Are you feeling punch drunk with all the official and unofficial interest rate rises? Between the Reserve Bank and your own lender, it's been an assault so sustained that Rocky Balboa would be reeling.

But if your finances are on the ropes, don't throw in the towel - hit back.

Here's my five-step plan of attack.

1. Ask for a discount

If you are paying the advertised standard variable rate - which is now up to an eye-watering 9 per cent - you are getting ripped off. Banks won't volunteer the information, but they charge some customers up to 0.7 percentage points less under a so-called professional package. That's almost three interest rate cuts - instantly. Bowl up to your bank and see if they will extend their benevolence to you.

2. Don't fix your rate

If you are tempted to lock in your rate - don't; it's too late. The time to fix is when rates are on their way up, not when they have already increased 11 times. While rates may go up once or twice more, by the end of the year slowing global growth on the back of the subprime crisis should force them downwards again. What's more, at the very time borrowers might feel panicked into fixing, banks have been quietly putting up these rates such that for the first time in years the average fix is higher than the variable rate. Cynical indeed.

Those whose finances really couldn't cope with one or two additional rises could consider fixing for a maximum of one year - but lock in for longer and you risk being stuck for years paying more than you need to.

3. Reset the clock

This one's only for people who are genuinely struggling to meet their repayments, because it will ultimately result in you paying more interest. It is not widely known that it's possible to what's called "reamortise" a loan, which means spread it over a fresh 25 or 30 years with correspondingly lower monthly repayments. You may have to pay some up-front fees to do so but the reduction in your regular expenses might be worth it. Ask your bank.

4. Use every dollar twice

One of the best protections from rampaging interest rates is to put yourself out of reach of them by clearing your loan - and there's a strategy to do this earlier that will cost you nothing. A magic little Australian invention known as an offset account lets you use every dollar that passes through your hands to reduce your total interest bill. It simply offsets any money you hold in it against your loan balance - so you pay nothing on that amount. If an average after-tax salary of $3000 a month is left in an offset attached to an average $222,000 loan, and a credit card used for the monthly expenses, you will save $18,200 and cut one year off your loan. And if you happen to have $10,000 lying around, this will save you nearly $55,000 and 2.5 years. Remember, that hasn't cost you an extra penny.

5. Ditch your lender

If you're getting no joy from your existing lender on any of the above, find a better one. Assuming you are on the standard variable rate, you should be able to save a whole percentage point in interest - or give yourself four instant rate cuts. Now that the Rudd government has announced initiatives to simplify the switching process, and a review of the outrageous exit fees charged by some lenders, this will be your knockout punch in the interest rate fight.