Canadians expect to increase credit card borrowing through the summer

The summertime creates an added debt burden for many Canadians with 40 per cent of those polled by mortgage lender CIBC saying they spend more. Holidays such as Canada Day and Labour Day, vacations and keeping the kids amused all add to spending and 45 per cent say their household budget is squeezed resulting in extra use of credit cards. While 29 per cent say that they manage to stick to their budget as they do year-round, 19 per cent have no real budget in place and 7 per cent blow the budget. Men tend to spend more than women and the average spend over the summer months is $1,766 with those in Atlantic Canada spending the most ($2,694) and Quebec showing the most frugal spending ($1,288).