I’ve got a confession to make. At my high point, I had over $100,000 in debt, which was either on credit cards or in loans that I took out to pay off those cards previously. And I was looking everywhere I could for the best credit card debt assistance.

Does this sound familiar? The due date for this month’s credit card bills is coming up and you need to make the payments. You go through your bills and find the following:

- The first one says “Payment Holiday”. Great news! You don’t need to make that payment this month.

- The next one has a minimum payment of only $50, so you send that in and shred that statement. Out of sight, out of mind, right? (For another month at least)

- The third one doesn’t have much of a balance, so the full payment is only $130. You send that off and feel good about having paid it off. But wait – there are some “cash advance” checks in the envelope with the bill. Better keep those just in case.

- The last one has the biggest balance and the minimum payment is $280. But you just can’t make a $280 payment and still cover all your other expenses. Fortunately, you’ve got those cash advance checks from the other card, so you write yourself a check for $280 and cover that payment for the month.

I spend several years juggling payments like this, and trust me, I understand – it’s no fun.

Let me share three tips for credit card debt assistance that can help you overcome these situations.

1. Call your credit card companies and ask for a better interest rate and/or lower payment. You’d be surprised at how flexible they will be, particularly if they think there’s a chance they’re going to lose you as a customer (and all the interest you pay along with you).

2. Focus on paying off one card at a time. Paying a little bit on a bunch of cards won’t get any of them paid off anytime soon. You’re better off to focus on one at a time and do as much as you can to get it paid off.

3. Stay away from debt consolidation loans unless you *fully* understand the potential issues. Debt consolidation seems like a good way to deal with credit card debt, but it almost never is. There are too many “gotchas” that they don’t tell you about until it’s too late.