When people picture a personal loan they tend to picture thousands of dollars. The applications tell a different story. Smarter Loans receives personal loan applications from every province, and most of them ask for less than the price of a used laptop. This report looks at that small-dollar majority for the year ending July 2026: how big it is, who it is, and what the money is for.
Seven in ten applications are small
Across Smarter Loans personal loan applications from August 2025 to July 2026, 71 percent asked for $1,500 or less. Within that range the average request was $552. The $1,500 line is not arbitrary: it is the legal ceiling for a payday loan in Canada, which makes this the exact territory where payday lending and cheaper instalment lending compete for the same borrower.
Who asks for small amounts
| Full Time | $640 |
| Part Time | $502 |
| Self Employed | $572 |
| Unemployed | $434 |
| Retired | $661 |
| Disability Income | $461 |
| Social Assistance | $368 |
| Other | $472 |
Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026.
The striking thing is how little the income source changes the number. Retired applicants asked for the most at $661 and applicants on social assistance the least at $368, a spread of under $300 across eight income types. Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026. Small borrowing is not a low-income phenomenon; it is what a short-term gap looks like at almost any income.
Where small borrowing is most common
| Saskatchewan | 76% |
| Manitoba | 75% |
| Nova Scotia | 74% |
| New Brunswick | 73% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 72% |
| British Columbia | 72% |
| Quebec | 70% |
| Ontario | 69% |
| Prince Edward Island | 69% |
| Alberta | 69% |
Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026.
Saskatchewan leads with 76 percent of applications at $1,500 or less; Alberta and Ontario sit lowest at 69 percent. Every province lands between those two, so the small-dollar majority holds coast to coast. Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026; territories suppressed below 100 applications.
What the money is for
| Pay Off Bills | $582 |
| Other | $477 |
| Medical Expenses | $491 |
| Debt Consolidation | $766 |
| Moving | $550 |
| Improve Credit | $565 |
| Education | $591 |
| Home Improvement | $618 |
Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026.
Paying off bills is the most common reason by a wide margin, averaging $582 across more than 20,000 applications. Medical costs and moving expenses follow. The one outlier is debt consolidation: even inside the small-dollar range it carries the highest average at $766, because it bundles several balances into one request. Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026.
What this means for borrowers
At $552, the typical small request costs about $77 in fees on a payday loan at the federal cap of $14 per $100. The same $552 on a three-month instalment loan, even at the 35 percent legal maximum, costs roughly $33 in interest. The gap between those two numbers is the whole reason we publish this data: the majority of Canadian borrowing happens at exactly the size where the choice of product matters most. Source: Smarter Loans personal loan applications, August 2025 to July 2026.
About this data
Figures are drawn from Smarter Loans personal loan applications between August 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026. Amounts are requested at application, not funded. Averages are used throughout. Income type is self-reported at application. Provincial figures with fewer than 100 applications are suppressed. Smarter Loans has connected more than 2 million Canadians with financing since 2016.
For what this means when you are the one borrowing, see how payday loans work in Canada and payday loan alternatives.
Written by:
The Smarter Loans Editorial Team produces in-depth, original content to help Canadians navigate borrowing, credit, and personal finance with confidence.
