So it's been going on for some time.

This is the fifth increased since the summer of 2017 and the third time this year the rate's gone up 1/4 point, but it is now higher than it's been in a decade, sitting at 1.75%.

The banks, of course, charge much more than that, and the major ones have already increased their rates accordingly up 1/4 point.

So if you've got debt with a variable rate, you're getting hit.

You're riding that wave.

But even if you locked in at a fixed rate is Jacqueline Hanson explains, that may just mean trouble is on the way.

Michelle Kennedy is trying desperately to save money so she can put a lump sum payment towards her fixed rate mortgage.

When she renews, you finally get the house and you constantly have a fear.

What if something happens?

The interest rates go up and I can no longer afford my house.

The build up of the Bank of Canada's recent hikes could be a shock to many Canadians.

It's already being felt by those with variable rate debt.

For instance, the two million Canadians who have tapped a home equity line of credit.

If their monthly obligations become higher and higher, they're going to have to make cuts in other parts of their budgets, and it's going to hurt.

Being good with our money makes us more productive mixes.

Financial educator Ann Arbor says Canadians need to prepare for higher rates, almost stress testing yourself and making sure that you can afford the payment that also applies to variable rate mortgages.

Before the banks started to hike, the lowest available rate was 1.75% on a $400,000 mortgage.

That's a monthly payment of about $1600.

After today's increase, the lowest variable rate is expected to jump to 2.7% so that same mortgage will cost nearly $200 more every month.

While difficult for some consumers to swallow, interest rate increases are not a bad sign for the economy.

As a holes, we should really see these interest rate increases as a validation of confidence in the underlying strength of the economy, not just an attempt to pour cold water on growth.

Still, for Michelle Kennedy, it's enough to keep her up at night.

There is no traveling.

There is no fancy dining.

There is no, um, luxuries in my life until I get that done until I renew that mortgage.

If economic conditions stay the same, there could be several more rate hikes to come.

And if consumers with debt don't take steps to adapt, there could be much more stress as well.

Jacqueline Hints and CBC News Toronto Okay, now, we asked Peter Armstrong to sit down with us to break down these rate hikes, and we heard in Jacqueline's piece five increases over the last year and 1/2.

The question is why?

Well, essentially, because the economy doesn't need it right.

If these low interest rates were meant to encourage me and you to borrow money and spend it, we did that.

We got out of the hole.

Now the economy is chugging along, or at least one narrative in the economy is saying that is doing so well.

There's two and they're competing.

You've got the markets saying one thing and we saw the TSX have another terrible day today.

Now an official correction territory.

It's saying pessimism negativity wins the day trade war with China in the US this long bull run has run its course.

If you look at the data, though, they say employments doing well.

Jobs, numbers, air up, wages, air finally going up.

The NAFTA deal takes a lot of the uncertainty off the table for business investment exports, and Stephen Polos has to try to find a way to navigate his way of sort of thread that needle and our regular everyday consumers like you and me, getting the signals that hate Now's the time to be responsible, right?

And that message has been coming for a long time, and they weren't getting it.

Now it appears they might just be retail sales numbers came out this week and showed their starting to slow.

So maybe we're not splurging on that big TV after all.

And finally trying to get our debt under control, Stephen Paulus talked about how closely they watched each and every individual measure along the way.

As we got to this point, let's take a listen.

The debt made us wary from the beginning that you know every interest rate move was gonna count bigger.

That has in the past.

And we did some more research, and we expanded that our model.

So our model now has 50% more interest sensitivity in it than historically.

So we're taking out on board and monitoring how we're doing.

And over the last 12 months, the model has done a good job of predicting how people would react.

So we're our confidence is growing that we've got that about right.

It's funny that confidence comes because they haven't always had that economy hasn't always behave the way they kind of thought I would write.

And we'll have more of your chat with Stephen Bolas tomorrow morning.

You know, Armstrong, thanks much.