There's a deepening divide between consumers in the face of economic uncertainty as those missing payments rose compared with a year ago, a new Equifax report shows.
Rebecca Oakes, Equifax Canada's vice-president of advanced analytics, said much of the trend stems from the high cost of living, growing unemployment and rising trade tensions.
鈥淚n order for anybody to kind of keep making the payments 鈥� you need to have an income, you need to have good employment,鈥� said Oakes. 鈥淲hen there鈥檚 economic uncertainty, that does create a few impacts.鈥�
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.
"We 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," she said.
"It's all kind of interlinked a little bit when you start to see that economic uncertainty," Oakes added.
The report said consumer-level delinquency rates among non-mortgage holders rose 8.9 per cent year-over-year, compared to 6.5 per cent for mortgage holders.
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.
Younger consumers appear to be having a tough go, the report showed. Credit card delinquency rates among that cohort was 5.38 per cent, up 21.7 per cent year-over-year.
鈥淚f you have got credit commitments and your day-to-day living costs go up 鈥� or it's harder to get employment, or maybe your incomes haven't risen at the same amount as cost of living, then it's just harder to keep making the payments that you've committed to,鈥� Oakes said.
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.
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 鈥渢he great renewal.鈥�
Ontario became a hot spot of financial stress during the first quarter, the report showed. The province's 90-plus day mortgage delinquency rate surged to 0.24 per cent since last year.
"We are just seeing missed payments linked to consumers that have a mortgage in Ontario go up and up," Oakes said.
The province also saw the highest non-mortgage delinquency rate, up 24 per cent year-over-year, followed by Alberta and Quebec.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press
