DENVER -- Holiday shoppers beware.

If you're using your credit cards to buy a lot of gifts, you may be in for some shock when your credit card bills arrive next month because the minimum payment is about to go up, reported KMGH-TV in Denver.

A new government regulation mandates that credit card companies hike their customers' minimum monthly payments.

Those payments will double in most cases. The aim is to reduce the huge consumer debt that now totals $2 trillion.

"The low minimum monthly payments that we've been used to have really led to a cycle of consumers just paying and paying and never ever getting out of debt," said Kim McGrigg with Consumer Credit Counseling.

Currently, you have to pay at least 2 percent of your total balance. Now, the credit card company will be able to double that to 4 percent.

If a person has a $2,000 balance with an 18 percent interest rate, it would take that person 30 years to pay off that debt with a minimum payment of 2 percent. However, if that minimum payment was doubled to 4 percent, it would take a person only 10 years to pay off the debt.

"In the long term, it's going to be great for consumers. They're going to be paying less interest," said McGrigg.

However, households that are letting their credit card debt pile up could be slammed at the end of the holiday season.

There's no doubt that those who don't pay their bills in full will have to write a bigger check, said McGrigg.

Statistics show that 40 percent of cardholders carry a balance from month to month. The minimum payment change does not affect the 60 percent of customers who pay their bill in full each month.