By PATRICIA SABATINI, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Shoppers are expected to shell out some $25 billion for gift cards this holiday season, making the little pieces of plastic cash the No. 1 present for the sixth year in a row.

Wouldn't it be great if the Internal Revenue Service were looking for you to give you money?

For nearly 108,000 taxpayers nationwide, that's exactly the case.

The agency is holding federal income tax refunds totaling about $124 million that it tried to distribute this tax season but were returned as undeliverable.

Seniors waiting for $250 stimulus checks from Uncle Sam this month are being warned about scammers lurking on the Internet and on the other end of telephone lines.
Thieves have been trying to take advantage of consumers' uncertainty over who is eligible for the money and when and how it will be distributed.

Issuers of credit cards are required to make available to each customer an estimate of how long it will take to pay off a card's balance if he or she makes only minimum payments.
For credit cards issued by banks, which covers nearly all credit cards, estimates are available by calling the payoff information number on billing statements.

If you haven't been paying attention to your credit card bills lately, brace yourself. The news isn't good.
Credit card profits are being squeezed by rising defaults and waning spending. As a result, issuers are tightening the screws on consumers.

A Pittsburgh-based burial-services firm announced this week a multimillion-dollar partnership with an Irish company to offer specially designed caskets and urns in the United States for the dearly departed of Irish descent.

One of the biggest gripes heard by the consumer advocacy group Consumer Action is people feeling blindsided by cell phone fees.
Among the top booby traps are "out-of-control" text messaging fees and pre-paid calling card scams, according to the San Francisco-based group's hit list of top cell phone issues released last week.

If you haven't been paying close attention to your monthly bank statements, now may be a good time to start. Average fees for a number of banking services have hit all-time highs, including ATM fees and bounced check charges, according to a new report by Bankrate.com, the guru of consumer finance rates and trends.

With the unemployment rate on the rise and household finances under siege, more people are being duped by work-at-home and other job-related scams.

The financial upheaval sweeping across the country in recent weeks has left many Americans feeling as though they've been hit with a Taser.Billion-dollar bailouts and bankruptcies among the nation's financial titans, a wobbly economy and crumbling stock and job markets have jolted the steadiest of citizens from Wall Street to Main Street.