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By<\/strong> Ritika Dubey<\/strong><\/p>\n Rebecca Oakes, Equifax Canada\u2019s vice-president of advanced analytics, said much of the trend stems from the high cost of living, growing unemployment and rising trade tensions.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order for anybody to kind of keep making the payments \u2026 you need to have an income, you need to have good employment,\u201d said Oakes. \u201cWhen there\u2019s economic uncertainty, that does create a few impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n The report found one in 22 consumers, or 1.4 million people, missed at least one credit payment during the first quarter, even as the average monthly credit card spend fell by $107 per cardholder.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually think this is more to do with pulling back on that discretionary spend. And that is going to have a knock-on impact to business and that ultimately will have a knock-on impact to employment levels,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all kind of interlinked a little bit when you start to see that economic uncertainty,\u201d Oakes added.<\/p>\n The report said consumer-level delinquency rates among non-mortgage holders rose 8.9% year-over-year, compared to 6.5% for mortgage holders.<\/p>\n Average non-mortgage debt per consumer rose to $21,859 in the first quarter, the report said, mainly driven by a strong auto loan market as buyers looked to lock in car purchases before prospective tariff-induced price hikes.<\/p>\n Younger consumers appear to be having a tough go, the report showed. Credit card delinquency rates among that cohort was 5.38%, up 21.7% year-over-year.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have got credit commitments and your day-to-day living costs go up \u2026 or it\u2019s harder to get employment, or maybe your incomes haven\u2019t risen at the same amount as cost of living, then it\u2019s just harder to keep making the payments that you\u2019ve committed to,\u201d Oakes said.<\/p>\n The total consumer debt grew to $2.55 trillion in the first three months of 2025, up four per cent year-over-year, but down more than $6 billion from the end of 2024, the report showed.<\/p>\n A high number of mortgage renewals also added to increased levels of debt. Many homeowners who locked in low interest rates at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic are looking at mortgage renewals, which Oakes called \u201cthe great renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n Ontario became a hot spot of financial stress during the first quarter, the report showed. The province\u2019s 90-plus day mortgage delinquency rate surged to 0.24% since last year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are just seeing missed payments linked to consumers that have a mortgage in Ontario go up and up,\u201d Oakes said.<\/p>\n The province also saw the highest non-mortgage delinquency rate, up 24% year-over-year, followed by Alberta and Quebec.\u00a0<\/p>\n Visited 149 times, 149 visit(s) today<\/p>\n credit debt payments delinquencies equifax equifax Canada missed payments mortgage delinquency rate non-mortgage debt rebecca oakes Ritika Dubey The Canadian Press<\/p>\n Last modified: May 27, 2025<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n