Alberta sees 'significant' jump in concern over debt repayment: MNP

A majority of Albertans say they're less optimistic now about their ability to repay personal debt compared to a few months ago.

The latest numbers from MNP's Consumer Debt Index show 57 per cent of people polled from this province have concerns about paying down debt.

"Albertans were the most concerned with their ability to repay their debts over the next year (compared to national numbers), and the jump was quite significant from the last cycle that came out in the fall," said Lindsay Burchill, a licensed insolvency trustee with MNP in Calgary.

The quarterly barometer for Canadians' attitudes towards paying debt also shows 51 per cent of Albertans polled are concerned that rising interest rates could move them towards bankruptcy.

MNP's Consumer Debt Index, conducted by Ipsos, surveyed 2,003 people between Dec. 6 and Dec. 17, 2024.

"Holiday bills can put additional pressure on households. Additionally, concerns about potential policy changes such as tariffs and the threat of layoffs may be further fueling financial anxiety across the province," Burchill said in the report.

She added people in Alberta are more likely to want to own homes or vehicles than in other parts of the country, and many jobs are reliant on oil and gas.

"We are a boom-and-bust province and we are concerned about job loss," she explained.

"And particularly on this cycle, there was a lot of concern from Albertans and Canadians as a whole. And that tells me that there's not a lot of wiggle room left in the savings funds in the emergency funds to absorb a budget shock, like a job loss."

Nationally, the report found half of Canadians polled say they are $200 or less away from insolvency.

Burchill says MNP offers free consultations for people who are struggling to pay debt.

The margin of error for the Consumer Debt Index polling is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.