It is both a blessing and a curse upon the debt-laden American consumer that credit card companies are unilaterally doubling their minimum monthly payments, often from 2% of the total to 4%.

On one hand, a higher minimum forces the consumer to cough up a bigger chunk of their total balance owed, feasibly meaning that they will remain in debt for a shorter period of time. Of course, on the flip side, those struggling with debt may find themselves unable to meet the minimums on all their accounts, and fall further in the hole.

Newly enacted laws will make credit card issuers plaster a warning on your monthly statement about how long you could be in debt by making only minimum monthly payments.