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New AppleTreeCASH Report: Canadian Households Are Getting More Support — But Housing and Everyday Costs Keep Outpacing It

Analysis of public economic data alongside 737 anonymized client records shows a persistent gap between rising child benefits and the cost of living, even after new national payday-loan fee caps took effect in 2025

TORONTO, ON — [DATE], 2026 — AppleTreeCASH, a licensed short-term lender operating in Ontario and Saskatchewan, today released its Canadian Household Affordability Report 2026, examining how inflation, housing costs, and federal child benefits have shifted over the past three decades — and what that means for household cash flow.

The report combines public data from Statistics Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency, and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada with a descriptive, aggregated review of 737 anonymized AppleTreeCASH client records.

Key findings include:

• Canadian consumer prices were approximately 87% higher in 2025 than in 1995, with prices rising 19.9% in the five years ending in 2025 alone.
• Average shelter costs for recent renters (those in their homes under one year) rose from $640/month in 1996 to $1,480/month in 2021 — more than double, and a significantly steeper increase than for long-term renters.
• The maximum Canada Child Benefit for a child under six reached $8,157 for the July 2026–June 2027 benefit year, up 27.5% from the $6,400 maximum when the CCB launched in 2016.
• Effective January 1, 2025, amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada capped the national maximum cost of payday-loan borrowing at $14 per $100, with Saskatchewan seeing a 17.6% reduction from its prior provincial cap and Prince Edward Island seeing a 44% reduction.
• In the anonymized AppleTreeCASH sample, median identified monthly income was $1,908, with a median payday-date end-of-day cash balance of just $172. NSF-fee activity appeared in 17.9% of records, and other high-cost-credit activity appeared in 63.2%.

"[Quote from spokesperson here — e.g., 'Families are getting more help than they used to, and payday-loan costs have come down under the new national cap. But this data shows the timing mismatch between when bills are due and when income and benefits actually arrive is still the core problem for a lot of households,'] said steven dardo , ceo,  at AppleTreeCASH."

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The report notes that only 5.4% of anonymized records contained a categorized rent or housing payment — a data limitation the report explicitly says should not be used to estimate Canadian rent burden broadly. AppleTreeCASH also emphasizes that its client sample "reflects people seeking short-term credit who may have experienced temporary cash-flow constraints" and "cannot be generalized to Canadian households, customers of other lenders, or AppleTreeCASH's entire customer base over time."

About the report's disclosures

AppleTreeCASH is transparent that this is not independent third-party research: as a licensed payday lender, the company has a commercial interest in the subject matter, and the report is intended for educational and informational purposes only — not as financial, legal, tax, or credit advice, and not as a recommendation to obtain a payday loan or any other credit product. The report also outlines lower-cost alternatives to consider before borrowing, including payment arrangements with billers, overdraft protection, bank lines of credit, and non-profit credit counselling.

About AppleTreeCASH

AppleTreeCASH is a licensed short-term lender operating in Ontario and Saskatchewan. Loans are subject to a maximum term of 62 days, a maximum cost of borrowing of $14 per $100, a maximum effective APR of 365%, and a maximum loan amount of $1,500. Full terms and disclosures are available at appletreecash.com/faqs.html.

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Media Contact: AppleTreeCASH 15 Wellesley St W, Suite 201 Toronto, ON M4Y 0G7 Phone: 1-888-674-1147 Email: steven@appletreecash.com Website: https://www.appletreecash.com

Editor's note: The full Canadian Household Affordability Report 2026, including methodology and source citations, is available upon request.