Credit card debt at a three-year high for British Columbians: Report
Posted February 17, 2016 6:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Here’s the good news — British Columbians are managing to chip away at their debt levels a little. The bad news is that doesn’t necessarily include what’s owed on your credit cards.
A new report from TransUnion Canada finds there is little balance between the two sides as many grapple with trying to get out of the red.
The average person owes about $4,000 on their credit cards — that’s the highest levels in three years.
Jason Wang is one of the researchers and he says, overall, people are managing to pay down debt levels in BC and low interest rates are helping folks take control of what they owe.
However, he points out, people are not watching how much they’re spending and they’re relying too much on plastic.
“Many consumers have the sense of security where they think they have a lot of equity built up in real estate, so they think they can go out and spend but a lot of this can change really quickly if there is an interest rate increase.”
He warns, as you’ve heard before, low interest rates won’t stick around forever.
“If you just look at British Columbia, then definitely consumers are taking advantage of the low-rate environment and paying down a little bit.”
Meantime, in places like Alberta and Saskatchewan that have been hit hard by job losses in the oil patch, but Wang insists people in BC are doing better in comparison.
He doesn’t expect credit card bills to drop by much in the near future.
