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The data behind how Canada borrows

Aggregated insight from loan applications submitted on our platform: what Canadians ask for, where, and at what scale. Measured at the point of application, before any lender decides.

Demand intensity by province, per-capita index
Demand intensity by province, per-capita index, national base 100, first half 2026
2M+
Canadians served since 2016
50+
Vetted lending partners
Quarterly
Publication cadence
Aggregate
No individual or lender-level data

Current edition

The Canadian Lending Demand Index, First Half 2026

Lending demand rose 30.6 percent in the strongest half since 2024, and the typical request got smaller. This Index measures the side of credit Canada has never counted: what borrowers ask for, before any lender decides.

Read the First Half 2026 edition

Next release

Q3 2026 Edition

Publishes October 2026. The first quarterly edition tests whether the shift to smaller, more frequent borrowing holds.

Data stories

Findings from our own application data. Each one is the home of the figures it reports.

Fair credit is the largest self-reported band in almost every province, across more than 40,000 Smarter Loans personal loan applications in the year to July 2026. Saskatchewan is the only exception, where low credit leads, and good or great stays under one in seven everywhere.

Credit Bands Across Canada: Who Applies With What Credit

14 September 2026, reviewed by Vlad Sherbatov
Canadian businesses asked for an average of $92,806 across 823 Smarter Loans business loan applications in the year to July 2026. Expansion carried the largest requests at $128,450 and Quebec the highest provincial average at $109,849.

How Canadian Businesses Borrow: Purpose and Province

11 September 2026, reviewed by Rafael Rositsan
Tuesday is the busiest day to apply for a loan at 18.3 percent, across more than 79,000 Smarter Loans applications in the year to July 2026. May is the busiest month at double September, and about a quarter of applications arrive at weekends.

When Canadians Apply for Loans

9 September 2026, reviewed by Vlad Sherbatov
Applicants reporting unsecured debt on a Smarter Loans personal loan application carried an average of $13,410 in the year to July 2026. Those applying to consolidate asked for $6,659, about half of what they owe.

What Canadians Owe When They Decide to Consolidate

4 September 2026, reviewed by Vlad Sherbatov
71 percent of more than 79,000 Smarter Loans personal loan applications in the year to July 2026 asked for $1,500 or less. The average request in that range was $552, and it barely moves across income types or provinces.

What Canadians Ask For When They Borrow Small

30 August 2026, reviewed by Rafael Rositsan
Canadians applying to consolidate debt asked for an average of $6,659 in the year to July 2026, across more than 8,000 Smarter Loans applications. Newfoundland and Labrador led every province at $7,948 and New Brunswick sat lowest at $6,133.

What Canadians Borrow to Consolidate, by Province

28 August 2026, reviewed by Vlad Sherbatov

Research and analysis

Third-party studies read against what our applications show.

TransUnion's Q2 2026 Consumer Pulse found a quarter of Canadians plan to apply for credit and one in four expects to miss a bill. Across more than 79,000 Smarter Loans applications, the people who actually apply ask small: 71 percent want $1,500 or less.

TransUnion's Q2 2026 Consumer Pulse: What It Says, and What We See

7 September 2026, reviewed by Rafael Rositsan

Borrowing by province

One report per province, publishing through October 2026, each feeding its provincial lender page.

Ontario borrows slightly bigger than the country. Across 33,943 Smarter Loans applications in the year to July 2026, Ontarians requested $2,828 on average against $2,604 nationally, and Ontario is one of only two provinces where every credit band clears the reporting floor.

Borrowing in Ontario: What Applicants Ask For

16 September 2026, reviewed by Rafael Rositsan

How this data is produced

Figures come from loan applications submitted through Smarter Loans over a stated period, most often the twelve months to the end of the latest quarter. Amounts are what applicants requested, not what was funded. Credit bands are self-reported at application.

  • No figure is published from fewer than 100 applications; smaller cells are marked as not available rather than estimated.
  • Averages are used throughout, and every figure names its period in the same sentence.
  • Third-party studies are cited to their own published pages, with sample and fieldwork dates stated.
  • Every report is read and signed off by a named reviewer before it publishes.

Journalists and researchers may quote any figure with attribution to Smarter Loans and a link to the report it comes from. The full rules live on the methodology page; every published edition is in the archive.

New reports by email

One message when a new data story or research report publishes. Nothing else.

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