I’m in way over my head, as some would say. I owe a little over 5 grand on my primary credit card and the max is $5,300. I owe about $500 on another, and $400 for a traffic citation. What should I attack first? I have a little over $2,000 available. Thanks for your help.

try this and you will save a lot, reduce your debt and improve your credit rating.

1) pay the traffic citation.
2) transfer your 5500 balance to a new credit card that offer 0% INTRO APR with 12 months INTRO period. get one if possible one that don’t charge annual fee. if you can get the new card regular APR that is lower than current it would be great.
3)pay on-time minimum fee every time. make this a priority. try to set aside 2 months minimum fee in your safe. don’t use all the 2000 to pay the balance. you won’t accumulate new interest because the 0% APR so no need to rush. at least you can buy time to produce more income to pay the balance.
4)before the end of the INTRO period transfer your balance to another new credit card with the same features or better if you can find one.
5)repeat step 3 and 4 until you pay all the debt.
6)make sure you don’t accumulate new debt with new purchase because 0% INTRO APR usually only cover transfered balance.
7)credit card is an advantage if you play the game right.
it is a working tool to establish high credit rating which allow you to obtain finance easily which mean lower interest rate than credit card.

hope that helps a bit.