(Toronto) Canadian credit card debt soared in the last three months of 2022 amid rising interest rates and high inflation. We see that young Canadians in particular relied on credit to make ends meet.
Credit monitoring agency Equifax finds that Canadians’ credit card debt rose more than 15% from the same period a year earlier and totaled more than $100 billion for the first time.
In its latest quarterly Credit Trends Report, the Agency indicates that overall consumer debt increased in the fourth quarter of 2022, with total debt of $2.37 trillion, up more than 6% from at the same time in 2021.
According to Equifax, the effects of rising interest rates are not yet fully felt by homeowners, as many have yet to renew their mortgages, but young Canadians are particularly affected by the inflation.
Non-mortgage debt levels increased by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, but for millennials, this debt increased by 8.4%.
Mortgage-free consumers saw the largest increase in debt defaults in the fourth quarter, particularly 18-25 year olds who were nearly 31% more likely than a year earlier to miss a repayment, compared to an increase of 17 % for all consumers.