I often say that money is one of the last taboos in Canada. Unsurprisingly, a survey we recently conducted at MooseMoney confirms that many Canadians would rather talk about their sex life than their finances.
Credit Scores Are Nearly as Taboo as Sex Lives
At the national level, the split between what people would rather discuss with friends was almost perfectly even: 50.1% of Canadians chose their credit score, while 49.9% chose their sex life. That average conceals a real gender divide, though. A slim majority of men (50.9%) said they would rather talk about their sex life with friends than reveal their credit score. Women leaned the other way, with 52.7% preferring to discuss their credit score over their sex life.
Financial situation plays an even bigger role than gender. Among Canadians who described themselves as comfortable, 79.1% would rather discuss their credit score with friends than their sex life. Among those who described themselves as struggling, that number flipped entirely: 61.2% preferred to talk about their sex life than their credit score. The more financial pressure someone faces, the less willing they are to talk about money.
Waiting Too Long to Ask for Help
If they could no longer afford basic living expenses, 42% of respondents said they would wait until the problem felt out of control before contacting a professional. Another 31.1% said they would try to handle the debt themselves indefinitely rather than ever seek help and 14.6% would wait until they are threatened with legal action. Only 9% would reach out after missing a single payment.
By the time most people consider calling a Licensed Insolvency Trustee, their options have already narrowed considerably. And that is assuming they actually know who can provide them with debt relief options. In fact, only 53.7% of the respondents correctly identified Licensed Insolvency Trustees as the right professionals to contact for a bankruptcy filing. 33.6% of the respondents said they did not know who to call, 6.2% thought they should call Canada Revenue Agency and 4.9% thought they should contact a lawyer.
This trend is particularly worrisome in the current economic context that saw consumer insolvencies rise 2.2% during the 12‑month period ending January 31, 2026.
Little Financial Lies
Nearly one in three Canadians (31.5%) admitted to lying or intentionally misleading someone about their annual salary. More than a quarter (26.3%) have lied about their credit card debt, and 22.9% have misrepresented their credit score. These numbers point to a culture where financial shame is common enough that fabrication feels like a reasonable response.
Here too, financial situation is the strongest predictor. Struggling Canadians were far more likely to lie across every category: 38.1% lied about their salary versus 20.9% among comfortable Canadians, 31.4% lied about their credit card debt versus 12.8%, and 30.4% lied about their credit score versus 9.3%. The people most likely to benefit from honest conversations about money are the ones least likely to have them.
Gender also plays a role, in a direction that may surprise. While both sexes lied about their salary at nearly identical rates, women were more likely than men to have misrepresented their credit card debt (29.3% vs. 22.8%) and their credit score (25.1% vs. 20.1%).
