In an effort to curb the nation's growing credit card debt problem, federal banking regulators are now requiring credit card companies to raise the amount of their cardholders' minimum monthly payment.

Executives at Debt Shield, Inc., a Maryland-based debt settlement firm, say that the increased minimum monthly payments on credit card balances will most likely not double, as it is widely reported, but that the increase might push financially struggling cardholders into bankruptcy or bankruptcy alternatives, like debt settlement.