In the first part, you learnt how to stop the credit card debts from climbing up any further. By now you might have also prepared the master list of how much debt you owe and at what rate. It's time now for some action.

Step III - Get Your Rates Reduced
No, I am not talking mindlessly. There are ways to get your rates reduced. I will tell you about them here. All you have to do is - give a call to your credit card provider (Remember? The number is right there on the back of your card).

• Talk to the representative politely, explaining your situation. If things don't work in your favor; ask to speak to the supervisor.
• Tell them directly to reduce the rate because you are not able to pay the debts at that high a rate. However, when you ask for reduction, you have to be very polite. Don't yell, as yelling will not help you to get reduced rates, but it will certainly reduce your chances of getting a reduction.
• Convince them that you are willing to pay the debts but you need their help in your genuine efforts to pay back.
• You can also get some degree of leverage in the conversation by telling that as a last resort, you may have to consider transferring your credit card balances to another company. This really works! It worked in my case.
• Do not expect a huge reduction. Be realistic. Even if they reduce the rate by 2-3%, it is a great success. For example, if you have a $30,000 balance, a 2% reduction will mean a saving of a whopping $600! 

Step IV - Master The Rules Of The Balance Transfer Game

Once you get the rates reduced, I would recommend you to find a zero percent balance transfer offer. You are most likely to get this offer right from your current credit card company. You will have to do some serious calculation, however, because different cards charge at different rates. You may have a part of the balance at a lower rate and the remaining at a high rate. Things can get more complex if you are carrying more than just two or three cards. So, what should be the "affordable" rate on the new card after the balance transfer? I have a proven formula to calculate that new rate.

New rate = (B1 X R1 + B2 X R2 + B3 X R3 + .... + Bn X Rn)/ B
Here,
B - total balance on all the cards
B1 - balance on first card
B2 - balance on second card
R1 - rate charged by the first card
R2 - rate charged by the second card, and so on.

For example, if you have a total balance of $30,000 on your cards with $12,000 at 6%, $8,000 at 15.5%, and $1000 at 19.6%, you can calculate the rate on your new card as (12,000 X 6 + 8,000 X 15.5 + 1,000 X 19.6)/ 30,000. The new rate that you calculate will be somewhere around 13.6%. However, this amount is just to give you an idea. You will have to read the fine print for exact details. For example, how long the intro APR will last, what is the minimum monthly finance charge, and other fee. You need to know all this and more. It is true that some people have faced deeper debt trouble because of their wrong approach towards balance transfer. However, if you master the rules, the deck will never get stacked against you. See my Ezine article "Credit Card Debt Consolidation: The Truth Behind The Balance Transfer Game" for more details.

In the next part, I will tell about the main part of our debt reduction plan, where you will learn how to "arrange" the cash and pay off all your debts in a way that is the most convenient for you. Trust me; even if your finances are going through their worst phase, there are ways to arrange the much needed money. Meanwhile, you can check some of the best balance transfer offers and do your calculations.