EDITORIAL : PAYING THE PIPER BANKRUPTCY LAWS SHOULD BE TIGHTENED TO REQUIRE SOME REPAYMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY.

FILING for personal bankruptcy no longer carries the stigma it once did. People drowning in debt no longer view it as a personal defeat but a way to manage their dwindling resources. Perhaps that's one reason a record number of Los Angeles County residents filed for personal bankruptcy last year.

But walking away from debt has become too easy. The evidence suggests that many of those seeking bankruptcy relief are savvy consumers who've piled up enormous debt and leave the card issuers holding the bills.

As a result, credit card companies stuck with hundreds of millions of dollars in write-offs are lobbying for changes in bankruptcy laws to make it more difficult for people to escape repayment.

Tightening bankruptcy laws is a good idea. But credit card companies also need to assume much of the blame and a lot of the responsibility for tightening their standards on who gets a card.

Pushing plastic is such a competitive business that credit card issuers have been giving credit to people who are unable to use it wisely or well. The Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Atlanta, Ga., for example, reported that the typical credit card user who sought counseling last year had consumer debt totaling $23,000 and an annual income of just $32,600.

Consumers today use their credit cards to buy everything from a head of lettuce at the supermarket to gasoline at the pump; home entertainment centers to movie tickets; track shoes to lavish vacations.

But easy credit doesn't lead to Easy Street. Consumer debt reached $1.5 trillion in 1996, and for the first time ever, there were more than 1 million personal bankruptcy filings across the nation, a 32 percent jump over 1995. That record was mirrored in Los Angeles County, where a record 54,000 residents filed for bankruptcy, up 64 percent from 1995.

Experts say the record number of bankruptcy filings is the result of enormous credit card debt gone bad. Now Visa and MasterCard are leading the charge to change the laws so that bankruptcy filers would be forced to file a repayment plan, rather than being granted forgiveness.

Changes are needed. Bankruptcy does not have to mean shame and ruin for the filer. But filing for bankruptcy should include some responsibility for paying back the debt. The piper should get his due as long as he whistles a more responsible tune.