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While more fortunate than those without work and consolidating debt to do their best to make ends meet, a new survey has found that even the majority of those with a job are perilously close to serious financial problems.

According to a survey released Wednesday by CareerBuilder.com, 78 percent of workers with jobs are currently living paycheck-to-paycheck and unable to build up any significant savings. The figure is higher than the 61 percent who said they lived paycheck-to-paycheck in a survey taken last May.

Likely because of the lack of savings possessed by a majority of workers, 56 percent of respondents said they planned on using their tax returns to pay off bills that have piled up in recent months.

"Workers’ wallets are still feeling the ripple effects of the past year," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder. "In addition to scaling back their investments and cutting back on expenses, workers are using their tax returns to help supplement their incomes. Our survey indicates that more workers plan to spend their refunds on everyday expenses than on savings or other items."

Additionally, 34 percent said they planned on putting their tax return into savings, while 8 percent said they would use it to pay back money to people who had given them a loan. Only 11 percent of respondents said they planned to use their refund to fund a vacation.

With consumers looking to cut costs and commit as little money as possible to unneeded expenses, a growing number of cell-phone users have begun switching to cheaper pre-paid phone brands as a means to consolidate debt.

According to a study by the New Millennium Research Council [released] on March 31, the fourth quarter of 2009 marked the first time that new prepaid wireless customers in the country outnumbered the number of new contract-based cell phone customers.

The prepaid cell phone market, which in many cases has cheaper plans than contract plans because they are customizable, grow to 54.4. million customers during the quarter, an increase of 17 percent compared to the final quarter of 2008.

"The era of cell phone penny pinching is officially here. Thanks to the recession, the U.S. cell phone marketplace continues to undergo fundamental changes that will just get bigger as the economic downturn deepens," said Jose Guzman, a project coordinator for the NMRC. "What is different from a year ago is the explosion in new ‘all-you-can-eat’ and unlimited prepaid deals as low as $30 and $45 that will remain attractive to consumers long after the current recession is over."

The study also found that, in total, there were approximately 285 million Americans who were subscribed to some type of wireless phone service.

The deep effects of the Great Recession and the need for many families across the country to consolidate debt and save money can be seen in a new report from the Mortgage Bankers Association that shows the number of householdsdeclined from 2005-2008 despite a population increase.

The report, titled What Happens to Household Formation in a Recession, found that the number of households across the country declined by 1.2 million from 2005 to 2008, despite a population increase of 3.4 million.

The study, which was conducted by University of Southern California associate professor Gary Painter and sponsored by the Research Institute for Housing America, also found that the national home-ownership rate had fallen to 67 percent from a peak of 69 percent.

"With such a significant drop in households nationwide, it is clear the most recent recession impacted individuals’ decisions to move out on their own and caused many Americans to join already formed households,” said Painter. "…Clearly, given the depth of the downturn in 2009, and the ongoing weakness in the job market through the beginning of this year, this study gives no reason to expect that household formation has picked up at all."

The decline in households and needs by many to save money during the recession also led to an increase in overcrowding, which increased nearly five-fold and indicated that families had taken to sharing households.

A new report from the U.S. Department of Labor has found that job openings and labor turnover remained mostly stable in February, likely pleasing consumers who are in the process of debt consolidation and looking for brighter economic times ahead.

According to the Labor Department Job Openings and Labor Turnover report for February, which was released on Tuesday, job openings only saw a slight decline in the month as they fell to 2.72 million from 2.85 million in January. Hires also declined only minimally to 3.96 million from 4.08 million in January, as did total separations (3.95 million, down from 4.15 million in January.)

"Generally, you’re moving in the right direction on job openings," said Michael Feroli, the chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase, according to the Associated Press. "[But] as today’s numbers remind us, it’s not a straight line up."

In the last 12 months ending in February, the hire rate remained unchanged in total nonfarm and private employment while government hiring increased.

In turn, the rate of layoffs across the country declined slightly as well by 0.1 point to 1.4. The decline came as the number of layoffs hit 1.82 million in February, down from 1.95 million in January and 2.59 million in February 2009.

This tax season may be a good opportunity for adults who are concerned about saving money for their younger relatives’ college education, especially if they have not been able to in recent years due to debt consolidation issues.

With the Florida College Investment Plan, adults filing a a tax return this year will have the option of creating a tax-free savings account through a 529 college saving plan that is tax exempt and can be initiated through a variety of five different investment options.

With a tax refund in hand, friends, parents, or grandparents can open a savings account for a child with an initial deposit of at least $250 or an automatic bank withdrawal of at least $25.

"Every grandparent would like to see their grandchildren get a college education. You want the best for them, and one of the best things you can give them is a head start towards college," says Justine Kellner McGeehan, a Tallahassee resident who has an FCIP account for her grandchildren.

