With interest rates rising and credit card companies eager to hand out penalties for late payments, it’s easy for problem debt to get out of hand. What was once a little problem can easily snowball into a big one as the interest piles up. Soon you end up putting groceries on your credit card because you don’t have cash and eventually you reach a point where you can’t pay anything. Possible solutions include consolidating your debt or reducing your obligations. There are several useful suggestions as to how you might go about that:

Shop around for a credit card with lower interest. While many cards have rates that average about 20% per year, there are companies that offer cards with substantially lower rates. It may well be worth your while to do a bit of research to find one. If you can lower your interest rate from 20% to 12%, you can save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in interest payments. Be aware that once you secure a low interest card, a late payment could trigger both higher interest and penalty fees. You don’t want htat.

Sometimes, you can get a lower interest rate just by asking for one. If you have had your credit card for a long time and have a history of paying on time, you might be able to get your credit card company to lower your rate just by asking them to do so. It sounds crazy, but it often works. Finding new customers is expensive, and the credit card companies know that. It is far easier to work with you by lowering your rate than it is to let you find another card. Often, they will lower your rate just for the asking. It’s worth a try, as the worst that can happen is that they say no. In that case, you can shop around for a better offer elsewhere.

Debt consolidation using credit cards is a possibility. You can take the debt from several cards and move it to one card with a lower interest rate. This is particularly convenient during those times when the credit card companies offer low promotional rates for balance transfers. If card X offers you the chance to take out a new card and move $5000 in debt to the new account while getting $3.9 percent interest for a year, it might be worth doing. If you do this, read the terms carefully, as they can be tricky.

Can’t find a better solution? How about a home equity loan? The housing boom of the past five years or so has led to an extraordinary amount of equity in the average house. Banks are much more willing to lend money for an equity loan than they are for unsecured loans. With an equity loan, your money is secured by your house. You get low interest rates and the interest is tax deductible. Be aware that you are putting your house at risk if you don’t pay, however.

There is no one right way to get out of debt or to consolidate it. There are many good solutions. You need to find one that works for you.