Bankruptcy Vocabulary

A court order imposed on an employer to withhold a portion of an employee’s pay to be sent to a person or business to whom the employee owes money.

• Wage Gernishment

• Wage Garnishment

• Wane Garnishment

• Wag Garnishment

A loan not backed with collateral.

• Petition

• Secured Debt

• Unsecured Funds

• Unsecured Debt

A loan that is backed with collateral; a loan for which the lender requires and the borrower offers property as a guarantee of repayment.

• Secured Debt

• Unsecured Debt

• Debt

• Asset

To retake possession of something when the buyer fails to make payments.

All required documentation that will begin a bankruptcy proceeding (e.g., bankruptcy forms, schedules, statements, plan) plus payment of the court filing fee

• Chapter 13

• Chapter 7

• Petition

• Budget

Property a debtor filing for bankruptcy must forfeit (give up) to pay creditors

• Nondischargeable Debt

• Exempt Property

• Nonexempt Property

• Bankruptcy

A type of debt that cannot be eliminated (wiped out) through a bankruptcy proceeding.

• Unsecured Debt

• Bankruptcy

• Foreclosure

• Nondischargeable Debt

A test to determine the level of a person’s current income or assets.

The sale of a debtor’s nonexempt property and the distribution of the proceeds to creditors. 

• Discharge

• Liquidation

• Repossession

• Asset

The legal process by which a property that is mortgaged as security for a loan may be sold and the proceeds of the sale applied to the mortgage debt

• Foreclosure

• Repossession

• Dischargeable Debt

• Nondischargeable Debt