With more than 76 million credit cards in use in Canada, it’s fair to say Canadians love their cards.
These are some of the key Canadian credit card stats and facts.
Do consumers like using credit cards?
Consumer sentiment
A study of 100 randomly-selected high-volume credit card-related search keywords from April 2019 to April 2022 carried out by Finty revealed a strong post-pandemic rebound in searches for credit cards.
Biggest gainers
| Keyword | April 2019 | April 2020 | April 2021 | April 2022 | 2022 v 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| best aeroplan credit card | 1114 | 244 | 299 | 2179 | 86% |
| best credit card for travel points | 792 | 280 | 168 | 1140 | 85% |
| air canada credit card | 1775 | 299 | 331 | 1748 | 81% |
| best travel credit card canada | 7375 | 1609 | 1836 | 7465 | 75% |
| rbc credit card activation | 325 | 212 | 225 | 856 | 74% |
| neo credit card | 4 | 14 | 1509 | 5355 | 72% |
| aeroplan credit card | 2918 | 847 | 1945 | 6217 | 69% |
| best travel credit card | 1776 | 429 | 398 | 1264 | 69% |
| west jet credit card | 2833 | 457 | 632 | 1807 | 65% |
| westjet credit card | 8683 | 2055 | 2124 | 6033 | 65% |
Biggest losers
| Keyword | April 2019 | April 2020 | April 2021 | April 2022 | 2022 v 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rbc secured credit card | 694 | 1367 | 1044 | 815 | -28% |
| best buy credit card | 3960 | 4790 | 1870 | 1459 | -28% |
| easiest credit card to get canada | 179 | 147 | 855 | 662 | -29% |
| triangle credit card | 2863 | 3654 | 3562 | 2756 | -29% |
| crypto credit card | 40 | 94 | 1701 | 1173 | -45% |
| mbna amazon credit card | 4 | 399 | 1790 | 1205 | -49% |
| amazon credit card canada | 1801 | 1510 | 3132 | 1673 | -87% |
| the bay credit card | 4839 | 5298 | 5727 | 689 | -731% |
| hudson bay credit card | 12254 | 15043 | 22177 | 1206 | -1739% |
| hudsons bay credit card | 3633 | 4822 | 5482 | 282 | -1844% |
Key takeaways from the study
- Keywords related to travel and rewards are back to pre-pandemic levels — or very close — with significant growth year-on-year.
- There were 75% more searches for ‘best travel credit card canada’. Searches for ‘best aeroplan credit card’ surged 7x in 2022 compared to 2021.
- General credit card research and comparison keywords are up 21% year on year.
- Money saving keywords increased by 20-30% compared to 2021, which may indicate that consumers are looking for ways to combat the rising cost of living.
Search keyword data retrieved from Ahrefs in July 2022. Complete search keyword data is available here.
