Inga Shivers was working holidays and overtime and lying sleepless at night, juggling the bills in her mind — $55,000 worth — for her nine maxed-out credit cards. The pharmacist’s exhaustion must have showed, because a kindly colleague who knew of her trouble pulled her aside and told her how he had needed help to dig out from a giant pile of medical bills.

In that moment, Shivers, then 34, made her decision. She found a credit counselor, cut up all but one of the credit cards and got on a payment plan. Three and a half years later, she paid off the last of the bills.

It’s hard to escape the news that Americans are drowning in personal debt, but you hear less about the many people who, like Inga Shivers, have been able to dig out of debt.

Getting sucked in

The personal-debt problem gets so much attention that it’s surprising to learn that many credit card holders — 40 percent, according to the Federal Reserve — pay their balances in full each month. High-income families typically carry a bigger monthly balance, but they can (and do) regularly pay off a bigger share of their debt, says Christian Weller, senior economist with the Center for American Progress.

People with little income are more likely to be sucked into the vortex of credit card debt, hidden fees and escalating interest rates. That’s because homeowners can transfer credit card debt to lower-rate mortgage lines of credit (rarely a good idea, by the way), but those without a home have to turn to high-interest payday lenders when credit card companies cut them off.

Former debtors have successfully used a wide range of systems, books or programs. For Sarah Maffei, the radical approach was the ticket. She amassed $30,000 in debt, about half of it in student loans, by the time she was 28. Her debt began as soon as she got her first credit cards, at age 18. When she graduated from college, “I must have had about 16 credit cards,” she says, including six major cards and a fistful from department and specialty stores.

Joining the workforce as a benefits professional in San Francisco forced a reckoning: “When you are in college, you keep thinking that you are going to graduate, get this great job, make all this money and you’ll pay it all off.” Instead, she owed $1,000 more than she would earn in a whole year. She was miserable: “You’d pay $30 and $16 of it went to interest. … Every payday, my whole paycheck was gone.”

Saving up for a movie

Maffei heard about Joanne Nagel, a consultant whose system requires an all-cash existence. It was a harsh system — exactly what Maffei wanted. She abstained from credit cards, even from ATMs. She learned to keep records, budget each week in advance, pay herself in cash and suck it up if she ran out of money midway through.

Her budget was Spartan: $39 for groceries, $5 for dry cleaning, $20 for lunches out, $5 for cat food, $5 for gas and $10 for clothing. Recreational shopping was just a memory. Entertainment was “staying home, renting movies, having friends over or going to friends’ houses.” Her recreation budget: “Four one-dollar bills. If want to go to the movies, I have to save up for two weeks. And if I want popcorn, I have to save up more.”

She gravitated toward friends she had formerly disdained as “cheap.” It became kind of fun. For a Christmas party, she splurged two weeks of her clothing allowance on a discount-store dress.

After two and a half years, the whole debt was paid. Today, she still lives almost entirely on cash, planning every category each week on a spreadsheet. Faced with big purchases, she compares the cost with her budget for that category, asking herself, “that’s a week’s worth, or two weeks’ worth — is it worth it?”

She’s a single parent now. While that’s tough, she says, “it’s great to look back and say, ‘Oh, my God, if I could live on that, I can definitely do this.’ … I never thought I could pay off one (bill), let alone all of them.”

Pick your program

Few statistics exist to tell how many debt survivors have paid down big balances and changed their habits, let alone how they did it. There are only reports describing the nation’s mounting load of personal debt. The average card holder had $4,800 in credit card debt in 2007, according to the Census Bureau, a number that’s expected to reach $5,500 in 2008.

A report from the Center for American Progress says:

• The number of American families carrying card balances is growing.

• Credit card debt is growing fastest among middle- and low-income families.

• Low-income families have the greatest debts, proportionate to their incomes.

• Families with higher credit card debt — not overall debt — are more likely to become delinquent on card bills.

Howell Edwards of the nonprofit InCharge Debt Solutions (formerly Profina Debt Solutions) says that about 40% of the roughly 30,000 people who enroll in the company’s debt management program annually complete the program. Of the rest, some file for bankruptcy, others use home equity to shift their debt and a substantial number feel they are able to manage their debt on their own, says Edwards.

5 traits of the debt-free

It is credit cards, with their easily triggered fees, escalating interest rates and hidden costs, that seem to push debt out of control.

Despite the odds, committed debtors manage to cut up cards, pay down balances and foreswear old habits. The system they use, whether a credit counselor or the 12-step self-help group Debtors Anonymous, appears to matter less than their determination to claw their way out. Some ex-debtors say they can’t touch another credit card as long as they live. Others do just fine with credit. Regardless, they all:

• Decide to leave their dream world, add up the damage and assign a cold, hard number to their total debt.

• Stop using unsecured debt — at least until they’ve reached a zero balance, and maybe forever.

• Focus intently — and stay focused — on their system, whatever it is.

• Plan and track where every dime of their money goes.

• Don’t quit until they’re done.

Motivation: Fear

Shivers has advice for people in debt trouble: Get educated. Her trouble began when she left her $89,000-a-year pharmacist career to start a home-based business. Her passion was marketing, so she pulled $30,000 out of her $65,000 savings and launched a direct-mail business.

Although she poured herself into the company, she had no business background, no marketing experience and no education in managing money. Her knowledge was from popular culture. “You read about all these people who started businesses with their credit cards,” she says. After burning through her starting capital, she ran up nine credit cards. “It would be, like, a $5,000 chunk here for a new computer system, $2,000 there for a new printer,” she says. She was shocked to find that she needed $2,000 worth of paper.

She returned to pharmacy work part-time, taking every available shift to support her business. She felt sick with fear over her inability to manage. “I didn’t have a social life at this point. Everybody at my job knew that I was paying off a big debt.” That’s when her colleague stepped in, pointing her to a local affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, a national network of nonprofit agencies.

