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If you stop making your credit card payments, your credit score will drop within a month and that will affect your insurance rates or rates on future loans.

So what do you do if you can't pay your crushing credit card bills but you also don't want to file for federal bankruptcy protection? Below are some options the Dec. 30 story outlined:

Talk to a credit counselor. You can find one through the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (nfcc.org) or one of the many Consumer Credit Counseling agencies in your neighborhood.

These nonprofit agencies have trained counselors. They work with the credit card companies to cut your interest rate, eliminate late fees and work out a monthly payment that you can afford. The counseling is funded by creditors, grants and sometimes fees or contributions from the clients.

You may enter a debt-management program. This can last up to five years. All your credit cards will be closed. You will begin making payments to the counseling agency, which then pays the individual creditors. The payments could be much lower, as much as 40 percent lower, than what you paid on your cards before the plan.

The debt-management plan will be reported to the credit bureaus, but it will not affect your credit score if you and the counseling agency pay your debts on time.

Consider a debt settlement company as a last resort. If the credit counseling route won't work for you -- you may not be able to afford even those payments -- consider a debt-settlement company. But be careful. This is a difficult path and should be seen as a last alternative to bankruptcy.

Debt-settlement companies are for-profit businesses that charge a fee based on the amount of your debt.

You'll close your accounts, then begin making payments to the debt-settlement company to build a fund to be used later to pay off your settled debts. You'll hear from collectors. You may get sued. A judgment could be filed against you.

The settlement company will try to reach an agreement to cut what you owe.

But, when the debts are paid, your credit report will show that as a partial payment or a settled debt. This is a serious negative mark on your report. Your credit score will drop, anywhere from about 45 points to as much as 125 points.

And to top it off: Forgiven debt is taxable. Your creditor will issue you a 1099-C at the end of the year. You'll owe federal income tax unless you can convince the IRS that you are insolvent.

Do it yourself. A credit counselor cannot reduce your debt. That's a tool they don't have, but Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling said discussions between the counseling industry and banks are trying to work something out.

But you can ask for a debt reduction yourself. Stories are beginning to make the rounds about banks slashing customers' credit card balances, if the card is delinquent.

"Some people are settling directly with the credit card companies," said Geri Detweiler, credit adviser for Credit.com. "And once you stop paying, you may find some of your creditors coming to you with offers."

If your account has not been charged off, Cunningham said, you can negotiate a debt reduction, but you will have to pay that sum off quickly. The maximum is three payments.