Average Canadian $ 100,000 in debt

TORONTO — A new bank study suggests the average Canadian household is more than $ 100,000 in debt and that Canadians have ramped up borrowing in the past fi ve years. The fi rst BMO survey on household debt found that average household debt among Canadians surveyed stands at $ 112,329, including mortgage, credit card, line of credit and loan debt. But the bank says socalled good debt like mortgages outweighs less favourable forms of borrowing. While 25 per cent of those surveyed say they are debt free, 41 per cent say that they have taken on more debt in the past fi ve years as a result of increased spending. And 54 per cent of respondents said they expect to be debt free in the next fi ve years. The report, conducted by Leger Marketing to measure the amount of debt Canadian households are carrying and how it’s managed, surveyed 1,507 Canadians in an online poll at the beginning of April.