The rules behind every figure we publish. This page governs every edition; where a report and this page disagree, the report is wrong.
Loan applications submitted on the Smarter Loans platform, by calendar period, measured at the point of application and before any lending decision. It is a measure of demand, not of approvals or funded volume.
| Rule | Standard |
|---|---|
| Reported as | Indexes, shares, and averages |
| Minimum segment size | 100 applications |
| Amount exclusions | Below product minimum, above plausible ceiling |
| Credit figures | Verified TransUnion scores only |
| Never published | Absolute volumes, lender-attributable data, anything identifiable |
The methodology page and every published edition state the same rules. If they ever disagree, the edition is wrong.
Published averages exclude entries below the $100 product minimum and above product plausible ceilings. Small-dollar (payday-scale) means requests under $1,500. The Borrowing Stress Ratio is the ratio of the average requested amount to the average monthly income of the same applicant group. Territories are excluded from provincial figures pending data verification. Year-over-year purpose comparisons use matched quarters only, due to a purpose taxonomy change in 2025. Provincial per-capita indexes use Statistics Canada population estimates, national base 100.
