LendCare staff actions push Go Easy Stock into sharp decline
Pickering-based LendCare collections staff set out to suppress delinquency rates, a practice now central to Goeasy’s abrupt financial reset. The revelation, alongside a rapid revision of loan-loss expectations, sent go easy stock tumbling, prompted a dividend suspension and left investors and analysts reassessing the lender’s path forward.
Pickering’s LendCare staff and the borrowers they served
LendCare built a business offering point-of-sale financing for subprime customers to buy everything from used vehicles to a pet’s veterinary care. That business model expanded Goeasy’s loan book as Canadians faced higher prices and employment stresses. One current and three former collections staff detailed efforts to pull unexpected payments from past-due accounts and repeatedly restructure loans to keep accounts appearing in good standing.
Those practices affect real borrowers and real balances. When customers miss payments, delinquencies rise and lenders must set aside more money in case loans are written off. The internal records and court filings referenced in the company’s update directly link the collections conduct at LendCare with the bank’s need to correct previously reported delinquency figures.
Goeasy’s $178-million charge, writedowns and leadership moves
Goeasy disclosed it will incur a $178-million charge tied to bad loans at LendCare and a roughly $55-million writedown for loan interest and fees. The company also expects an $86-million net increase in allowances for credit losses on gross consumer loans receivable in the quarter, and it now projects net charge-offs of 12. 9 per cent in 2025, up from 9. 2 per cent the year before. Management said the rate could move into the mid teens.
The update included operational shifts: a suspension of the dividend, a halt to buybacks and the withdrawal of previous guidance. Felix Wu was appointed chief financial officer, effective immediately, with Wu having served as interim CFO since Sept. 30. Management plans to report fourth-quarter results on March 25.
Go Easy Stock tumble and analyst reactions
Shares sank nearly 60 per cent after the company disclosed the charges and the guidance pullback. At one point shares were down $65. 90 or 57 per cent at $49. 65 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The market reaction reflected both the scale of the write-downs and the loss of visibility into the lender’s earnings power.
National Bank Financial analyst Jaeme Gloyn called the company’s update “a clearing event, ” and moved his rating down from Outperform to Sector Perform while cutting his target sharply. Gloyn emphasized uncertainty around whether current allowances — roughly 10 per cent — are sufficient versus management’s expectation for mid-teens net charge-offs, and he highlighted risks tied to loan terms, lender negotiations and potential shareholder dilution if an equity raise is required.
Other analysts took similar actions. One analyst lowered the rating to Underperform and trimmed targets substantially. Those moves followed the company’s disclosure that total net charge-offs could reach $331 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, alongside the $55-million writedown and the $86-million allowance increase.
For investors who bought Goeasy shares when the business pivoted into higher-cost lending through LendCare, the shift felt sudden. For others who watched the loan book grow, the corrections to historical reporting and the scale of the charges crystallized broader credit deterioration concentrated at LendCare.
Goeasy acknowledged the need to correct previously reported delinquency results after management recently identified issues with historical reporting practices at LendCare that recorded some customer payments as received while they were being settled at month end, some of which were ultimately not collected. The company did not respond to questions about the announcement.
Back at LendCare, the operational choices that prompted the corrections — payment pulls, loan restructurings and reporting practices — are the human-scale actions that reverberated up to corporate finance and down to share prices. For now, investors and affected borrowers will watch the company’s next confirmed milestone: Goeasy’s fourth-quarter results, scheduled for release on March 25.
