The following is not directed at loyal Merle Wayne Sneed readers, who are too smart to fall for the lure of easy credit. Perhaps it is the financial meltdown or maybe the job losses, but it seems to me that I'm hearing more and more of the debt counseling companies advertising on the radio. You know, the ones who know the "secrets that the credit card companies don't want you to know about?" First thing is, that if you are looking to get out of paying your credit card bills, you are stealing from people who lent you money. Since credit card companies are mostly predatory snakes, they have some of it coming, but you still owe them money and you should pay if you can, not blow them off. Secondly, there are no "secret programs". Think about this. If you are current on your credit cards, what incentive would the companies have to give you any kind of break? None. What these companies do is "counsel" you to stop paying your bills. Once the credit card company thinks you aren't going to pay them, they are more flexible in their terms. But make no mistake, this will ruin your credit and you will pay these guys a hefty fee for their service. Pretty much the only company that is on the up and up is Consumer Credit Counseling Services. They will structure a plan that lets you get some relief from rates and fees, while structuring a plan to let you repay what you owe. Should there be a nuclear war, all that will survive are cockroaches and hucksters. My sympathies to the cockroaches. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky