Second mortgages: Pile on the debt, pile on the risk

Financial Post- Second mortgages on homes are no longer seen as portents of financial doom. Though they are debts piled on top of existing first mortgages, they have become what people do to get by.

According to a study by the Vanier Institute of the Family, an Ottawa-based research organization, the average Canadian family carries consumer and mortgage debt equal to 145% of household income. That ratio could rise to 160% by the end of 2012, according to Bank of Canada data. Yet coping with family debt has made second mortgages seem almost sensible…

Second mortgages: Pile on the debt, pile on the risk