The Financial Post reports in its Monday, June 2, edition that there is a deepening divide between consumers in the face of economic uncertainty as those missing payments rose compared with a year ago, a new Equifax report shows. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post reports that Rebecca Oakes, Equifax Canada's vice-president of advanced analytics, said much of the trend stems from the high cost of living, growing unemployment and rising trade tensions. "In order for anybody to kind of keep making the payments you need to have an income, you need to have good employment," said Ms. Oakes. "When there's economic uncertainty, that does create a few impacts." The report found one in 22 consumers, or 1.4 million people, missed at least one credit payment during the first quarter, even as the average monthly credit card spend fell by $107 per cardholder. Ms. Oakes said: "This is more to do with pulling back on that discretionary spend. And that is going to have a knock-on impact to business and that ultimately will have a knock-on impact to employment levels. It's all kind of interlinked a little bit when you start to see that economic uncertainty."