Q. I'm a struggling single mom and now find myself in a situation where I either pay my mortgage or my credit cards. I will pay my mortgage. I've tried to deal with the credit card companies to lower interest rates or waive the finance charge, but they won't work with me. I have not been late with any payments for about a year.

A. We think you need to keep paying the mortgage, just as you planned, and get some help with that credit card debt.

While the credit card companies won't work with you, they will work with a reputable pro from the National Federation of Credit Counseling. It's the nation's biggest and oldest credit-counseling organization. The 120 member agencies abide by a set of professional and ethical standards that have served many individuals and families well for the past 50 years.

To find an NFCC credit counselor in your area, give them a call at 1-800-388-2227 or click on "Find a counselor now" and use the "ZIP Code Search" to get a list of nearby agencies. Click on the individual agencies to find everything from fees to office hours. A good credit counselor will thoroughly evaluate your income and expenses before recommending a plan.

If necessary, a counselor will negotiate a debt management program with your creditors to write off part of what you owe and establish a realistic, 36- to 60-month repayment schedule to retire the balance. In many cases, the counselor may be able to persuade credit card issuers to reduce or waive many of the late fees and other penalties they've imposed.

A good counselor can help re-establish your credit after you're out of debt, and the fees will be modest. Many NFCC members charge nothing to review your finances and less than $100 to establish a debt management plan.

Please contact them right away, because if you are late making payments or miss them altogether, your problems will only get worse.