THE SOLUTION: You can either bank at a separate institution or avoid delinquencies.

4. Fees Are Negotiable

THE PROBLEM: You're paying up to $50 a year or more as an annual fee on your credit card. You also are subject to finance charges of over 18%.

THE SOLUTION: If you're a customer who normally pays on time, most banks are willing to reduce or drop annual fee. Plus reduce interest rate but only if you ask! Otherwise, you can switch to a lower- priced card.

5. Interest Rate Hikes Are Retroactive

THE PROBLEM: You signed up for a credit card with a low introductory rate, such as 1.9%, for six months to a year. After your time is up, your existing balance is subject to regular or sometimes even higher interest rate.

THE SOLUTION: You can either pay your balance in full before rate increase or close account.

6. Shortened Due Dates

THE PROBLEM: Your initial offer included a 25-day grace period in which to pay for new purchases without incurring finance charges. However bank have shortened grace period to 20 days.

THE SOLUTION: Ask to go back to 25 days. You can do so by writing your bank explaining why you would rather stay at preferred 25-day grace period. If you're refused, then switch to a different credit card issuer.

These techniques have worked for me time and time again, and I'm sure they will for you too. I've used them consistently to lower quantity of cards I carry to now two. If you follow these proven techniques this way, not only will you lower your chances of falling into debt, your monthly bill payments will be a lot easier and simple.

Here's how it works:

Every day you get up and "go to work." But you don't get in car and drive to Office #1 right away. If you did that, even as a self-employed person, you would be racking up non-deductible commuting miles, just like employee.

Instead, you grab a cup of coffee and head to Office #2 first, which takes all of 30 seconds.

After working in Office #2 for awhile, then you hop in car and head to Office #1, where you work for bulk of day.

Then, when you're done at Office #1, you get back in car and go "home" -- except when you get inside your house, you don't head for living room, you go straight to Office #2, where you finish up your daily routine with a few final minutes of paperwork.

What have you just done?

You daily round-trip "commute" is now a business deduction, due to a simple tax loophole that says:

Any miles driven between two business locations are deductible business miles.

The fact that one of those two locations just happens to be your Home Office is fine and dandy with IRS.

By following this route each day, you can save hundreds, even thousands of dollars in taxes.

The proof is in pudding: Your round-trip "commute" is 20 miles per day. 20 miles X 5 days = 100 miles per week. 100 miles per week X 50 weeks = 5,000 miles per year. 5,000 business miles X .36 cents = $1,800 deduction

So, you just got yourself a nice $1,800 deduction -- a deduction that you've probably been entitled to for years but didn't know it.

$1,800 deduction X 32% income tax rate = $576 in actual tax savings (27% federal income tax + 5% state income tax)

Five-hundred and seventy-six bucks. . . every year. . .

. . . Hmm, mmm, good! Now that's a tasty little morsel!