About 71.5% of consumers will use cash, checks or debit cards this holiday season versus 28.3% who plan to use credit cards, which is about a 10% decrease from last year and a clear sign that consumers are weaning themselves away from credit cards.

As credit card interest rates climb along with credit card delinquency consumers clearly want to avoid digging an even deeper credit hole.

According to the National Retail Federation's 2009 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, U.S. consumers plan to spend an average of $682.74 on holiday-related shopping, a 3.2% drop from last year's $705.01. Only 28.3% of shoppers will use credit this year compared to 31.5% a year ago.

"Paying with cash is the best way to add a safety brake during holiday shopping. Studies show that consumers typically spend 12% to 18% less when we use cash for payment. Counting out and handing over cash is a sobering reminder of how much items really cost. It makes you pause and consider if the purchase is really worth your labor," Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook, told me by e-mail.

Whether you're a child rushed to an emergency room for care or an adult who has put off preventive medical care, if you don't have health insurance, you are more likely to die. That's been confirmed by three different health studies.

• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found that uninsured children who are hospitalized are 60% more likely to die.

• Harvard University found that large numbers of uninsured adults have chronic illnesses that are undiagnosed and under-treated, which means they are not getting treatments that could prevent strokes, heart attacks, amputations and kidney failure.

You'll find numerous blogs out there threatening jail time for the uninsured, but don't believe them. This is just another scare tactic to prevent health insurance reform.

While it's true there are penalties for those who choose not to get insurance, that penalty is 2.5% of one's income and the penalties will be collected by the IRS. Jail time is not likely. In fact criminal prosecutions by the IRS are rare. Of 156 million individual tax returns filed in 2008, only 100 resulted in criminal prosecutions for those who willfully defrauded the system. The penalty will only impact those who are wealthy enough to pay for insurance and choose not to pay. The intent is that this penalty will be used to pay for the medical needs of those who choose not to get insurance.

Banks continue to take advantage of the waiting period for the CARD Act to lower credit limits, increase interest rates, and raise the minimum credit scores required for a credit card during the past three months, according to the quarterly survey released this week by the Federal Reserve.

This survey of loan officers also found 75% of banks that make credit card loans do not expect to be compliant with the provisions of the legislation until February 2010, the month these reforms go into effect.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd unveiled his financial reform package on Tuesday and consumers could win big if the bill becomes law. Dodd proposes a strong Consumer Financial Protection Agency whose sole job will be to protect American consumers from fraud and abuse. He wants to be sure people get the clear information they need on loans and other financial products from credit card companies, mortgage brokers, banks and others.

Dodd introduced the bill along with fellow committee members Jack Reed, Charles Schumer, Robert Menendez, Daniel Akaka, Jon Tester, Mark Warner, Jeff Merkley and Michael Bennet -- all Democrats, so at least it looks as though this may be a partisan effort, but the issue is so important I hope it can become a bipartisan bill.

If you're having trouble making your mortgage payments, but want to stay in your home, you may get the option if your loan is held by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae announced a new program recently that will allow you to stay in your home as a renter if you hand back the deed to the lender.

This new "Deed for Lease Program" will allow families to stay in their home rather than being displaced. It will also help to stem foreclosures and prevent further deterioration of neighborhoods filled with vacant foreclosures, according to an announcement from Frannie Mae.

As we start to buy gifts for family and friends, we may decide to go the easy route and get a gift card. But think twice before you choose that route. New studies show gift cards are the most popular presents to give and receive, but the hidden costs may outweigh the convenience of the gift. Be sure you give and use these cards correctly.

"Gift cards are easy to give, but they are also easy to forget. If the card has a monthly fee or expiration date, these can become costly little pieces of plastic," Bill Hardekopf, CEO of LowCards.com and author of The Credit Card Guidebook told me in an email interview. "Even though gift cards take the hassle out of holiday shopping, you want to use them wisely. It is important to know the terms of the card you are buying."

There's no doubt that the current downturn has changed people's spending habits.

Since the peak in housing wealth, homeowners lost more than $5 trillion in equity and 15 million homeowners own homes that are now underwater (worth less than they owe). Unemployment is hovering near 10% with no clear signs of falling.

Homeowners' previous piggy bank -- home equity -- is no longer available for spending. Even if people still hold a job, many are worried that their jobs are at risk and won't spend except for necessities.

People, afraid for their future also changed their savings habits. In the first quarter of 2008, before the recession took hold people saved about 1% of disposable income. By the second quarter of 2009 the savings rate soared to 5% of disposable income. But now that we appear to be near the end of the recession the savings rate dropped back to slightly above 3% in the third quarter of 2009, as people see the end of the recession in sight.

While economists now don't believe this recession will be as deep as the Great Depression, its depth and length will certainly change people's spending and savings habits for a long time to come.

If you lost your job, right now you can get a 65% subsidy from the government to help pay for a continuation of your health benefits under COBRA for nine months. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act may be a weird name for a bill about health insurance, but it's basically the law that requires companies to let people pay to remain on their group health insurance plans for at least 18 months.

But that could end shortly. Congress passed the 65% subsidy as unemployment rose in this country, but it's due to expire Dec. 31. A bill to extend the subsidy for a total of 15 months was introduced last week by Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa. Originally, the subsidy was available for nine months. So someone who began collecting the subsidiary on March 1 would run out of help at the end of November.

Pew Charitable Trust confirmed what most of us consumers already know: credit card issuers continue to implement their most harmful practices, rushing to beat the deadline of the CARD Act.

The Pew Charitable Trust released "Still Waiting: 'Unfair or Deceptive' Credit Card Practices Continue as Americans Wait for New Reforms to Take Effect," which examines almost 400 credit cards advertisements by banks and credit unions offered in July 2009 and December 2008. The study found that 100% of the credit card companies continue practices that will be outlawed by the CARD Act. The lowest advertised interest rates have increased by more than 20% in the past year. None of the 12 largest banks currently issue cards that would meet the requirements of the CARD Act.