Aggressive lending worries Wealthy Barber

Canadians have a love affair with debt. Recent data shows household debt has reached a record level of 153 percent debt-to-income ratio.

But consumers are only half to blame, David Chilton, author of the popular books "The Wealthy Barber" and "the Wealthy Barber Returns", tells BNN.

"The lending institutions have become so much more aggressive and that's a big part of why Canadians are taking on more debt," he says. "When you go to get a line of credit now, no matter what you want, they want you to take out even more."

"When you go to apply for a mortgage it's almost unbelievable how big a mortgage most lending institutions are willing to grant you - so they're pulling us towards more debt."

And Chilton warns that while consumers are not wholly to blame for the run-up in household debt, they will be the ones that suffer the fallout.

"If interest rates go up, we have a lot of people in trouble….there are a lot of Canadians just getting by," he says.