Unless you have multiple accounts that you need to negotiate and you think the project is just too big to tackle on your own, you're better off just calling your creditors directly.

Turn down offers for new cards or credit line increases on your current cards. Credit's tight, and chances are, you're not getting many offers anyway. But if you do, remember that the less credit you have available, the less trouble you can get into.

Debt settlement companies work as a middleman between you and your creditor. If all goes well (and that's a big if), you should be able to settle your debts for cents on the dollar. You'll also pay a fee to the debt settlement company, usually either a percentage of the total debt you have or a percentage of the total amount forgiven.

By definition, saving - for anything - requires us to not get things now so that we can get bigger ones later.

A little personality goes a long way.

You can have a do-over starting today. But you have to get over the feeling that it's too late

If you'd asked me a few years ago about debt settlement companies, I probably would have told you to avoid them.