Money saved by the plan will be accepted at most accredited public or private universities and colleges for undergrad or graduate programs. Additionally, neither the creator or recipient of funding from the FCIP need to be a resident of Florida.

With many Americans who are in the midst of making every penny count as they consolidate debt, a settlement reached in Maryland may provide some savings to families who desperately need it.

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced on Thursday that his office’s Consumer Protection Division had reached a settlement with BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc to return all money the retailer earned from deceptive coupons they offered.

From late 2008 to early 2009, Maryland consumers were offered “Buy One Get One Free” coupons for use at area BJ retailers. However, fine print in the coupon negated the offer by limiting it only to items priced below a certain price that the retailer did not offer

"Businesses in Maryland must abide by the law and when they advertise something for free, it is just that – free," said Attorney General Gansler. "As a result of this agreement, BJ’s has agreed to stop these deceptive practices and reimburse customers in Maryland."

In addition to refunding the 2,000 Maryland residents who wrongfully paid for products that should be free, the settlement also dictated that BJ’s pay a $40,000 penalty to the Consumer Protection Division.

A recently conducted survey by International Living magazine has found that, due to ecomonic restraints and the debt consolidation needs required by many across the country, Americans are more likely to expatriate than ever.

According to the survey, an overwhelming 95 percent of the 500,000readers of the magazine responded they were more likely to move out of the U.S. currently than they were one year earlier.

Jackie Flynn, the publisher for InternationalLiving.com, said that an increased sentiment to leave the country had been suspected by many at the magazine after a high turnout at their recent U.S.-based conferences

"The economy is faltering," said Flynn, "unemployment is at record levels, the health care debate nearly caused a civil war, and there are real wars being fought on two fronts in the Middle East. The cost of living is going up so fast that people are being priced out of their retirements. It’s no wonder our readers are getting serious about moving abroad."

Elaine Finnegan, the website’s events director, added that many of the magazine’s conferences had sold out, forcing them to put a registration limit on them because the demand to learn about living outside the U.S. had grown so much in the last year.

Taxpayers who have to deal with an unexpected family or personal emergency may be able to receive an abatement if they do not file a return and are in need of debt consolidation, so long as they can provide proof of medical treatment.

According to William M. Funk, a tax attorney who houses his practice in New York City, those who cannot file a return because they are struggling with personal matters may be able to avoid penalties for non-filing that can be up to 25 percent of the tax due.

The way to do this, he added, was to receive therapy to help cope with the issues that impeded their filing and be able to show proof of treatment.

"For example, a client suffering from depression who had not filed for years came to me for help when the IRS threatened to garnish her wages,” he added. “Producing treatment documentation resulted in a waiver of the failure-to-file penalties for the two years of her illness following the death of a member of her immediate family.”

Funk said that the IRS assessed more than $6 billion in civil penalties against taxpayers who did not file a return in 2009.

While Toyota may have had anything but a calm start to 2010, consumers seemed to be putting aside their debt consolidation needs as they continued to purchase new cars from the automaker in March.

According to the first quarter sales report released last week by Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., the Japanese car company reported March sales of 186,683 units, a 35 percent increase over sales figures recorded in March 2009.

Similarly, the company’s Lexus Division reported sales of 20,219 sales during the month, an increase of 36.5 percent over the sales seen one year earlier.

"Toyota’s strong sales performance in March reflects our customers’ continued confidence in the safety and reliability of our vehicles and their trust in the brand,” said Don Esmond, senior vice president of automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “We are standing by our cars, and we’re grateful that our customers are standing by Toyota.”

Toyota’s strongest passenger car sellers for the month were their Camy and Camry Hybrid models, which sold a combined 36,251 vehicles. The Corolla followed with sales of 29,623.

The RAV4 model led the sales figures for the company’s light trucks for the month, selling an all-time high of 25,781 vehicles.

Jobless workers who have been forced to deal with financial hardships and debt consolidation throughout the recession are nonetheless on their way to increasing their spending this year, and may see more job offers because of it.

According to a new Economic Outlook released Thursday by PNC Financial Services Group, 47 percent of business owners anticipate an increase in sales during the next six months. The figure was a slight increase over the 40 percent who felt the same way last Fall, and was notably higher than the record-low 26 percent who said so one year earlier.

Partly due to the increased sales, 22 percent of owners also said they expected to increase the number of full-time employees at their place of business in the next six months, well above the 17 percent who felt the same way last fall and the 12 percent who did one year ago.

"These findings support PNC’s forecast that the U.S. economy’s ongoing ‘half-speed’ recovery will be sustained throughout 2010 and beyond," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC. "The missing ingredient in the recovery recipe is private sector job growth. We expect it to soon be baked into the mix, which will make the recovery more satisfying."

The manufacturing industry led the way when it came to anticipated hiring, with 29 percent of owners in the sector saying they would hire full-time employees.