Americans will have a tougher time escaping their debts through bankruptcy, under a compromise reached by legislators late Thursday night.

        The bill — which the House was expected to consider late Friday before breaking for summer recess — would force more people filing for bankruptcy to follow repayment plans rather than have their debts discharged altogether. It could be approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Bush within a week.

        “It's a step in the right direction,” said Jack Day, a bankruptcy attorney in Cincinnati with Weltman Weinberg & Reis, a firm the represents banks and other creditors. “Banks think people should pay their debts when they owe money.”

        But Bob Goering, a bankruptcy attorney downtown who represents debtors, said: “I think the bill stinks.”

        The bankruptcy reform bill has been kicked around Congress for more than five years and passed the House and Senate in various forms. But Thursday, negotiators finally came to a surprise agreement on a compromise bill that would make it tougher to get credit card and other debts forgiven in bankruptcy court.

        The legislation applies a new standard for determining whether people filing for bankruptcy should be forced to repay debts under court-approved reorganization plans (a process called Chapter 13 bankruptcy) rather than having them dissolved (Chapter 7 bankruptcy).

        If a debtor is found to have sufficient income to repay at least 25 percent of the debt over five years or has at least the median income for his or her state, a reorganization plan generally is required.

        Under the current system, it is usually left to a bankruptcy judge or a private attorney appointed by the Justice Department to decide whether someone qualifies for dissolution of debts or should be forced to repay under a reorganization plan.

        The credit card industry, which claims millions of dollars in losses a year from bankrupt consumers, has long lobbied for changes in the bankruptcy laws.

        “To the extent that people will be paying more of their debts is to the creditors' advantage,” Mr. Day said.

        But he acknowledged that other potential changes in bankruptcy law — like the way certain debts are calculated — will make collecting debts harder for creditors.

        Auto loan debt, for example, is now tabulated as the value of the car, not the outstanding balance on the loan. The reform legislation makes the reorganization plan consider the full extent of the loan — meaning more money may be going to the “secured” creditor, while less would be left over to be pay “unsecured” debts.

        “In theory, there should be more money paid to creditors,” Mr. Day said. “But there may not actually be more money for unsecured creditors.”

        Mr. Goering sees more fundamental problems with the legislation. He said only 30 percent of people who choose to file under Chapter 13 now actually follow through on their repayment plans.

        “The mandatory Chapter 13 idea, which is embodied in the bill, is a bad idea,” he said, predicting that even fewer people would pay.

        He also criticized the idea that secured creditors get priority, noting that that would hurt single mothers trying to collect child support, an unsecured debt.

        But his biggest problem is with the reform itself: In order to reduce outstanding debt, he said, don't give people credit.

        “By saying bankruptcy is the problem and we need to attack bankruptcy, they're missing the point,” he said. “Credit is too easy to get. ... They attacked the cure rather than the cause.”

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