With unemployment in record territory, credit card defaults are expected to get worse before they get better: Analysts at Moody’s predict that credit card charge-offs will peak at 12 to 13 percent towards the middle of 2010.

Authorities came one step closer to closing the chapter on the largest ever credit card theft in the U.S. on Tuesday, when Alberto Gonzales, a 28 year-old Florida resident, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy in a federal court in Boston.

U.S. retail sales improved this Holiday season compared to last year’s bleak performance, according to data released on Monday by SpendingPulse, a unit of MasterCard Advisors. Between November 1 and Christmas Eve, retail sales climbed by 3.6 percent, according to the MasterCard report.

For credit cardholders, 2009 was a year like none before, as credit card companies pulled in the reins and consumers were faced with sky-rocketing interest rates, slashed credit limits, and otherwise tightened credit terms.