When people think about being financially stable they usually think about being able to afford all the extras many of us take for granted in everyday life. That daily $6 coffee the hundreds you spend in gas each month or whatever it is, people think of financial freedom as the ability to barely afford the extras. But a lot of the times people get so far behind in payments or are forced to pay for an unforeseen emergency and aren't able to afford all the extras they've been enjoying.

Many people don't know that they are capable of negotiating with the credit card companies to make your life a little easier. After all, the credit card companies want to see their money too. So many times they are willing to renegotiate your interest rates, or remove late fees and other charges.

This would also be a good time to check your credit history. Anything over 2 years old can be removed from your credit report with a quick call to the credit reporting agency. When you call the credit report company ask them to remove any negative marks on your record that is 2 years or older. They won't be able to validate the late fees and will be forced to remove them from your credit report.

You'd be surprised how willing credit card companies are to negotiate fees. You'd probably be even more surprised to discover that many credit card companies are even willing to negotiate a new interest rate with you! Depending on how many credit cards and other debts you have, this could take hour upon hours on hold waiting to hear from a telemarketer. This is why I always recommend people turn to debt consolidation programs that do all the negotiations and phone calls for you. Getting all of your bills into one combined monthly payment. The debt consolidation service will also make the calls to have late fees removed and rates reduced.

You can also try to consolidate your debts on your own by combining them all onto one credit card or loan. The credit card or loan must be low interest, or no progress will be made. Regardless of if you do it on your own or get the assistance of a debt consolidation company, you need to make annual reviews of your credit report.

I'd be willing to pay hundreds of dollars for all the help I received from the debt advisers, but it hasn't cost be hardly anything.