Up to three quarters of Canadians are in debt according to a new poll. Compared with last year, the average personal debt has increased by $2,799 to a significant $15,920 per person. This debt figure excludes any mortgage that Canadians may also have.
Kim Taylor, from the Royal Bank of Canada, has attributed much of the debt to blowout holidays. People have been putting travelling off because of the financial crisis and many have decided to spend big this year.
Those between the ages of 18 and 34 who participated in the poll expressed worry about how much money they owed. This debt may be included on top of student loan fees and can make getting a mortgage to buy a home next to impossible.
Those over 55 years of age were shown to have the most manageable debt because they had savings in line with plans to pay the debt off.
Just 24% of Canadians surveyed indicated that they were debt free. This is a decrease of 2% on the previous year.
