There are times when it really pays to ask for help. But there are also times when asking for help from the wrong person or organization can cost you dearly. Those maxims both apply to those in financial trouble these days. Sadly, many people can get to the point where they're relying on credit cards to supply their wants or enable them to meet their needs when nothing else seems to be able to do so. When credit card counseling helps you cut your spending, limit your dependence on credit cards, and establish a budget that you can live with, you have gone to the right service and following their advice may be all you need. But there are other so-called credit card counseling services that will promise to lower your interest rates by half, negotiate some of your debt away, and manage your money for you for a fee. Tragically, the result can be that your credit score falls even lower and that the service charges exorbitant fees that incur further indebtedness. In those situations, an experienced credit attorney would have given better advice, probably for less money, and would have produced better results for you.