I'm about $40,000 in debt with credit cards and ca

You can go for credit card debt consolidation which will help you in paying off the balances. You can contact the local debt relief companies and they will help you in consolidating your credit card debts.

You have several options. Contact your credit card companies and see if you can get them to lower interest/restructure your payments. Some offer a hardship plan. If they won't work with you, you can contact a debt management company who, for a small monthly fee, will negotiate lower payments/interest rate. If you go this route, make sure it's a non-proft. Several years ago I worked through Take Charge America and found them very reliable and legitimate until my income changed drastically.

I had to cancel my debt management plan and then fell behind on my credit card payments. I then turned to settlement with my creditors. I saved up some money and took out a pension loan to do my settlements. Settled about $35,000 of debt with Bank of America, Citicard, Chase, Discover and HSBC. I am now debt free except for Capitol One who were impossible to settle with.

If you credit is still good and you don't want to lower it, you can try to get a debt consolidation, but be aware that there are many unscrupulous companies out there. If your credit is already blemished, I would opt for settlement because you will retain control of what happens to your accounts and deal directly with your creditors and not a third party.

Debt Settlement is certainly an option. If you like, I would be happy to explain to you how the process works...