The Chief Executive Officer at Steinbach Credit Union says interest rates are going up following the quarter-point increase in the Bank of Canada rate Wednesday. It's the third such increase by the central bank since last summer bringing its central rate to 1.25 percent. Glenn Friesen says SCU has been bumping its rates accordingly. He adds it appears more increases will be coming this year.

Glenn Friesen, CEO of Steinbach Credit Union"The central banks clearly want to see the interest rates go up, back to at least, I think the Central Bank of Canada would like to see a 3% rate. Without going up, they can't go down if something goes wrong. There is a lot of stuff that's happening out there that we can't control, for example, the NAFTA deal. That could have a significant impact on Canada which could also have a significant impact on our interest rates."

Friesen says the combined impact of the three rate quarter-point increases on mortgage payments amounts to about $60 per month for each $100,000 dollars owing. He notes members seem to be taking that in stride so far.

"We're not seeing any increase in our delinquencies at all, even from the first two rate hikes. We read about it a lot that Manitobans have large debt ratios. But, today, we're not experiencing anything. Every quarter-point certainly adds to the cost of borrowing but, when we look at our overall numbers, we believe that this area is still very strong."