Equifax Canada says credit demand was high in the first quarter of the year while the mortgage market saw a significant slowdown.
Equifax Canada's vice-president of advanced analytics Rebecca Oakes says in a statement that the first quarter normally brings a drop in non-mortgage debt as consumer spending slows after the holidays.Missed payments on non-mortgage debts also rose, with 175,000 more consumers missing payments on at least one product, up 18.8 per cent from a year earlier.
Equifax says non-mortgage delinquency rates rose by the most in British Columbia and Ontario. And while at the end of 2022 delinquencies were more pronounced among non-mortgage holders, the first quarter of 2023 saw an increasing number of mortgage holders missing payments on non-mortgage debt.