46% live on financial edge

Photo: The Canadian Press

A new poll says the number of Canadians who are $200 or less away from financial insolvency at month-end has jumped to 46 per cent, up from 40 per cent in the previous quarter, as interest rates rise.

A survey conducted for insolvency firm MNP Ltd. in December also found that 31 per cent of Canadians say they don't make enough to cover their bills and debt payments, up seven per cent from the September poll.

The results released today also indicated that 51 per cent of respondents say they are feeling the pinch of interest rate increases, up from 45 per cent a quarter ago.

As well, 45 per cent of those surveyed say they will need to go further into debt to pay their living and family expenses.

MNP's president Grant Bazian says many Canadians have so little wiggle room that any rise in living costs or interest payments can tip them over the edge.

Ipsos, which conducts the quarterly poll for MNP, surveyed 2,154 Canadians online from Dec. 7 to Dec. 12.

The polling industry's professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.