Canadian insolvencies climbed to their highest level since 2009 in the first quarter, rising 18.8% year-over-year, according to Equifax Canada’s Q1 market pulse report on consumer credit. The numbers land as mortgage renewals continue pushing households into rates they never planned for — and the stress is sharpest among the people with the most to lose.
Homeowner insolvency volumes jumped more than 11% from Q4 2025, a single-quarter lurch that outpaced the broader population by a wide margin. Non-homeowner filings, by comparison, rose 4.7% over the same stretch.
What the homeowner filings also reveal is a degree of resolve: more than 90% took the form of consumer proposals rather than bankruptcies, meaning most distressed borrowers are still trying to negotiate their way through debt rather than walk away. The average non-mortgage debt they carried into those filings was $82,400, up 19% from two years earlier.
The delinquency picture in Canada’s most expensive markets is harder to dismiss. Ontario posted a 52% year over year increase in mortgage delinquencies. British Columbia recorded a 36% rise. Average delinquent mortgage balances among homeowners hit $355,500 in the quarter, up 13.2% year-over-year, while average delinquent non-mortgage balances for the same group reached $54,000, up 4.6%.
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“While the mortgage renewal wave is expected to slow towards the end of 2026, the transition to significantly higher interest rates continues to fuel financial impact and payment pressure,” said Rebecca Oakes, vice-president of advanced analytics at Equifax Canada.
Against that backdrop, other indicators suggest households are pulling back. Non-mortgage debt fell more than $487 million in Q1, the first quarterly decline in several periods. New credit card originations dropped to a four-year low, with growth confined to the super-prime and sub- or near-prime segments. Bank instalment loan volumes fell 9.5% year-over-year. New captive auto loans slipped nearly 5% to a three-year low.
The restraint hasn’t dented the headline number. Total consumer debt reached $2.66 trillion in Q1, up 3.8% year over year. Roughly 1.5 million Canadians, about one in 21 consumers, missed at least one credit payment during the quarter, while average non-mortgage debt among all insolvency filers reached $43,300, up from $40,200 two years earlier.
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