Consumers Cut Back on Credit Cards.

Byline: Juana Jordan

Nov. 6--Karen Hager has been watching the trends that tell how the economy is doing: Consumers are shopping, but not in excess. They're using cash rather than credit. And in some cases, they're offering to cut up their credit cards.

"They're saying, 'If I need to, I will cut them up,' " said Hager, vice president of lending for Capital City Bank. "They're coming in and doing what the economy is saying. They're trying to hunker down."

Even before the terror attacks of Sept. 11, Americans had started locking up their credit cards and slowing their spending. But since the attacks and the aftershocks in the economy, financial …