WASHINGTON — Sens. Chuck Grassley and Robert Torricelli said today that House negotiators have accepted the important consumer safeguards they advanced as part of their bipartisan plan to update the nation's bankruptcy laws.

The senators said that securing this agreement with the House of Representatives on disclosure requirements was a "sure victory for consumers." The pending legislation could represent one of the most significant accomplishments of the congressional session.

Torricelli, who authored the pro-consumer component of the bankruptcy reform bill along with Grassley, said consumers are often left in the dark about their credit card bills, forced to decipher small print to determine fees, interest costs and repayment schedules.

"The Senate's disclosure provisions are not only more consumer-oriented than the House version, they are a vast improvement over the status quo," he said. "Consumers should be given all the facts about the bills so they can better manage family finances and protect themselves from getting caught in a cycle of debt. Full disclosure is in the best interest of individual consumers, the credit industry and the country."

Grassley, who authored the overall bill with Torricelli, said that the unprecedented number of bankruptcies filed during recent years should raise a red flag for policy makers, lenders, businesses, consumer advocates, and families. "Consumers need clear, accurate information to help them better manage their financial affairs, and the pro-consumer provisions of the bankruptcy bill provide valuable tools to help them do so."

The consumer provisions accepted by the House include:

• Minimum Payment Warning – Credit card companies will be required to provide a warning regarding the dangers of making only minimum payment and an example of how long it will take to pay off a balance making only minimum monthly payments.

• Toll-Free Consumer Information – Credit card companies will be required to include in card holder statements a toll-free number to obtain specific information about the length of time it will take to pay off their balances.

• Disclosure of Teaser Rates – When low-interest teaser rates are used to entice new customers, credit card companies would be required to prominently display information about when higher rates take effect and what the new rates would be.

• "Good Customer" Protections – Credit companies would be barred from dropping customers who regularly pay monthly bills in full, avoiding interest costs.

• Internet Notice – The Truth-In-Lending standards apply to credit solicitations made via the Internet. This means that a credit card applicant would receive the same disclosure information on the Internet as he or she would in an offer made by a credit card company through the mail.

Grassley and Torricelli said today that specific details of the provisions still could be modified before the final measure is returned to both the House and Senate and sent to the President.