OTTAWA, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- TD Bank warned Thursday that household debt had grown rapidly in Canada to the point where it had become "excessive."
"Canadian personal indebtedness has become excessive," said TD Bank Chief Economist Craig Alexander.
Alexander warned that low-income families were "more susceptible to adverse economic shocks, more likely to lose their jobs and do not have a strong asset base that they can liquidate in times of financial stress."
Overall, he said, 6.5 percent of Canadians were overextended, Post Media reported.
Some families, the report said, were spending 40 percent of their income on debt payments.
The bank study found that debt as a ratio of disposable income had grown to 146 percent, compared to 50 percent thirty years ago.
