The surprising sign that B.C. residents' personal finances might be improving
While many B.C. residents have been feeling the cost-of-living crunch, there is some new financial data that suggests that — at least in one indicator — things are getting better.
Throughout the year, it has been a consistent trend that B.C. residents have been wanting to cut down on spending to deal with the high cost of living. There’s also been some dire reports, like that over one third of B.C. workers earn less than the living wage in their communities and that almost 40 per cent are even changing their eating habits because food is too expensive.
But first-quarter data from TransUnion suggests that B.C. residents actually might be “more resilient than expected.”
In an email, TransUnion shared with Daily Hive some B.C.-specific findings from its Q1 2026 Credit Industry Report.
B.C.’s overall consumer delinquency rate (when a payment is 90 or more days past due) actually improved year-over-year. It dropped from 1.76 per cent to 1.71 per cent.
And while B.C. residents might pine for Alberta prices (especially when it comes to things like rent), that province actually remains an outlier, with delinquency rising to 2.43 per cent. TransUnion said that this is “consistent with regions tied to industries that are historically more volatile and sensitive to economic conditions.”
Mortgage delinquency rate increased by three percentage points year-over-year. But B.C. is still doing much better than Ontario, which had its mortgage delinquency rate increase by seven percentage points,
“The findings suggest B.C.’s high-cost housing market is not currently translating into the same level of consumer credit deterioration seen in some other provinces,” said the spokesperson.
What about Canada-wide?
At a national level, TransUnion found that credit delinquencies are showing “signs of stabilizing during a period of relative economic stability” and that delinquency rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Canada-wide, total consumer delinquency rose from 1.48 per cent in early 2022 to 1.86 per cent in the first quarter of 2026. But year-over-year, it “edged slightly lower.”
TransUnion said this suggests that while credit stress is still elevated, it might be overall “leveling off.”
While there were slight increases across most credit products in the first three months of the year, “the pace of change slowed,” they said.
Credit cards and lines of credit started to level off, but personal loans continued to “strain” in repayment performance. Meanwhile, auto lending had higher delinquencies, which TransUnion suggested could be because of higher vehicle costs, financing rates, and possibly fraud.
“At the national level, serious consumer delinquency rates are showing signs of stabilization, although underlying performance continues to vary significantly across provinces.”