Despite rising levels of personal debt, Canadians are becoming more successful at paying their debts on time, credit rating agency Equifax Canada said Thursday.

Delinquency rates — meaning accounts that are at least 90 days overdue — fell from 1.6 per cent in June 2005 to 1.2 per cent at the end of 2007.

Delinquency rates by city
City	June 2005	Dec. 2007
Toronto	2.25%	1.73%
Vancouver	1.61%	0.97%
Montreal	1.45%	1.11%
Calgary	1.56%	0.99%
Ottawa-Gatineau	1.34%	1.10%
Edmonton	1.96%	1.12%
Hamilton	1.73%	1.38%
Winnipeg	1.60%	1.19%
Quebec City	0.85%	0.67%
London	1.65%	1.38%
Source: Equifax Canada

The lowest delinquency rate among the 10 cities in the report was 0.67 per cent in Quebec City. Toronto's 1.73 per cent was the highest. Rates in all 10 cities declined from 2005.

Equifax calculates delinquency rates based on the daily reports sent to the agency by lenders.

"Our data reflects that a strong economy and low unemployment have enabled more consumers to make their payments on time, despite rising personal debt," said Nadim Abdo, vice-president of Equifax Predictive Sciences.

A report released earlier this month by the Vanier Institute of the Family said total debt of the average Canadian household in 2007 amounted to 131 per cent of net household income — up from 91 per cent in 1990.

That report said debt levels since 1990 rose seven times faster than incomes.

Last year, more than 101,000 Canadians declared personal bankruptcy or filed formal consumer proposals with creditors to pay off debt.