Hi all. I'm a newbie here, although I've been reading the blog for a few months, and need just a touch of advice.

My husband and I are badly in debt, as you no doubt can see from the title of the post. I'm going to start calling our credit card companies to try to reduce our payments/interest/whatever they'll do, but I'm not sure what I should be asking.

Does anyone know of a list of "things to say to your credit card company when trying to negotiate"? I'm one step away from heading for a credit counseling service like Take Charge America, but I thought I'd give it a go on my own first. I'm just incredibly frightened by the idea of trying to talk them down (5 different cards) and hope I can find some guidance.

Thanks,

-Tegan