Other articles by Anne D'innocenzio:

Consumer confidence falls on mixed economic news Wal-Mart upgrades target new, wealthier customersMoms are wielding cyber-clout Target adds groceries for growth Fashion retailers finally in sync with seasonConsumer confidence risingCheapskates are reveling in all their thriftinessRetailers report sales declines in February Macy's to cut 7K jobs, press local strategy Stores may be quick to fall as slump hits

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NEW YORK — Cash or credit? For more Americans, who have already maxed out their credit cards or are just trying to manage their spending better in the tough economy, the answer is increasingly the old- fashioned one.

Retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and J.C. Penney Co. are noticing a marked shift away from credit cards in favor of cash and debit cards. A big factor is less credit available as major card issuers cut spending limits and raise fees even for customers who pay their bills on time.

The shift ends Americans' long love affair with credit cards and is one of the changes in consumer behavior that has emerged since the financial meltdown that could depress consumer spending this holiday season and affect shoppers' habits long afterward.

Particularly during holiday seasons past, shoppers could count on a pile of plastic to give them the extra financing needed to splurge on presents before they had to face the bills in January or later.

But even when the economy recovers and credit loosens up, analysts say Americans — shaped by what could be a deep and long-lasting recession — are likely to stick with buying only what they can afford, just as their parents or grandparents did after the Great Depression.

"I think this is a new way of life," said Robert Smith, of Loves Park, near Rockford, Ill., who, along with his wife, has been using cash and debit cards to finance their spending, including vacations, since they paid off their credit-card debts in July. "I like to be able to know that we paid for something. I hate monthly payments when you use a credit card."

While the credit crunch is teaching consumers to be more "financially prudent," it's creating a lot of pain for both consumers and stores, said Curtis Arnold, founder of CreditRatings.com

One sign of how strapped consumers are for credit — and buying only what they have the cash for — is that for the first time in 17 years, Penney's has seen swings in spending around payday cycles over the past three months.

That's common for discounters like Wal-Mart, but a rarity for a mall-based department store — suggesting that Penney's middle-income customers are feeling the pinch as well.

At Wal-Mart, the volatility in spending around payday — a drop in spending in the days before, followed by spending bursts right afterward — has become even more pronounced since September. Chief Financial Officer Tom Schoewe told The Associated Press that shoppers are now unable to buy even necessities in the few days before payday.

Such swings became more dramatic last fall but subsided when shoppers received their government rebate checks this past spring.

Target executives told investors late last month that they're seeing lower credit-card usage among their shoppers for the first time since 2001-03.

Ken Hicks, Penney's president and chief merchandising officer, said that use of the company's store credit card was flat during the third quarter. He said he hasn't seen a decline in credit card use in five or six years.

Many Americans are using cash or debit cards because they have to. Laura Nishikawa, an analyst at Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc., a New York investment research firm, said that based on data from Visa, MasterCard and American Express, the number of credit cards consumers have fell 5 percent in the second quarter from the first quarter. That was mainly because consumers received fewer credit-card offers, she said.