CHICAGO — Signals of a possible economic recession might have crowded headlines late in 2007, but fewer consumers than last year reported planning to pay down their debt loads, according to TransUnion, one of the three major credit reporting bureaus which commissioned the survey.

The survey found only 17% identified paying down credit cards and other debt as their top priority for 2008, as compared with 22% a year earlier. "The drop in priority for paying down debt may be an indication that more consumers are struggling today just to maintain their financial status quo," said Lucy Duni, director of Consumer Education for TransUnion's financial education site TrueCredit.com.

Less than one-third of Americans (32%) picked eating healthy or losing weight as their number one resolution for 2008, compared with 37% last year but still higher than the percentage who said they would seek to cut their debt loads.