For a $10 monthly fee, the counselor took over, negotiating lower interest rates with most of the card companies. They lowered the 25% interest rate to 15% on her card with a $30,000 balance. They collected $879 a month from her and paid off her bills. She relinquished all the cards but one and took classes on money management and business. She never considered bankruptcy, she says, because, with her lucrative profession, she could pay the debt fairly quickly and maintain her credit rating.

How to spot trouble

Jerrold Mundis, author of “How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously,” says it’s easy to know if you’re in trouble: “Ask yourself, are you debts causing you any level of discomfort at all? If they are, it is almost certain that you are having a problem with debt.”

Here are the three suggestions from Mundis, a self-confessed ex-debtor, and others who have successfully paid off catastrophic balances:

• Avoid telemarketing “debt counselors” and for-profit organizations. Find a counselor certified by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. (Recently the Internal Revenue Service found that 41 of 63 credit-counseling companies it examined were preying on debtors.) Read “The consumer’s guide to credit counseling” to learn more.

• Debt collectors buy uncollected debt from creditors for literally pennies on the dollar. This means there’s room to negotiate with creditors. Watch out: If you get a really big reduction, you may need to file an IRS form 1099 and adjust your taxes. (Read “Make a deal with debt collectors.”)

• Target bills and zap them one by one (while staying current on the others). Choose the smallest bill, post it on the refrigerator and mark the reduced balance with each payment. Celebrate each time you knock off a bill.

Once you get free, debt veterans say, the temptation to slide back into debt can be huge. It was a way of life, after all. As one former debtor says, “Be prepared for emotional ups and downs tied up in money. There is an enormous emotional content to money stuff for a great many people.”

If you are having trouble balancing your income and expenditure because of large debts then read on and discover your options in credit card debt consolidation.

Debt consolidation can be an excellent option when you find your finances getting out of control but before you go out and sign up for a debt consolidation loan there are a number of factors you must take into account.

1) Why are you looking to consolidate debt?

The basic principle of debt consolidation is that you take out a single loan and use that loan to repay all your existing credit card debts, loans and overdrafts.

This normally results in lower payments generally spread over a longer term. Before you proceed with debt consolidation you should first consider whether there is a better alternative.

2) Sell assets to clear your debt

Rather than rescheduling your debts see if there is any way you can repay some or all of your debts yourself. Sell unwanted valuables and other items.

Depending on the item you can sell to dealers, advertise in local classified ads or through Ebay. Sell unwanted books through Amazon. If your debts are very high and you own your own home consider downsizing to release equity.

3) Pay more than the minimum off your credit cards.

If you can pay more than the minimum monthly payments you should seriously consider continuing with your existing credit cards and clear the debts over the next 12 to 18 months.

While it may mean restricting your spending in other areas it will be the cheapest option long term. Of course you may still opt for debt consolidation to make managing your debt easier.

4) There are a number of options when considering debt consolidation:

If you are currently only just managing to pay the minimum monthly payments on your credit cards, or your total credit card debt is increasing each month then debt consolidation may be the right choice.

5) A mortgage or re mortgage

If you own your own home the lowest interest rates are obtainable by taking out a new mortgage to pay off your existing mortgage (if any) plus enough funds to repay you other debts.

If repaying your existing mortgage will result in penalty charges consider a 2nd mortgage with your existing lender. The interest charged will probably be slightly but not significantly higher.

6) Take out a secured loan with another lender

If you have already missed or been late with any payments, and as a result your credit score is too low for your mortgagor, consider a secured loan with another lender.

Secured loans in these circumstances are more expensive and the lenders are quick to repossess your home if you miss payments. Only take this route if you are certain that you can make the repayments.

Depending upon how bad your credit history is, so long as you maintain all your payments for the following 1 to 3 years, you can replace this loan with a mortgage or re mortgage once your credit score improves. There will be penalties however if you repay a secured loan early. Ensure you read the fine print.

7) A loan secured on other assets

If you have an expensive car, boat or plane you will probably be able to obtain finance using these assets as security. The rate of interest will be higher than a loan secured on property. If you do not have property or it is fully mortgaged securing a loan on other assets may be an option.

An unsecured loan

If you do not have property or other assets an unsecured loan is often a possibility. An unsecured loan is usually over a shorter term, normally up to a maximum of 7 years but occasionally longer. As a result the monthly payments will be higher but the debt will reduce quickly.

As the lender has no security your property and assets are less at risk if you default. The lender could, however, send in the bailiffs if they obtain a court order.

Because there is no security expect to pay a higher interest rate, particularly if you have a poor credit history.

9) Don’t forget the credit card option.

If your debts are relatively low and you still have a reasonable credit history applying for another card with a 0% or low interest balance could be an alternative to a debt consolidation loan.

Go for a 0% balance transfer if you can realistically repay all or most of the debts in the 0% balance transfer period. If however, there will still be a substantial debt at the end of the balance transfer period go for a permanently low interest rate.

Be aware there may be a 2 – 3% charge on the balance transfer. To ensure you don’t slip back into debt cut up all your credit cards and close paid off accounts.

10) Check all the options before making a decision.

As you research all the options it will quickly become clear if there is one obvious solution. For many individuals there will be more that one option so it is essential check them all out before makuing a final decision. Go to a range of different lenders and mortgage or loan brokers and obtain the best package for you. Remember you have the final say and just enquiring does not commit you to any course of action.

For a great many people debt consolidation provides an ideal solution to excessive credit card debt. Sorting out debt problems takes a little time, effort and determination. Once you’ve sorted your debts you will find life more enjoyable and relaxing and, with no debt collectors calling or contacting you by post or phone, much less stressful.