‘They’re drowning’: Latest interest rate hike hits B.C., Canadian homeowners hard

Tiffany Verhagen moved from Victoria to Edmonton several years ago for a job in the oilsands.

She and her husband, Jason, saved up and bought a home.

But with a variable rate mortgage, they’ve been squeezed by the last 10 interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada, the most recent hitting with a bang on Wednesday.

A flood in her basement suite has also wiped out $2,100 a month in rental income and the 37-year-old also took out a $30,000 line of credit to pay for fertility treatments.

Speaking from Fort McMurray where she works as a cook, Verhagen said she is expecting to return home to find a letter stating her mortgage payments have gone up again. The debt has become so unmanageable, Verhagen and her husband are facing foreclosure.