Is This a Missed Opportunity for the Marketplace?

How do you pay down your debt when it's exceeding your income?  What if I'm current on all my payments, but just looking for lower interest rates?  These are questions I'm still trying to answer.  Since my husband is self-employed, I'm finding it harder to control our finances then before.  I also feel like we are being penalized because he is self-employed & not showing enough income right now.  We are current on all our bills & have a good credit score, but because we have a significant amount of debt (accummulated from starting a business and myself being laid off twice in the 2 years) it's very hard to lower our existing rates.  The problem is, without these reductions, then these companies may not see anything because they are making it very hard to continue to pay balances with such high interest rates.  I have to say that this part of the credit/finance industry thoroughly confuses me and seems like they are missing out on a huge opportunity with individuals who are trying to continue to stay on the right side of debt & responsibility.  I find it bewildering that companies don't realize there's a ton of people out there that are trying to do the right thing & responsibly pay back debt before there is a sign of late payments or falling behind on anything.  Why hasn't a company picked up on this market of people yet?  If no one else has, is there a way I can make this an opportunity for myself to fix this situation for people going forward?  I don't see a clear answer to any of my questions, but it doesn't hurt to think about it & figure out what the best solution is. 

I've called our credit card companies, our mortgage company and any other company that we pay monthly fees to (TV, electric, etc) to see if there's an opportunity to lower payments & interest if applicable.  I get the same response every time, "sorry, you're not eligible for that because you make your monthly payments each month but your debt is too high."  How strange?  So you as a company are waiting until my debt either magically disappears or I can no longer make payments before you're willing to help?  You as a person who works for a company doesn't find that a little odd?  I find it extremely odd.  I'm calling you to either warn you that if you continue to charge me astronomical fees/interest or if we can't work out a better payment plan, then your company will need to spend extra man power & money to come after me to collect debt & yet you don't want to avoid this?  Please tell me there's someone else in this world that also thinks improvements should be made & somewhere an opportunity is here to come & swoop in to assist this market where people are trying to be financially responsible.

Any comments or suggestions on this are welcome.  I wish I had advice or answers to this topic.  It is something I am sure I will write about again because it's a situation I am working on every day.  As I find small relief or answers to this overwhelming issue, I will continue to blog about it & hope to share other ideas that people have shared with me.