If you’re out of a job and behind on your credit card payments, it might be very tempting to stop taking calls from your credit card issuer and their collection agency. But that’s not the best way to handle things. Even if you don’t have a penny to give them, it’s a bad idea to ignore the problem and hope that it will go away. Here are five tips to remember when you pick up the phone and get in touch with your credit card issuer.

Tip 1: They Don’t Know What You Don’t Tell Them

As unlikely as it may seem, banks do want to work with their customers. Many have instituted special programs for customers who are behind on their credit card debt and facing tough financial times. Call your credit card company – preferably before you default, but definitely if you can’t make payments – and see what they can so for you. If you simply stop paying, they won’t know that you’re facing special circumstances.

Tip 2: Tell It Like It Is

Tell the collector that you’re unemployed and cannot afford to make payments at this time. That’s really all they need to know. If they push you to set up a payment plan, cut in and tell them you’ll call back when your situation improves.

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Sure, it’s great to get a big, fat tax refund all at once every year – but if you’re struggling to pay your bills and credit card debt year round you should make some changes. Many people leave their tax withholdings set up purposely to get the refund after filing their tax return – sort of like a savings account or vacation fund. The problem is you’re giving the IRS a tax-free loan, that could better be put to use paying your debts throughout the course of the year.

Surely there is no one who would prefer to PAY the IRS at tax time, so it’s better to get the refund. With some careful adjustments, however, you can reduce the size of the refund and see more in your check throughout the year (without danger of having to pay at tax time).

Visit your human resources or accounting department at your place of employment. Ask to look at your w-4 to see what your withholdings are. If you’re getting a large refund, you can increase the number of withholding allowances you claim. The payroll people should be able to help you find the break-even point; and show you how much more you would get in each paycheck throughout the year rather than waiting to get it all at tax time.

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Credit card debt can be stressful enough, but the added stress of divorce can make it all the more horrific. If your marriage is ending, there are some things you should know about credit card debt and divorce. For example: who can be responsible for the credit card debt accumulated before, during, and after the marriage?

When you open a credit card account, you enter into an agreement with the card issuer. You have the right to use the card to make purchases, and the responsibility to pay off the card’s balance in a timely manner. This holds true regardless of when the charges were made. Typically, any charges made by one party before the marriage took place will be the legal responsibility of that party.

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There has been a lot of debate about old unpaid debts and how they should be handled. If you have unpaid credit card debt from several years ago, you might be wondering how much harm it’s doing to your credit score. Collection agents may still hound you about the unpaid balance. Should you pay up or forget about it?

Every state has its own statute of limitations on debt. That is, the debt cannot be collected after a certain amount of time has elapsed. (This time limit varies by state, so check your local legislation to know your rights.) The tricky part comes when you make a payment or otherwise acknowledge the debt and attempt to deal with it: the statute of limits timer resets to the most recent date of activity on the account, and the debt is once again fair game for collectors.

Some consumers are content to let the old debt fall off of their credit reports, which it will do after 7 years. But there are plenty of reasons to pay off your old debt, even if it has technically expired. Consider these points:

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Everyone understands how a traditional debit card, works: you withdraw money and make charges against the money you actually have in your bank account. Do you know about 401K debit cards?

These cards allow accountholders to withdraw money from your own 401K account, with permission from your employer, instead of the typical “loan” some people would get from their 401K plans.

A 401K debit card is actually more closely related to a credit card than a debit card, because you end up paying for a large number of fees and penalities for the priviledge of using a debit card linked to your 401K account.

How do 401K debit cards work?

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Have you received credit card offers in the mail? If so, you might have wondered which cards really offered good deals. Credit cards can be helpful budgeting tools, or sinkholes of debt. The difference is in the details: some cards have high rates and fees that make it difficult to keep your debt in check. Take a moment to compare credit cards before you decide to carry one in your wallet.

