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to negotiate a deal for you with the credit card companies, don't. Also, if companies approach you offering to obtain a lower credit card interest rate I would strongly advise staying away from those companies as well. These companies want a large upfront fee before they will do anything on your behalf. If you are already in debt how are you supposed to come up with another $800 - $1000 at a time when you can least afford it? I checked in to all of these options. The not-for-profit credit counselling agencies have the best reputations with the credit card companies and the upfront fee of the company I went with was $49.00.

Sometimes the debt is just too high, your resources are too low, and you have to claim personal bankruptcy. I have been there. I have been in all of the above situations. Bankruptcy was the hardest and most humiliating experience that I ever went through. The company that I dealt with was great but it was my own personal feelings about the situation that I found hard to deal with. This was many, many years ago and there were extenuating circumstances that could not be dealt with any other way but it is not an experience I plan on repeating. Bankruptcy should always be the very last option. The hardest thing about avoiding bankruptcy and finding other ways to deal with your financial problems is learning from your mistakes. As I said before, I have been in each of the above situations so that should tell you how long it has taken me to learn. I hope that now that I am approaching an age where I should know better, I will know better. I just have to stay away from those blasted credit cards.

Learn more about this author, Leah Curtis.
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