A bankruptcy list of creditors is not one document but two that work together, and any template worth using reflects that. The first is a plain mailing matrix — a text file of names and addresses only — that you file with your petition so the court can start sending notices. The second is a set of detailed Schedules (D, E/F, G, and H) that describe each debt, its amount, its collateral if any, and who else is on the hook. Every entity that appears on those Schedules must also appear on the matrix.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure 1007 – Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents; Time to File
What Goes on the Mailing Matrix
The matrix is stripped down on purpose. For each creditor you include only the name and complete mailing address. No account numbers. No balances. No debt descriptions. Courts are explicit about this because the file exists purely so the clerk can mail notices, and account numbers on a mailing document would expose sensitive information unnecessarily.
Most courts require the matrix as a plain text file (.txt) uploaded through the CM/ECF system. Each address block runs about five lines: creditor name, street address, and a final line with city, state, and zip together. Formatting rules vary by district — single-spacing within an address, blank lines between addresses, no special characters — so check your local court’s guidelines before you upload. A matrix in the wrong format won’t kill your case, but the clerk will issue a deficiency notice and processing stalls until you fix it.
What Goes on the Schedules
The Schedules are the substantive creditor list. Each one covers a category of obligation, and every creditor listed here must also be on the matrix.
Schedule D: Secured Creditors
Schedule D (Official Form 106D) is for any debt backed by collateral: mortgages, car loans, furniture financing with a purchase-money security interest, tax liens, judgment liens. For each entry you provide the creditor’s name and address, the last four digits of the account number, the date the debt was incurred, and the total claim amount.2United States Courts. Schedule D: Creditors Who Have Claims Secured by Property You also describe the collateral, state its current market value, and identify the nature of the lien — voluntary (like a mortgage), statutory (like a tax lien), or judicial (from a lawsuit). For personal property, value means replacement value: what a retail seller would charge for similar property in similar condition.
Schedule E/F: Unsecured Creditors
Schedule E/F (Official Form 106E/F) handles unsecured debts in two parts.3United States Courts. Schedule E/F: Creditors Who Have Unsecured Claims
Part 1 covers priority claims. These get paid ahead of general unsecured creditors, and many of them survive discharge. The most common categories are domestic support obligations (child support, alimony, spousal maintenance) and certain tax debts.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 507 – Priorities Not every tax debt qualifies; income taxes generally do if the return was due within three years before filing or the tax was assessed within 240 days before filing. If a priority claim has a nonpriority portion, break out both amounts on the form.
Part 2 covers general unsecured claims — where most consumer debts land. Credit card balances, medical bills, personal loans, utility arrears, deficiency balances, and similar obligations with no collateral behind them. For each creditor you list the name, address, last four digits of the account number, the date incurred, and the total claim. The form asks you to classify the type of debt, with categories including student loans and obligations arising from divorce or separation that don’t qualify as priority claims.
Schedule G: Executory Contracts and Unexpired Leases
If both you and the other party still owe each other performance under an agreement, it belongs on Schedule G. Apartment leases, car leases, cell phone contracts, gym memberships, and service agreements are typical entries. The counterparty must also appear on the mailing matrix.
Schedule H: Codebtors
Schedule H lists anyone jointly liable on a debt you’ve scheduled elsewhere: a parent who co-signed a car loan, an ex-spouse still on a joint credit card, a business partner on a shared obligation.5United States Courts. Schedule H: Your Codebtors This matters in Chapter 13 because the automatic stay extends to protect codebtors from collection on consumer debts. Leaving Schedule H blank when you shouldn’t means your co-signer may lose that protection.
How to Build a Complete List
Start with your credit reports from all three consumer reporting agencies. You can pull free copies through AnnualCreditReport.com, and updated reports are often available online more frequently.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Get a Free Copy of My Credit Reports Reports catch most formally reported accounts, but they miss a lot: personal loans from family, recent medical bills that haven’t been sent to collections, back rent, contract debts, and small obligations that never got reported.
Fill the gaps from your own records. Bank statements and canceled checks reveal payments on debts you might otherwise forget. Tax returns point to obligations owed to the IRS or state tax authorities. Collection letters, demand letters from law firms, and any lawsuit or judgment paperwork identify creditors who absolutely have to be on the list even if nothing shows on a credit report.
Government creditors need special handling. The IRS and state tax agencies designate specific mailing addresses for bankruptcy notices, and those addresses are different from the ones used for ordinary correspondence. Your local bankruptcy court publishes a register of government mailing addresses; use it. A tax authority that gets notice at the wrong address may be treated as never having been notified at all.
Contingent, Unliquidated, Disputed
Schedules D and E/F include three checkboxes for each entry. Which ones you check changes how the trustee and the court handle the claim.
- Contingent means the debt depends on something that hasn’t happened yet. Co-signed loans are the classic example: you don’t owe anything unless the primary borrower defaults.
- Unliquidated means you owe something but the amount hasn’t been fixed. A pending personal injury case where liability looks clear but damages are unresolved is unliquidated.
- Disputed means you disagree that you owe the debt, or you disagree about the amount. Even if you believe you owe nothing, list the creditor, use the amount the creditor claims, and check the disputed box.
More than one box can apply to the same claim. What you cannot do is leave a creditor off because you think the debt is invalid. That is one of the most consequential mistakes a filer can make.
Deadlines
The mailing matrix goes in with the petition. Without it the case cannot move forward, because the clerk has no addresses to work with. The detailed Schedules — D, E/F, G, H, and the rest — are due within 14 days after the petition date.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure 1007 – Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents; Time to File
If You Discover a Creditor After Filing
Forgotten creditors turn up all the time, and Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 1009 lets you amend the petition, Schedules, or creditor list at any time before the case closes.7Legal Information Institute. Rule 1009 – Amending a Voluntary Petition, List, Schedule, or Statement You notify the trustee and the added creditor, and the new creditor gets the full set of notices they would have received originally. Courts charge a fee for amending the creditor schedules, typically around $34.
Timing still matters. If the proof-of-claim deadline has already passed by the time you amend, the late-added creditor may be shut out of any distribution, which can complicate whether the debt is discharged. The earlier you catch the omission, the cleaner the fix.
What Happens If You Leave a Creditor Off
This is the part worth reading twice. A debt that was not listed or scheduled in time for the creditor to file a proof of claim may not be discharged, meaning you still owe it when the bankruptcy is over.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge There is a narrow safety valve: if the creditor had actual knowledge of the case in time to file a claim, the debt can still be discharged. Do not plan around it. Most creditors learn about a bankruptcy only when the court mails a notice, and the court cannot mail a notice to a creditor who is not on your list.
For debts that require the creditor to affirmatively request a dischargeability ruling — obligations arising from fraud or willful injury, for instance — the creditor must have been listed in time both to file a claim and to make that request. Missing that window almost always means the debt survives.
The working rule when you build the list is simple. List every creditor you can identify, in both documents. List debts you’re not sure you owe, marked disputed. List contingent obligations like co-signed loans. Listing a debt you might not owe costs nothing. Failing to list a debt you do owe can cost you the discharge on that debt entirely.