Credit card offers list the terms and conditions of various cards. When you compare credit cards, look at the interest rate, also known as the APR. It might be listed as 0%. If so, you can bet that it will be much higher in six months to a year. 0% interest cards have introductory phases. After that phase has ended, they are subject to regular interest rates. Most cards offer 12-24% interest rates. The lower the rate, the faster you’ll be able to pay off your debt.

Also make note of the type of interest rates on your credit card offers. Some rates might be “fixed”, and some might be “variable”. Choose fixed-rate interest whenever possible. Variable interest rates can change with little warning from the card issuer. If you do choose a credit card with a variable interest rate, make sure you know when and how much that rate can change.

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One of the biggest downfalls of using credit cards to make purchases is the interest rate. If you carry a balance from month to month, you can expect to pay more for your purchases than if you’d paid cash. But some cards offer phases where you don’t have to pay interest at all. What does 0% APR actually mean, and when can it come in handy?

0% APR means that no interest charges are applied to purchases during a specified period. These periods can vary in length, but competition has urged most card issuers to offer about a year of 0% interest. If you know that you can pay off your balance within that time period, 0% APR credit cards can be a boon. If you’re not so sure, watch out; interest rates are climbing, and you’ll get hit with them once your 0% period runs out.

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America is seeing a surge in charitable endeavors. More people are opening their wallets to donate to good causes year-round. The kind-hearted are even electing to take volunteer vacations, where they spend weeks building homes for disaster victims or rebuilding habitats for endangered animals. Even when times are tough, giving to others makes us feel better about ourselves.

Affinity credit cards play on our desire to help others. These credit cards are branded with the credit card company’s logo, as well as the logo of a charity. When card holders make purchases using their affinity cards, the card company donates a percentage to the partner charity. There are affinity cards that support all kinds of good causes. That’s the good news.

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It’s a new year, so don’t fall victim to the same old habits that lead to tarnished credit and mounting credit card debt. Instead, change your ways of doing business with creditors. Here are some helpful tips to decrease your credit woes in 2008.

First, keep only the credit cards you really need. If you already have credit cards or plan to apply for new ones, be sure to read the fine print on the agreement. Credit card companies will slip details into the agreement that aren’t easily noticed. Read every word, and call customer service if something seems too vague.

Once you start using your cards, keep an eye on your interest rates. You might be paying a punitive rate if you’ve made late payments, or an inflated interest rate if you have cash advances from your credit card. Be clear about which types of charges incur interest rates above your base rate. And if you see that your interest rate has gone up without explanation, call your card company to ask why. They are usually very helpful in explaining charges, and will negotiate better terms with you if you stick to your guns (and possibly threaten to take your business to one of their competitors). You can also ask the card company if they will let you opt out of the higher interest rate, but this means that you can only pay off the balance of your card at the previous rate, not make new charges.

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It can be so easy to think of the funds available to you through your credit card as free money, especially when it’s your first card. You never actually see any cash—you just hand the cashier this piece of plastic that some nice company sent you in the mail, and the cashier gives you your purchases. You don’t see the cash until it starts disappearing from your savings, after you’ve maxed your credit card out and are buried up to your neck in late fees and penalties, and your credit score starts going down the tubes.

That’s why it’s so important that you establish disciplined credit card practices from the first day you get your card. Responsible credit card use can build you a great credit history and help you toward a great future, but reckless credit card use can throw your finances off-course for years. Start on the right foot with your credit card, and side-step the worries. The most valuable piece of advice you can when it comes to responsible credit card use is so simple that many people overlook it: never carry a balance. Especially when you’ve only just started using your credit card, you should never make purchases with it that you don’t already have the money to pay off. This might seem counterintuitive. If you already had the money, why would you be using a credit card? Learning to use your credit card intelligently when you first start out requires a little re-thinking of what your credit card can provide you. You should think of it as a means to build good credit, possibly get rewards points, and a source of funds for extreme emergencies—and that’s all.

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