Survey: Consumers likely to cut holiday spending

WASHINGTON -- Consumers are a bit more inclined to cut back on holiday spending than in recent years, concerned about energy costs and credit card debt.

A moderate rise in holiday spending, weaker than in the past few years, is expected as a result, the Consumer Federation of America and the Credit Union National Association said yesterday in their annual survey.

When respondents were asked whether they intended to spend more or less this season, 32 percent said less compared with 30 percent in the 2005 survey. Eighteen percent said much less, up from 13 percent.

By contrast, 15 percent said they would spend more this year, close to last year's 14 percent, while 52 percent said they would spend about the same, little changed from 51 percent.

"Our experience with this survey is consumers tend to say they will spend less than they actually do, and our overall survey findings are slightly weaker than last year," said Bill Hampel, chief economist of the credit union association. "This suggests many households will feel financially 'hung over' in a couple of months unless they do something about it now."

Though energy costs have declined in recent months they remain a concern for consumers. The cost of gasoline and home heating remains the most important factor influencing consumers' anticipated holiday spending, according to the survey, though the percentage of respondents saying those costs would cause them to spend less for the holidays declined to 32 percent from 41 percent last year.

Respondents expressing concern about paying off credit card debt from holiday spending rose to 33 percent from 25 percent in 2005, with those aged 18 to 24 showing particular concern.

In the survey, 43 percent of consumers expressed concern about meeting monthly payments on all kinds of debt.

The holiday spending survey polled about 1,000 adults from Nov. 9-12. Its margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.