The government might guarantee nearly $2 trillion in U.S. banks' debt and deposit accounts for more than three years in an effort to break the crippling logjam in bank-to-bank lending.

The temporary guarantees for banks by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. come in addition to the government's new $250 billion plan announced Tuesday to directly buy shares in U.S. banks. Both signal new approaches in trying to confront the credit crisis in global financial markets.

Well over half of the roughly 8,500 U.S. banks and savings and loans are expected to tap the FDIC's guarantees. The agency will provide temporary insurance for loans between banks, guaranteeing the debt in the event the issuing bank fails or its holding company files for bankruptcy. The banks will be charged a special premium for the guarantees.

The FDIC also will guarantee deposits in non-interest-bearing ''transaction'' accounts by removing, through the end of next year, the current $250,000 insurance limit on them. Businesses often use the deposit accounts for processing their payrolls and other transactions.

Bank leaders signaled their support for the U.S. plan, noting it addressed the lack of confidence in the American banking sector and the concerns that U.S. businesses would transfer funds to European banks, for instance, after the mega-bailout announced in European capitals on Monday that offered full guarantees.

Mehdi Ghomeshi, chairman and chief executive of Great Florida Bank, said Washington's guarantee program erases such fears. ''There would have been a flow of deposits to Europe,'' Ghomeshi said. ``But this action stops that, this assured everyone that their deposits in the United States, as long as they are non-interest bearing, are insured.''

Alan B. Levan, chairman and chief executive of BankAtlantic Bancorp, parent of the namesake bank, said the new phase of the bailout should have the immediate effect of boosting consumer confidence as the government guarantees interbank lending and guarantees all non-interest-bearing checking accounts, normally small business accounts.

As a result, banks ''no longer need to worry about irrational consumer behavior with regard to their deposits,'' said Levan.

Fears over problem banks prompted businesses to juggle funds among multiple bank accounts to remain first under a $100,000 and then a $250,000 insurance ceiling.

''The last thing I thought I would have to worry about as a business owner and saver was that money in the accounts would not be secure,'' said Tadd Schwartz, principal of Schwartz Media Strategies, a mid-sized, public-relations firm in Miami. ``I literally woke up one morning and I couldn't sleep.''

Schwartz, who had two personal accounts and one business account in Washington Mutual, moved the business account into a different bank several weeks ago, as concerns about the financial institution rose prior to becoming part of JP Morgan Chase. Later, when the insurance limit was raised, he moved his account back.

John Dunn Jr., the Small Business Administration's assistant director for South Florida, said small businesses have been worried about their accounts: ``I've heard people concerned about the safety of their accounts more times in the past weeks than I've heard in my entire career.''

The FDIC guarantees, he said, are ``good for the small businesses because they don't have to worry about their deposits. It's good for the banks because they don't have to worry about money flowing out of them.''

The debt guarantees could total as much as $1.4 trillion if all U.S. banks chose to participate in the program, the government estimates. All federally insured banks and thrifts are automatically covered for 30 calendar days and will have to decide by then whether to participate in the program.

Miami Herald staff writers Ina Paiva Cordle, Jane Bussey, and David Gelles contributed to this report, which was supplemented with material from The Associated Press.

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