The deal also temporarily removes the threat of forced auctions of reserves to pay lenders.

Yields on two-year Greek bonds - or the interest rate the Greek government would have to pay lenders - soared to almost 28%, suggesting that investors believe the country is on the point of bankruptcy.

News of the Paris Club's move raised initial fears that it could harm Indonesia's credit ratings, thereby raising the interest rate the country and its companies would have to pay lenders.

Mr. Brandt, meanwhile, spent much of his day meeting with creditors, hoping to arrange new short-term loans that will allow Mercury to resume paying commercial lenders on schedule.

We stopped paying private lenders to act as middlemen for federal student loans, and invested the savings in student aid.

These include mortgage banking, life insurance, leasing, short-term lending and other operations, and they will continue to pay lenders and function normally.

(The government will still pay lenders when the rates they pay are higher than borrower rates.)

The difference, or spread, between what Southeast Asian governments have to pay lenders and what the United States Treasury pays has narrowed to levels unseen since the period before the 1997 regional financial crisis.

So although borrowers do not pay lenders for escrow programs, the service is not always cost free, depending on the prevailing interest rates.

They also would face a higher origination fee on new loans and would have to assume some of the subsidy costs that the Government now pays lenders.