Rogers IT Layoffs 2026: Debt Relief Options for Tech Workers in Canada

Rogers cut about 100 internal IT and support roles in February 2026 and shifted the work to a third-party vendor. You now face a sudden income drop, high rent or mortgage, and unsecured debt that adds interest every day. You fix this by protecting severance, using Employment Insurance, and using a consumer proposal or other legal tools to cut 50–80% of unsecured debt while you keep your condo and car.

What the Rogers IT Layoffs 2026 Mean for Your Income

• About 100 jobs in IT support, software, AV, and end‑user tech were cut in mid‑February 2026.
• Most roles were in Ontario, with more cuts in Quebec and New Brunswick.
• Rogers kept the work but moved it to a third‑party vendor that may rehire some staff.

If you earned $110,000 per year, you lose about $9,100 in gross pay per month the day your job ends. If the vendor offers you a job at 90% of your old salary, you still lose about $900 per month in gross income.

Most laid‑off staff still carry big fixed costs. You might pay $2,500–$3,500 for a condo or house, $600–$900 for a car, and $800–$1,200 in unsecured minimum payments. Every month you delay a plan, interest eats more of your severance and savings, and the gap between income and bills grows.

You now stand at a clear fork. You either keep paying minimums until money runs out, or you use a legal tool to lock in lower payments while you still have severance and EI.

First 72 Hours After a Rogers IT Layoff: Money Triage Checklist

• Get your full HR package: severance amount and vacation pay.
• Confirm benefits end date and your Record of Employment.
• List every debt: cards, lines, loans, BNPL, tax, and car.
• Run your numbers through a debt-to-income and payoff calculator.
• Freeze lifestyle creep by cutting extras and subscriptions.

If you hold $20,000 on a credit card at 20% APR, you pay about $11 in interest every day. On $30,000, interest climbs to about $16 per day, or about $480 per month, before you even touch the principal.

In the first 72 hours, you do four core tasks. You freeze lifestyle creep by cutting food delivery, streaming, and non‑essential buys. You move emergency savings to a safe account that your overdraft or line of credit cannot swallow. You track your new cash runway: severance plus savings, minus rent, food, car, and a target debt payment you can still afford. Then you book a call with a Licensed Insolvency Trustee before you miss a payment.

Stop collection calls today. Book your free consultation now and see how much you can cut from this month’s payments.

How a Rogers Layoff Hits Your Debt, Credit, and Garnishment Risk

• When you pay only minimums, most of your payment goes to interest.
• When you miss payments, you face late fees, penalty rates, and then collection calls.
• When you ignore collectors, creditors move to wage garnishment or bank seizures where laws allow.

On a $15,000 credit card with a 3% minimum, your payment is about $450 at first. As you pay down slowly, it can take decades and cost tens of thousands in interest. On $30,000 in cards and lines at 20% APR, minimums can trap you for over 40 years. Total payments can reach more than double the original debt.

Unsecured debts include credit cards, lines of credit, personal loans, payday loans, BNPL balances, and most tax debts. Secured debts include your mortgage and car loan. Under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, a consumer proposal deals with unsecured debts. It does not touch your house or car if you keep those payments up to date.

Once you have income again, creditors can ask the court for a wage garnishment. In Ontario, wage laws usually protect 80% of your net pay, so up to 20% goes to creditors. In some cases in Quebec and New Brunswick, courts can allow up to about 30% of net pay to flow to creditors. The Canada Revenue Agency can start wage garnishments and seize tax refunds for unpaid tax debts after set deadlines, often around 90 days past due. You stop this only with a legal stay of proceedings from a consumer proposal or bankruptcy.

Under Section 66.12 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, once your consumer proposal is properly filed, unsecured creditors must stop most collection and legal action. You now choose between two paths. You wait and risk a 20–30% cut to every paycheque, or you put a legal wall in place that stops most collection actions.

High‑Income Tech Worker Options Before You Miss a Payment

• Keep paying minimums and hope for quick rehire.
• Take a bank consolidation loan at a lower rate.
• File a consumer proposal, negotiate a lump-sum settlement, or file bankruptcy.

If you keep paying minimums on $30,000 at 20% APR, you commit to decades of payments and total costs that can reach $80,000 or more. If you take a consolidation loan at 12% for five years, you pay about $667 per month and roughly $10,000 in interest over the term.

A consumer proposal works very differently. You and an LIT offer to repay a portion of your unsecured debt, often 20–50 cents on the dollar, over up to 60 months. On $30,000, you might offer $15,000 over five years, which is $250 per month. You reduce your total debt by 50%, lower the monthly payment by hundreds of dollars, and stop interest on included unsecured debts.

Over 120,000 Canadians filed consumer proposals in 2025, the highest annual count on record. Many proposals see success rates near 97% when filed by Licensed Insolvency Trustees because creditors prefer a structured recovery over a risk of bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is the most severe tool. It clears most unsecured debts faster, but it has stricter duties, more impact on your credit, and in many cases greater cost for higher‑income tech workers due to surplus income rules.

You now face a clear binary choice. You commit to 47 years of minimum payments and calls, or you compress your debt into a five‑year legal plan with fixed payments and an end date.

Comparison of Debt Options After a Rogers IT Layoff

If you still earn well or expect to earn well again, a consumer proposal usually gives a better balance. You reduce total debt, lock in a fixed end date, and keep your home and car if payments stay current.

Get your debt relief options in 60 seconds. Use our quick quiz to see which path fits your income and debt today.

Keeping Your Condo, Car, and Credit Score Alive

• Your mortgage and car loan are secured debts tied to the asset.
• A consumer proposal targets unsecured debts and leaves secured loans in place.
• Your credit score drops at filing, but you rebuild before the mark disappears.

