Assess Your Budget

• The first time you fail to make a credit card payment because you cannot afford it, carefully assess your budget. If you don't have a budget, make one. Record your take-home pay and all of your expenses, including debt payments. Cut expenses from your budget until your take-home pay is more than your expenses. Some expenses to consider cutting include eating out, buying clothes, subscribing to premium cable, going on vacations, buying gifts and purchasing lottery tickets. You can also consider getting another job to increase your income, which will help balance your budget.
  
  

Call Credit Card Company

• Call the phone number listed on the back of your credit card and speak with a customer service representative. Explain why you are behind on your payments and ask if the credit card company can lower your monthly payments or offer you an extension on your due date. Many credit card companies will do so, and also waive the late fees, if they believe you are acting in good faith and have made changes in your budget that will allow you to make your payments on time in the future.
  
  

Seek Credit Counseling

• Many nonprofit organizations offer free or low-cost credit counseling programs. Find an organization in your area that has a good reputation with the Better Business Bureau. Get credit counseling to help with your budget and determine the best action for you to take. One option is to enroll in a debt management plan, which has you make a monthly payment to the credit counseling organization, who then pays your creditors. The credit counseling organization can get you lower interest rates and extended repayment plans that you could not have gotten on your own. However, you usually cannot use your credit cards while you are in a debt management plan.
  
  

Settle Debts

• If you have no hope of being able to repay your debts, the last resort is to settle them or declare bankruptcy. When you settle a debt, you pay less than you owe and the credit card company agrees to erase the remainder of your debt. Work with a trusted credit counseling organization to negotiate a debt settlement or file bankruptcy. Depending on your income and ability to pay, you might have to pay some of your debt when you file bankruptcy. Both debt settlement and bankruptcy appear on your credit report and impair your ability to obtain credit in the future.