Are you currently in debt? Do not for a second think you are alone because the average American is in more debt than ever in history. Why is the economy the way it is right now? The average American has about 6.5 credit cards on average with the average household using about 14 credit cards. Record breaking bankruptcies are occurring more often than we'd like, debt for credit cards and loans are topping $1.8 trillion while mortgage debt is topping $6.7 trillion.

20 years ago, bill collectors were out collecting about $73 billion in overdue debt. This year, bill collectors are going for more than $2 trillion!

There is a very good chance that you have at least one credit card in your wallet right now. The decision to take control of your credit can mean the difference between having a no interest car loan for 5 years or having a high interest car loan that you will be stuck with for the rest of your life!

There are some key factors to determine if you are in trouble with your debt and also some solutions to help out.

You pay with your card at places where you used to pay with cash for things like groceries or food:

• Leave your credit cards AT HOME. Do not put small transactions on credit, they will definitely add up! Stop using your credit cards immediately and start slowly paying them off! You have no idea how much debt you owe:

• Find out! Start figuring out how much you owe and to who. Track everything down and pay each company off. It will be difficult at first but it will definitely be worth it in the end.

You put off paying your utility bills and other necessities to pay off high credit card debt:

• Work with the credit companies. They don't want to send your debt to collectors if they don't have to because they want to get paid back for the money they lent you. If you are in a bad situation, call them and talk to them. They don't mind if it will take you longer to pay them back and you need a payment plan.

As long as they get their money, your debt won't go to collectors and everybody is happy. Always call your credit card companies, they will do their best to help! If you call and the first person doesn't help you, call them again! I guarantee somebody will!