As consumers head to the malls and shopping strips this holiday season, more than half are expected to use cash or debit cards and only one out of three shoppers will break out credit cards to buy gifts, so reports an online survey of Litle & Co., a Lowell-Mass.-based payments processing company.

Ben Saren, vice president of marketing at Litle, said this trend might help credit unions market debit cards to members and attract new members as long as the card provides incentives.

For example, the $5.2 billion Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union in Live Oak, Texas, launched a clever marketing campaign that said,  "RBFCU is planning to nickel and dime its members," playing off the huge consumer uproar over rising debit card fees by big banks last fall. RBFCU launched a new debit card last October that offered to pay members 15 cents for every purchase through the end of the year.