A Suze Orman exclusive

Here are three smart steps to help you reduce debt.

Step 1: PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT
Credit card companies make billions of dollars each year by charging high interest rates to consumers who don't take the time to understand what they are throwing away. That doesn't have to be you.

The average credit card balance these days is $9,000 and it comes with an 18 percent interest charge. If you are crazy enough to pay just the minimum monthly balance it will take you 31 years to get rid of the balance and you'll have forked over more than $13,000 in interest rate charges. I think you can do much better.

First I want you to call up your credit card issuer(s) and ask for a lower interest rate. If your FICO score is in the top range or two there is absolutely no reason to be paying 18 percent. Ask for 10 percent and then negotiate from there. If the issuer balks, just let 'em know you plan on taking your business to a lower rate card. That will usually get them to budge. And make sure the reduction is permanent; I don't want them to boost you back to 18 percent in six months.

If your card issuer won't reduce your rate, shop around for a lower rate card. I list some resources below. Be very careful to read the fine print. Credit card companies are marketing masters: they'll lure you in with a super-low rate and then six months later jack it up. Look for a rate that doesn't adjust after an introductory period, or at least doesn't rise to the stratosphere.

(And a quick note on what to do with the credit card you leave: oddly enough I don't want you to cancel that card. Doing so can actually hurt your FICO score. So it's best to keep it "open" but promise yourself (and me) that you won't use it.)

Once you have your card(s) at the lowest possible rate, we need to concentrate on getting those balances paid off ASAP. I want you to commit to paying more than the monthly minimum. Remember the example above, where you end up paying $13,000 in interest over 31 years if you only fork over the minimum on a $9,000 balance? Well, if you add as little as $25 a month to the minimum, you would have the balance paid off in less than five years, and pay only $4,039 in interest. Better yet, if you added $100 to the minimum payment you'd be out of credit card debt in about three years and have spent just $2,717 in interest payments.

Now if you have multiple credit cards with balances the best move is to pay the minimum on every card and then make the extra payment to the card with the highest interest rate. Then once that credit card is paid off I want you to devote all your monthly payments that you were making on it (both the minimum and the extra you added each month) to paying off the next credit card. Keep doing this until you have eliminated the debt on all your credit cards.

Where to come up with the cash? Come on guys, we all have plenty of wiggle room. Cut back your lattes to three times a week rather than seven, and you've just freed up $80 a month for your credit card reduction plan.

And please, promise me that once you are out of debt you won't turn around and build up new balances. You deserve so much more. Let's assume you were paying about $200 a month to pay down your credit card debt. Once you're done with that, I want you to keep paying the $200 -- to yourself. If you invest $200 a month in a stock or stock fund that earns 10 percent you will have $456,000 in 30 years.

Checklist:
- Call your credit card issuers and ask for a lower interest rate.
- Shop for lower-rate cards on Yahoo! Finance Savings Finder