​Household credit card debt rises for third consecutive month

Canadian households are piling on credit card debt at a faster pace, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday.

One positive aspect throughout the debt picture is the forecasted resilience of the Canadian consumer, a survey from TransUnion revealed on Wednesday.

TransUnion’s data verified that credit card usage has surged by 20 per cent year-over-year as of the fourth quarter of 2022. Total outstanding balances rose 5.6 per cent to a record $2.32 trillion throughout all of Canada, the survey showed.

There has also been a rise in new credit cards issued, which is being driven primarily by a demand from Gen Z (6.2 per cent) and the rise in newcomers to Canada (85 per cent), the data revealed.