Half of Canadians $200 or less away from not being able to pay bills: poll
The Bank of Canada’s rapid interest rate cuts have seemingly not helped Canadians feel much better about their financial pictures as MNP LTD reports a new low in its outlook on personal debt.
The MNP Consumer Debt Index, a broad gauge of how Canadians feel about their ability to pay down debt, reported Monday that 50 per cent of those polled now feel they’re $200 or less away from being unable to pay all their bills and debt obligations in a month.
The insolvency firm’s reading for the final quarter of 2024 is up eight percentage points from the earlier period.
Canadians’ personal debt outlook fell 12 percentage points to just eight points in the most recent quarter. That figure normally floats in the mid-20s and has never been lower in the history of the MNP Debt Index, which launched in 2017.
MNP’s latest findings rely on Ipsos polling of more than 2,000 Canadian adults from Dec. 6 to 17. That means the poll captured some sentiment following the Bank of Canada’s most recent interest rate cut of 50-basis-points on Dec. 11, a move that brought the central bank’s policy rate down to 3.25 per cent.
The Bank of Canada’s benchmark interest rate broadly sets the cost of borrowing across the country, directly affecting variable rates of debt and influencing what many Canadians pay on their mortgages.
The central bank policy rate started last year at 5.0 per cent and has declined quickly since June, falling 1.75 percentage points.
But Grant Bazian, president of MNP LTD, said in a statement Monday that those rate cuts to date haven’t changed the financial picture for many households.
“While interest rate cuts last year provided some initial relief from their financial worries, Canadians are starting the New Year with holiday
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