If you are stressed over the amount of debt you have incurred, you can call your credit card company to ask for a lower interest rate. However, in some cases this may not be enough.

If you fall behind with your payments, you may be able to make a deal with the credit card company after a period of 90 days of non-payment. After all, they would rather receive some payment than none at all.

But there are certain conditions under which they will consider settling with you. One, you have been paying on time; and two, you have been paying other creditors on time as well. Remember, they can check your credit report to determine your monthly payments.

There are two reasons, however, why a credit card company would prefer to settle with you. One, if you have no other assets, and a lawsuit would be fruitless; and two, you have convinced them that paying them something is better than not paying them at all.

Statistics have shown that in recent years, most credit card companies are not willing to settle for less than 80% of the total amount due. However, with the sub-prime mortgage crisis and banks becoming more reluctant to give credit, some have settled for half of the total debt.

If you are heavily in debt and decide to try to settle with your creditors, keep in mind that your credit report will be affected. Once an agreement is reached, your report may simply show the word “settled”.

It is also important to keep a log of your conversations with the credit card companies, such as the name of the person you spoke to, date, time, and nature of conversation.

Please note that this method should only be utilized in cases where you have no other alternative. Your credit rating will suffer and it may take a few years to bounce back.

Other than that, you can certainly contact your creditors to ask for a lower interest rate. They do so willingly and you can save a few dollars each month.

If you are heavily in debt, do what you can do pay off as much as you can of the debt. There are many methods of paying off debt that you can find on the internet.

If the worst case scenario occurs and you have no other means at your disposal to pay off your debt, be courteous and honest with the credit card representative. Explain your situation and make an offer first. They can either agree or make a counter-offer.

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