Gifts, grocery bills, travel expenses: holiday spending can cause many surprises and headaches for Quebec households when credit card bills arrive in January.
The beginning of the year is a busy time for licensed insolvency trustees, as shown by statistics compiled by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada.
In January 2025, the number of consumer insolvency filings in Canada increased by 20 per cent compared to the previous month.
Focusing on the same data in Quebec, the Office counted a total of 2,986 filings in January 2025, compared to 2,087 filings in December 2024, representing an increase of 43.1 per cent.
“Insolvency cases are cyclical. There are always periods during the year when there will be more insolvency cases and more filings,” explains Charles-Antoine Gobeil, president of Gobeil Groupe Conseil, a licensed insolvency trustee.
For example, in September, with people returning to work and school, it’s more likely that “unexpected” expenses will arise, he points out.
The return from vacation is also one of those times when expenses often exceed households’ ability to repay their debts.
“People take time off, they spend money, perhaps a little too much, on Christmas gifts (…) December is a quieter month for us, but in January, people come to see us because they may have gone a little overboard during the holiday season,” says Gobeil.
Sooner rather than later
Choosing to consult a debt settlement specialist is never an easy decision. “People are often reluctant to come in because it can be embarrassing to talk about their personal finances, especially when things aren’t going as planned,” notes Gobeil.
“What happens is that people unfortunately wait too long before asking for help,” he adds.
There are several options for getting rid of debt, but the more time passes, the fewer solutions there are. For example, “when the amount of debt becomes too high, it can prevent debtors from seeking a consolidation loan to consolidate their debts.”
“At that point, the only option left to them may be to file a consumer proposal through a trustee or declare bankruptcy,” says Gobeil.
“But it’s important to know that no one ever regrets consulting a trustee,” he says.
The advisor points out that in Quebec, the first consultation with a licensed insolvency trustee is free and does not incur any fees, unless an agreement is reached with the advisor.
According to Gobeil, one of the warning signs that a person is accumulating debt at a rate that exceeds their ability to repay it is when they are no longer able to make the minimum payments on their credit card.
“Ideally, a credit card should always be a tool, for example, for online purchases, so people should pay off their card in full,” says the insolvency advisor.
That said, this financial task, which may seem basic, is becoming increasingly difficult for Canadian households to accomplish as their debts tend to grow faster than their incomes.
According to Statistics Canada’s most recent report on the population’s debt ratio, household debt stood at $1.77 on the credit market for every dollar of disposable income. Gobeil indicates that “this financial pressure could intensify” in 2026.
“There was a decline in insolvency filings during the pandemic, but for several years now, the increase has resumed. The number of filings is now higher than it was before COVID,” explains Gobeil.
According to him, this increase in debt is due to the rising cost of living, but also to “easy access to credit.”
“We live in a society where credit is so easy to obtain and, at the same time, there is little financial education at this level,” he laments.
Avoiding online pitfalls
Gobeil warns debtors looking for a miracle solution who may be tempted to do business with “fraudulent” online advisors.
“There are advisors who are not licensed trustees but who will pose as insolvency advisors,” he says.
These advisors will charge a client between $2,000 and $5,000 with the promise of negotiating agreements that can reduce debts by half.
“In some cases, that’s true, but they may have to go through a trustee to do so,” says Gobeil. “So there will be intermediaries who will take a commission before forwarding a file to a trustee, when the person could have simply gone through a trustee from the outset and avoided the additional costs.”
The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act specifies that only holders of a license issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy may administer insolvency cases.
A list of all active trustees is available on the Office’s website.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
