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Category: Economy

Nearly Half of Canadians Don’t Consider Their Mortgage Debt: Manulife Survey

Posted July 11, 2014 by CCC Staff in ,

Getting Keys After Signing Mortgage

For most households their mortgage will be the largest debt of their lifetime. With home prices skyrocketing, households are taking on more debt to buy their dream home. The low interest rate environment seems to have given a false sense of security to many, especially young adults.

A lot of Millennials don’t consider their mortgage debt, according to a recent survey by Manulife. In fact, today’s adults are a lot more comfortable with debt than their parents were.

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The Great East-West Divide: Debt Up in in the West, Slowing in the East

Posted June 19, 2014 by cccadmin in , ,
Gastown Vancouver

Gastown, Vancouver, British Columbia – Photo by Kenny Louie CC by 2.0

While there may be an east-west divide in Canada’s housing market, there’s now evidence there may also be a similar divide when it comes to consumer debt. With no sign of interest rates creeping up anytime soon, consumers are continuing to pile on debt, albeit some faster than others. While demand for debt is up in Western Canada, demand for debt is slowing in Eastern Canada. Let’s break down the latest numbers and see how they affect the average family.

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How the Canadian Economy Benefits from Consumer Debt

Posted June 17, 2014 by CCC Staff in ,

Canada Debt

Consumer spending is vital to the economic growth of nations worldwide, Canada included, as long as we don’t find ourselves in over our head. While corporations are often chastised for holding a record amount of cash on their balance sheets, it’s actually consumer spending that accounts for the lion’s share of economic growth. Let’s take a closer look at Canada’s latest consumer debt numbers from RBC Economics and what they mean to the future of our economy.

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Credit Card Fees Costly for Municipalities

Posted June 12, 2014 by cccadmin in ,
Calgary Municipal Building

Photo by davebloggs007

We all know that credit card fees are costly to small businesses, but did you know they’re also costly to cash-strapped municipalities? Alberta may be Canada’s economic engine, but municipalities there, just like in have-not provinces like Ontario and Quebec, find themselves struggling to balance the books.

Municipalities face a unique dilemma – unlike the federal and provincial governments which can run deficits during tough times, municipalities must have balanced budgets. If there’s a budget shortfall the money has to come from somewhere – either spending cuts, or increases in property taxes, road tolls and other user fees.

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The Bank of Canada Interest Rate Announcement and How it Affects Borrowers

Posted June 10, 2014 by CCC Staff in ,
Bank of Canada Building

Bank of Canada Building by dneuman

Homeowners with variable rate mortgages can breathe a sigh of relief. The Bank of Canada has decided once again to keep the overnight lending rate at 1 per cent. This marks the 30th time in a row Canada’s central bank has left the key interest rate unchanged. In fact, this is the longest stretch in Canadian history interest rates have remained the same.

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Credit Cards vs. Digital Currencies

Posted May 27, 2014 by CCC Staff in ,

Bitcoin Mining with USB

The emergence of Bitcoin has helped digital currency go mainstream. Major cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have recently hopped on board the Bitcoin bandwagon. You can now perform transactions with the cryptocurrency at Bitcoin ATMs. Although Bitcoin is in its infancy, it’s quickly growing – in 2013 there were on average about 30 bitcoin transactions per minute, compared 200,000 per minute for Visa transactions. (Source: Chicago Fed Letter PDF)

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