Nearly half of Canadians polled say interest rake hike would pose challenge

TORONTO – Nearly half of respondents in a national survey said they would have difficulty keeping up with mortgage or debt payments following a significant increase in interest rates.

Of the 1,000 Canadians randomly sampled via telephone, 48 per cent of them said a significant interest rake hike would pose a challenge to them.

Among those surveyed by Harris Decima, 29 per cent said they would have difficulty making payments if rates went up by two percentage points.

An additional 29 per cent said a hike of three or four percentage points would pose a problem.

The Bank of Canada said Tuesday it would keep its benchmark policy setting rate at one per cent until at least the next policy meeting in September.

The survey, commissioned by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.