Credit Canada CEO Bruce Sellery has some advice for shoppers as they cast eyes over Black Friday deals of 20 or 30 per cent off. “You can save 100 per cent on Black Friday by not buying the thing!” Sellery told CTV News. Credit Canada has seen a 40 per cent increase recently in people seeking credit counselling, and Sellery said the higher cost of living is putting pressure on their finances. “Any number you look at shows deterioration. The insolvency numbers are up. Mortgage delinquencies are up. Debt levels are up. It’s all bad,” Sellery said. With Canadians facing these financial challenges, Sellery encourages people to find their “lightbulb ”moment”—the moment when they became emotionally invested in improving their finances. “It’s the intangible consequences that are the catalyst to the lightbulb moment because it’s like, ‘Wait a sec, what is this costing me to be bad at communication?’ It’s costing me anger and annoyance and stress and all those things,” he said.
