2008 will prove to be the worst financial year in history for many people. As families settle down after a joyous holiday season of togetherness, tensions begin to mount as the merchants cheerfully send out their post-seasonal bills. They've made their money. Now it's time for you to pay up.

"Wait just a minute," you may be thinking. "How is this year any different than the rest?" Great question. In short, there are a number of factors that individually would not be of much significance, but this year they may all come into alignment to create financial hardships for millions of hardworking Americans.

If it happens to you, the pressure and stress of a financial burden can feel like the weight of the world is upon you. If you find yourself in such a dire financial situation, you must know that there are resources and legal ways that you can recover, without losing your home, your car, or other assets that you worked so hard to attain.

You may recall that many credit card companies changed their minimum payment policies last year. If you normally pay your bill in full but spent a little extra for gifts this past season, the higher required payment might take you by surprise.

If you took advantage of the subprime lending rates on your home and either refinanced or borrowed against your equity, the added payments from adjustable rates mortgages might be creating an additional financial pinch in the coming months.

Complicating matters further, bankruptcy laws changed significantly in 2005, making it harder to qualify for debt forgiveness due to newly imposed income tests to prove eligibility for filing Chapter 7 or Chapter 13.

The icing on the cake, if your (former) employer was kind-hearted enough to keep you on their payroll through the holidays, but unexpectedly slipped you the bad news that your services were no longer needed after the New Year, the combination of all of the above means that your walls are closing in on you, and it can sometimes be difficult (or impossible) to maintain your objectivity.

Help is nearby.

No responsible citizen wants to throw in the towel and fail to meet their financial obligations. But clearly there has been a growing pattern of commercial pressure to lure you into what seems like an unrecoverable situation. Was it a conspiracy? No. There is no need to be paranoid about it. But as oil companies, utility companies, banks, and merchants are reporting record profits, the greed of corporate America has led to an all-time high consumer debt.

The worst part about this depressing picture is that you, the consumer who supports the economy with your hard-earned dollars, is more often a victim of commercial advertising strategies designed to part you from your money. Face it, companies sink millions of dollars into marketing, advertising, and conducting studies to learn how to target you, their valued patron. Unfortunately, you weren't privy to the results of their research which told them exactly how to hit your hot buttons. On top of that, circumstances beyond your control like increasing mortgage rates, loss of a job, and so on can mount up to devastation.

There are laws in place and tools available to protect your interests if this has happened to you, so do yourself a favor: take a deep breath, pick up the telephone, and make a simple phone call to a qualified financial attorney. Ask for a consultation, and learn what you can do to preserve your livelihood, your assets, your family, and your peace of mind.