I hope you liked all your Christmas gifts this year, because retailers are determined to keep you from returning them.

You can’t blame them. Every year retailers lose part of their holiday profit on returned items. Electronics that are returned in opened boxes often cost them most, as they may have to discount the items for resale. To combat this, many retailers are imposing a “restocking fee” on certain returned items, to cover the cost of repackaging and any loss they may suffer on the resale of the item.

Other retailers are keeping track of just who returns what and how often. Wal-Mart, for instance keeps track of the number of returns for any one person and if a shopper exceeds the limit they are disqualified from any further returns.

Receipts will definitely be required. Easy refunds and store credits are a thing of the past. Retailers have been burned once too often. If you have your receipt you shouldn’t encounter any difficulty, but be prepared for long lines.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

If you’re running out of time for shopping this year and you can’t even seem to find a bad gift, no strange objet d’art like a fish head clock or even a fish head tie, then you will probably end up purchasing a share of the $80 billion worth of gift cards being sold this season.

But know that about 10% of those gift cards’ values are never redeemed and are kept in the pockets of the retailers. Some recipients just aren’t the type to go shopping unless they really need something and others might think that not using the card saves money for the giver.

If you give a card this season, be sure you choose one that the recipient will use. Encourage the recipient to spend the full value of the card and to do it soon, as many cards now carry expiration dates.

Do them a favor by only choosing cards that have safeguards against scams. Don’t buy cards displayed on a rack where scammers could take down the numbers from the card or the envelope and spend the card’s value before your loved one has a chance to.

If all of that seems far too complicated and you are sill shy a gift – consider regifting the fruit cake Grandma sent last year.

Happy Holidays!

‘Tis the season for debt

Every year holiday spending per consumer goes up and much of that spending ends up as credit card debt. Shedding that holiday debt is harder than shedding extra holiday pounds.

At the holiday season it is hard for even debt-wary and credit-savvy consumers to avoid over-spending. It’s not easy to resist buying that special gift for that special person.

The best way to finance your holidays has always been the Christmas savings account. Saving for your holiday spending throughout the year and not relying on credit cards with high interest rates could end up saving you hundreds of dollars over the course of repayment.

The interest on these accounts is minimal, so don’t plan on making money. The discipline in saving ahead of time is a good exercise in financial management and the peace of mind you will have when you pay for your holiday expenses without running up credit card debt is priceless.

Next year, plan on saving for Christmas a little bit at a time. Contact a banking institution about their holiday spending account plans.

The newest scam involves gift cards sold at stores and given as Christmas presents.

Gift cards are often displayed on racks in stores. Usually they come in several styles and they are not activated until you purchase them and give them a value.

However, scammers are writing down the numbers on the backs of these cards. They can then later call an 800 number to find out if the card has been activated and use the numbers to make purchases online, effectively using up the card before the recipient has a chance to even open his gift.

One way to combat this would be to have the cards set behind a counter or available only at the register from the clerk. If you buy a gift card this year, insist on one that has not been on a display rack where it was accessible to anyone wanting to record the numbers on it.