If your condo mortgage is $2,800 per month and your car loan is $700, you already spend $3,500 before food, utilities, and transit. Add $1,000 in unsecured minimums and you need $4,500 per month just for fixed payments. A consumer proposal that drops unsecured payments to $300 frees $700 per month at once.

You keep your condo as long as you keep mortgage payments up and respect any equity and exemption rules in your province. You keep your car as long as you keep paying the loan or lease. The proposal removes pressure from credit cards and lines so you can stay current on the assets that matter most.

A consumer proposal stays on your credit file for up to six years from filing or three years after completion, whichever is shorter. You start rebuilding right away with a secured card, a small limit, and perfect payment history. Most people see a score low point in the first year, then gradual gains as the new track record replaces old missed payments.

You must decide what you protect. You choose between clinging to unsecured lenders and risking your home, or cutting unsecured debt now so you keep the roof and the car that gets you to your next job.

EI, Severance, and the Best Time to Talk to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee

• Severance and EI form your bridge income between jobs.
• The timing of your filing decides who your severance serves: you or your creditors.
• A Licensed Insolvency Trustee files your proposal and triggers the legal stay.

If your severance equals 20 weeks of pay on a $110,000 salary, you receive about $42,300 before tax. That money can cover housing, food, and reduced debt payments for months. If you burn it on minimums and interest, you reach the end of severance with the same debt and no cash.

EI covers 55% of insurable earnings up to a yearly maximum. For many laid‑off tech workers, that is $2,100–$3,350 per month. That covers a basic life, not full Toronto or Montreal housing plus heavy unsecured payments. In high‑cost cities, this gap shows up the first month you live on EI alone.

The best time to talk to an LIT is within 7–14 days of your layoff. You still hold severance, and you still have options. The trustee reviews your income, debts, and assets, then proposes a plan that works on severance and then on EI. Your Licensed Insolvency Trustee files Form 79 with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, and the stay of proceedings starts that day. Under Section 66.12 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, once your proposal is filed, unsecured creditors must pause most collection and legal action.

You now face another binary choice. You use severance to buy time and power in a proposal, or you send it to creditors and wait until you are out of cash and out of leverage.

Book your free consultation now. Talk to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee in your province before another dollar of severance goes to interest.

City‑Specific Help if You Were Laid Off from Rogers (Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, Montreal)

• Toronto and Mississauga tech workers face very high housing and car costs.
• Ottawa and Montreal workers face lower housing costs but still carry large card and line balances.
• The rules are federal, but the pressure and budgets differ sharply by city.

In Toronto and Mississauga, rent or mortgages over $3,000 per month are common for tech workers. If EI pays $2,400–$3,000 per month, you run a deficit from day one without a debt plan. A consumer proposal that cuts payments by $500–$900 per month can turn that deficit into a slim surplus.

In Ottawa, many Rogers staff still face big family costs, car loans, and tax debts. A proposal that cuts $40,000 in unsecured debt to $16,000 over five years changes the whole family budget. In Montreal, housing is cheaper, but wage levels can be lower, and even $20,000–$30,000 in credit cards and BNPL balances can crush an EI‑only income.

Local pages for Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, and Montreal add city‑specific examples, cost‑of‑living numbers, and local trustee partners. The core legal rules under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act stay the same, but the advice on housing costs, transit, and family budgets will match your city.

You choose whether you adjust your debt to match your city reality, or pretend your old salary still exists and let the numbers break you in six to twelve months.

Real‑World Scenarios

Priya – Senior Systems Analyst in Mississauga

Priya worked at Rogers’ Mississauga campus as a senior systems analyst. She earned $115,000 per year and carried $24,000 in credit cards, $10,000 on a line of credit, and a $6,000 tax balance. Her condo mortgage in the GTA is $2,900 per month and her car payment is $720.

When she lost her job in February 2026, she received 20 weeks of severance. Her minimum unsecured payments were $1,050 per month. She met a Licensed Insolvency Trustee ten days after her layoff. They set a consumer proposal at $22,000 over 60 months, or about $367 per month. Her unsecured payments dropped by $683 per month, she kept her condo and car, and she still had severance cash to cover months of payments while she searched for a new role.

Marc – AV Support in Montreal

Marc worked in internal AV support in Montreal and made $78,000 per year. He held $18,000 in card and BNPL debt and a $12,000 car loan. When the outsourcing change hit, his job ended. The vendor offered a new role three months later at about 85% of his old salary.

Marc used savings for three months but started to miss card payments. Interest pushed his minimum payments from $540 to more than $600 per month. A trustee helped him file a consumer proposal for $14,400 over 48 months, or $300 per month, covering only the unsecured debts. His car loan stayed outside the proposal and stayed current. Once he returned to work at the vendor, his budget could hold the proposal payment and normal bills, and collectors stopped calling.

Aisha – Service Desk Lead in Moncton

Aisha led part of the internal service desk in New Brunswick and earned $64,000 per year. She had $12,000 in credit cards, $8,000 on a line of credit, and $5,000 in payday and BNPL balances. Her rent was $1,600 per month and her car payment was $480.

After the layoff, she tried to keep up minimums of about $750 per month. Within three months, she fell 60 days behind on some accounts. Collection calls started at work and at home. A creditor moved to garnish her wages once she found a new job, which would take about 20% of her net pay. She met an LIT and filed a consumer proposal at $10,800 over 60 months, or $180 per month. The legal stay stopped the garnishment process, her total unsecured debt fell by $14,200, and she kept her car and rental home.

You now sit where each of these people sat. A sudden layoff from Rogers changed your numbers, but it did not remove your options.

Stop collection calls today. Book your free consultation now and see, in hard numbers, how short your path out of this can be.