is not going up as fast as these debt levels,” Higgins said.
Delinquency rates have been declining which shows that Canadians are making their payments, but Higgins cautions that the economy can shift quickly.
“Something that we really didn’t foresee, didn’t plan for and hit us very hard and quickly,” Higgins explained. “We’re not in as good of a position to manage through it this time than we were four or five years ago.”
Debt level measures all debt with the exception of mortgages.
Higgins concern focuses on the almost nine per cent increase in debt for car loans and almost seven per cent increase in loans for big ticket items.
