People with spotless credit reports obviously get the best deals. In most cases you will find that your rates, fees, penalties, charges and credit limits (you may have to start with something as low as $500) will be worse in relation to how far from perfect your credit record is.

If you're facing a mountain of bills, chances are you've drowned out even the most urgent warnings to save for retirement. You're not alone. No matter who's doing the polls or studies, results show that Americans are awash in debt.

If your wallet is full of plastic and your mail is full of bills, it might be time to organize your credit cards. In fact, if you are carrying quite a bit of debt, consolidating to a lower-rate card can save you a hefty chunk of change in interest charges. But done incorrectly, canceling credit cards or consolidating debt can cause more harm than good. Do you need to consolidate? Decide what you want to achieve with consolidation. Do you want to lower your interest rates? Do you want to lower your monthly payments? Or just stretch out the terms on your loans? If it's one of the last two, tread carefully.

Well, you did the right thing by contacting your creditors to let them know of your situation due to the natural disaster. Unfortunately, your creditors did less than the right thing by not helping you in your time of need.

Dear Steve, My family is swimming in debt from two cards that have gone out of control. We were going to be late in January of this year due to a natural disaster so we wrote a letter to the company(s). They didn't work with us and our interest rates rose from 8.99 percent to 32 percent on one and 26 percent on the other. We cannot even make the minimums. We have tried to apply for other cards but no luck. Is bankruptcy our only option? Many thanks.

Want to know what the big moneymaker is for credit card companies? Fees (read: your money). Last year, 31 percent of the industry's profits came in the form of late-payment fees, over-limit fees and the like. If you are like the average American family, your total credit card debt is around $8,100. If you were to stop charging altogether and pay only the minimum amount due on this amount, it would take about 30 years to get rid of it.

More than ever before Americans are racing along this highway to hell -- saving less than ever, draining cash from home equity and continuing their unrelenting pursuit of the good life. They're carrying a mountain of consumer debt, comprising bank and department store credit cards and those "easy-to-get, everybody-rides" auto loans. Americans can't seem to get enough of them.

You're paying your bills online one night and those nasty credit card statements are making you ill. If only there was some way to get rid of them, you daydream. PING. As if the advertisers were reading your mind up pops an e-mail that reads something like this:

When do you need to call in a financial fitness expert? Here are 15 instances that could indicate that your balances are getting the better of you and that credit counseling might help:

I have one claim against me. Collection agency "A" sends me a demand letter. I send back my dispute notice. That agency then sells my account to Collection Agency "B" which restarts the whole pattern again. Every six months I have to stop what I'm doing to reply to a new collection agency. When is a "no" a "no"? Why do I have to keep sending out letters? It has been over four years and I've sent seven letters. The claim is for $40. I've spent $10 responding. When does it become harassment?