APRs on the rise as Fed steps up rate hikes + MORE Mar 15th

OTTAWA— Canada’s financial consumer watchdog said on Wednesday it was launching a review of business practices among the country’s major banks following reports citing unnamed employees who alleged that the lenders were selling services without the consent of their customers.
Lucie Tedesco, commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, said she is concerned by the allegations and issued a statement reminding the lenders of their obligations to obtain prior consent before increasing credit limits and providing clients with new products.

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“Financial institutions’ compliance with these rules is non-discretionary and the message must be disseminated from the boards of directors on down to customer-facing staff,” Tedesco said.
“Through the industry review we are announcing today, we will examine financial institutions’ business practices in relation to express consent and disclosure, including the identification of any factors that may be contributing to non-compliance…

OTTAWA —The amount Canadians owe compared with how much they earn hit another record high last year.
Statistics Canada said the amount of household credit market debt rose to 167.3 per cent of adjusted household disposable income in the fourth quarter, up from 166.8 per cent in the third quarter.
That means there was $1.67 in credit market debt for every dollar of adjusted household disposable income.
“After slowing to a stable year-over-year pace by late-2013, growth in this debt ratio has since accelerated again alongside torrid gains in the Vancouver and Toronto housing markets,” said Robert Kavcic, BMO Capital Markets senior economist.

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Fuelled by mortgages and low interest rates, household debt has been climbing steadily in recent years. Policy-makers have raised concerns about household debt and see it as a key risk to the economy.
While interest rates have been low for years, making borrowing money cheap for Canadians, some have expressed concerns about what could happen when rates rise or if there is a shock to the economy that results in a large number of job losses…

March 15, 2017: The national average APR on new card offers stayed put this week, according to the CreditCards.com Weekly Credit Card Rate Report

Credit card users will pay higher rates on existing balances as the Federal Reserve votes to hike a key rate, and projects more to come

With a short credit history, you need to offset high utilization of a low-limit card