A new survey from Manulife Bank finds 9% of Canadians polled only have access to $1,000 or less in case of emergency.

The poll also found 46 per cent of people would have a hard time making their monthly mortgage payments in less than six months if their primary income earner lost their job.

Franco Savoia with Unexpected Expsenses and Vibrant Communities says depending on how dire your situation is, you may need to downsize "now you can certaintly sit down with your holder of your mortgage and say here's my situation, could we re-mortgage, could we work out some new ways of coming at this, and remember the mortgage holder has no interest in you going bankrupt, but having the wherewithall to just sit down and honestly speak to the mortgage holder in this case it would really, really be helpful."

Savoia says at all costs avoid getting a payday loan, instead many credit unions are now offering loans that have lower interest rates to help you if you run into some unexpected expenses.

The Manulife Bank poll also finds 24% of respondents don't know how much is in their emergency fund, and 14% don't even have one.