Considering Debt Settlement-need help

So I have read a lot lately on debt settlement. I am so happy to see a lot of people have had success with it. I finally bit the bullet and emailed and pm'd someone on here who everyone seemed to have good results with. It has been a while and I haven't heard from him. I have decided since it is already starting out like this-I am choosing not to use his company. He does sound great but it appears he may be overloaded with people like me! :)

So I have a few questions...

This will be the 1st time I am ever late on a credit card. I have a few biggies and some small. Has anyone tried calling any creditors for a hardship program before they stopped paying? Or is that a waste of time? I only had luck with a few cards getting the apr lowered and not by much. It seems when you have a high balance-they don't want to work with you.

Can you pay your small cards off and keep them while you work out settling the big ones? Or do they end up closing them when they see what your doing with the others?

I have tried to get lower interest cc's/loans to pay off the higher interest cards but it seems I owe too much to qualify for anything. Consolidation is OK but the payments would be just about as much as what I am paying now-I can't do it anymore.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Here is a picture of my credit card balances:
BP 200 APR 23.49%
Mohawk (GE) 750 APR 23.99%
Capital One 2000 APR 14.99%
City Furniture (GE) 2200 APR 23.99%
Capital One 2700 APR 19.27%
Citibank 6,700 APR 9.99%
Discover 9,000 APR 14.24%
Target Visa 9,500 APR 22.24%
Chase 13,500 APR 24.99%