Article content

Albertans continue to struggle under the ever-increasing weight of a heavy debt load, with the number of consumer insolvencies up 35 per cent between May 2015 and 2016.

That figure comes from the latest monthly report of the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, which was released Thursday and showed the total number of insolvencies in Alberta rose from 8,516 to 11,500.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta consumers struggling with mounting debt as insolvencies spike in May Back to video

Insolvencies include bankruptcy proceedings and formalized consumer proposals to settle debts with a creditor.

In May, 480 consumers declared bankruptcy while 672 entered into proposals to stave off bankruptcy.

Freida Richer, licensed insolvency trustee with Grant Thornton, said the increase in overall filings in May was not surprising considering what Alberta experienced at the start of 2015 with the economic downturn.

“Filing a consumer proposal as an alternative to bankruptcy is an easier pill to swallow emotionally because some people just can’t get past the stigma associated with bankruptcy,” Richer said. She added that 60 per cent of the filings at her firm this year have been for bankruptcy.

“There is less cash available in households because of job losses, because EI payments have stopped or severance packages have run out.