Report
Q1 2024 Credit Industry Insights
Canadian Consumer Credit Market Continued to Expand, with Evident Signs of Payment Stress
Q1 2024 Report highlights include:
- Credit participation in Canada continued to rise, led by new-to-country and Generation Z consumers, driving total debt to $2.38 trillion
- Continued higher cost of living and interest rate pressures led to rising consumer-level delinquencies
- Alberta experienced the highest rate of delinquencies (2.21%), Quebec saw the lowest rate (1.29%), and Ontario displayed the most significant increase (+26 basis points, year-over-year)
Amid persistent economic challenges marked by high inflation and interest rates, Canada's credit market continued to expand during the first quarter of 2024. The TransUnion Credit Industry Indicator (CII) remained stable year-over-year (YoY) at 106. The CII demonstrated the aggregated effect of higher consumer credit demand being met with restrained lender risk appetite, consumers leveraging credit and slight negative pressure from rising delinquency rates.
90+ Day Delinquency Rate YoY Changes for All Product Loans
Average Consumer Balance, by Product*
*Represents the average balance held by a consumer across each type of product (consumers can have multiple instances of same product).
“Inflationary pressures may lead consumers to turn to bankcards or personal loans to help make ends meet, and Millennials and Gen Z consumers are no exception. Lenders need to carefully monitor credit performance in the coming year, particularly among younger consumers and those at lower income levels who may be more vulnerable to the current economic strains of elevated inflation and interest rates. A portion of consumers in these segments are likely to still see some challenges despite anticipated interest rate relief later in the year.”
- Matthew Fabian, Director of Financial Services Research and Consulting at TransUnion Canada
About the TransUnion CIIR Report
TransUnion Canada’s quarterly Credit Industry Insights Report provides in-depth, statistical information drawn from its national consumer credit database (of more than 30 million files profiling nearly every credit-active consumer in Canada). It summarizes data and trends for the national population overall, as well as breakdowns within consumer credit score risk tiers, and provides insights on the Canadian consumer lending industry. By leveraging the Industry Insights Report, institutions across industries can analyze market dynamics throughout an entire business cycle, helping understand consumer behaviour over time. It provides account-level and consumer-level views of key metrics and trends — over the nine most recent quarters — and considers major consumer lending categories: credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, home loans, and lines of credit while also looking at aggregate views of all revolving lines of credit and non-revolving loans.
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