e've been reading that the credit card business is in turmoil. Delinquency rates are soaring and card issuers are tacking on fees and hiking interest rates in an effort to salvage their businesses.

In fact, that's a bit of an exaggeration, according to Warren Heller, who heads Veribanc, a bank research and analysis service in Wakefield, Mass. Heller's research shows that delinquencies are concentrated at a handful of banks. And just a small percentage of consumers are failing to pay back their loans. "These two groups have found each other," Heller says. In the insurance business, that process is called "adverse selection." So, for instance, someone with a health problem is stuck with an insurer with high rates or bad terms because he can't qualify for new insurance. But in the credit card business, many card issuers are using the current turmoil as an excuse to add extra fees. "Now the good customers are paying the freight," Heller says.

That calls for a new strategy for cardholders. If you're a good credit risk, you should be looking for good terms. Heller says that banks are eager to keep customers like you and you will be able to negotiate. Consolidating your business at just two or three card issuers makes you a more desirable customer, too.

If you haven't thought about what you're paying to use your credit cards, you might be surprised. That was the case for me. I've been writing about credit for years. For the most part, I practice what I preach. I keep two bankcards - a MasterCard and Visa as well as an American Express card, which I got in 1975 after graduate school. That's it.

The last time I did a card cleanup was three years ago when my credit card company bounced a check to the Internal Revenue Service. I canceled that card. At the time, Wachovia was turning up on everyone's list of favorites. I applied for a Wachovia card and got one. The interest rate was comparatively low and the $28 annual fee was acceptable to me. About the same time, I got an offer from AT&T Universal for their no annual fee card. I signed up.

Now, like the rest of you, I've been getting offers in the mail for cards with low teaser rates of 4.9 percent and 5.9 percent. Because I don't carry a balance, I've been on the lookout for other features that appeal to me. If you employ that same pay-as-you go strategy, you should consider cards that charge no annual fees or offer special incentives, such as mileage rewards on flights or rebates on future purchases. You should also do what I'm doing: Look to see if there are any special deals - or strings - attached to the cards you already hold.

For instance, I noticed a "special offer" that came with my AT&T bill that would allow me to transfer balances from other cards at a 7.9 percent rate. Transfers would also carry "a small transaction fee" of 2 percent of the amount. So transferring $5,000 would cost me a hundred bucks right off the top. That's not much of a reward for being a good customer the past three years.

I checked the other low-rate offers. No transaction fee for transferring the balance. Many cards have no annual fee either. One of them even offered a fixed rate of 13.9 percent, sort of like a mortgage. If you carry large balances on your debt, that fixed rate could come out better for you in the long run than the low introductory rates that suddenly balloon to 18 percent or higher after the first six months.

There were lots of premium offers that I saw, too. Wachovia's 14.4 percent variable rate no longer looks so good. Neither does AT&T's 14.2 percent or the $55 annual fee I pay for American Express. For years, I felt the extra services - like the so-called country club billing - made the fee worthwhile because it helped me keep track of business expenses. But American Express dropped that a few years back.

So I think I'll drop American Express. And maybe Wachovia and AT&T as well. I'm going to be on the lookout for a card with no annual fee and with some other features that suit me.

I asked Veribanc's Heller if he'd made any card changes recently. He and his wife just signed up for Discover to take advantage of the cash rebates, he said. Although the card has an annual fee, they figure they'll recover that after charging around $1,000 and then begin collecting their bonus.

"Now is the time to shop around," Heller says.