DENVER -- If you're paying too much in charges and fees, maybe it's time to look for new credit cards from new places, said Consumer Champ Bill Clarke.

Start looking at LowCards.com -- not to get the lowest rates, but for user forums, where real customers share their experiences with both good and bad banks.

Your next stop may be Bankrate.com. Cut through all the ads and the site is packed with good information on credit cards and best of all, you get a list of 15 questions to ask about any credit card.

After you're armed with all that information, go to CardWeb.com and start looking for the best credit card for you. Answer questions as to whether you pay the balance every month, want the absolute lowest interest rate, have some credit problems, or want rewards such as airline miles, and you get you a list of the best deals.

But before you say goodbye to the old card, call the toll-free number on the back of the card. Tell your credit card company that you've seen better rates and better deals at other banks.

The old favorite may want to stay in the game. If you're a good customer, spend enough and have no credit problems, your best deal may still be in your wallet or purse.

Bill Clarke's Notes:

Remember, you have to think of finding a new credit card as a learning experience. Frankly, none of the three Web sites I've listed makes it all that easy. But if you haven't gone shopping lately for a new card (as opposed to responding to some junk mail application that came in the mail), it's time to revisit the fundamentals. Once you have all that nailed down, it's time to proceed.

By the way, I strongly suggest that you NEVER respond to a solicitation by mail to apply for a new card. The banks that can afford to flood your mailbox with this junk are rarely the ones that offer the best deals, relying on their marketing clout rather than letting you compare one offering with another.

All of the three Web sites I've listed are loaded with distractions -- both ads and boxes with stuff that's of no value and of little interest. So let me help you skip past the clutter and get down to the real stuff.

At LowCards.com, you want to head directly here.

I don’t think this is the best site to find the best card for you, but the forum sure has some great stuff.

At BankRate.com, finding almost anything is difficult because of the clutter. The second time I went looking for the 15 questions to ask, it took five or 10 minutes to locate it. I may be a bit slow, especially where computer issues are concerned, but I think the real fault is with the Web site's design. So click here for the shortcut to the 15 questions.

The article is 4 years old, but the fundamentals have not changed. If you go to the basic page for credit cards, you'll never find it. But you will find some good calculators for figuring out benefits of your current card versus a new one. Again, there's an option to find the best card and, again, I don't think it's the best.

CardWeb.com is a Web site I’ve been using for almost 20 years. Like the others, it is advertiser supported, which means plenty of ads. Unlike the others, it's fast and easy to pick a card designed for your specific needs. But it is fairly short on the information component that makes the other two better educational tools.

The other guys tell you why certain aspects of the credit card are important; CardWeb.com tells you how to cut through the fog to get answers. The monthly surveys of credit card issuers provide facts and figures if you know what kind of card you want. If you want to start from scratch, go to the bottom of the page.