Even on graduation, I was literally reeling under the huge loan that I had taken. I knew that with my college degree, I would be able to get stable employment as well as a hefty salary. Then my first credit card arrived on the scene. I did not even bother to check how much it would cost.

Within two years of working as an executive assistant, I was already drowning in credit card debt and have not been able to pay off my mortgage and insurance premiums. I even coined a nickname for myself, debt delinquent.

Avoiding one's creditors is something that many people resort to. If they can't reach you or find you, you're safe, right? WRONG! But I have found that it is much better to sit down and have a chat with the lender to see what options are open to you.

If only I had taken the time to talk to any one of my creditors, I would have been given a chance to pay them off instead of filing for bankruptcy. Some of us do learn the hard way.

The point is that you will have to repay the loan eventually. Your bank will want some of the money that you spent on your holiday sprees. The lender that you are dealing with might just introduce some options to make it easier for you to make repayments. They are not as evil as you think they are. In fact, lending institutions can save you from falling into poverty -- or bankruptcy at least.

Your credit card issuer will mostly likely give you amnesty, if you promise to pay them back with a span of time. If you try hard enough, you would be able to eliminate the late payment fees. By talking to them, you will have a lot more options on how to settle your balance than by hiding out in the mountains until you think they have surely forgotten about you.

But during this time, your credit card accounts might be closed as they do not want you accumulating more debt while trying to pay off your balance.

If you have unpaid loans from various institutions, they will almost certainly advice you to join a debt management program or refer you to a debt counselor. It would be a good idea to consolidate all your debts if you are currently making payments on a number of different loans.

With consolidation, all of your debt will fall under one loan. You will no longer have to wonder whether you missed out on any loan installment as there will only be one every month. Do not worry so much about your credit score at this time, focus on paying off your debts. That poor credit score can wait till you are debt-free. You can start fixing it then. Just one point to remember is that student loan consolidation works differently and it does not affect your score.

Reaching out to creditors gives them the impression that you want to pay them back and you're willing to do it on terms that are beneficial to both parties. In a way, this will please your creditors as they will realize that you are a borrower who makes an effort to settle his debts.