When you file for bankruptcy protection, you list your creditors on schedules D, E and F, depending on whether the loans are unsecured, secured or "priority" debts that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. The court then issues Official Form 9, Notice of Commencement of Case. This form is sent to all of the creditors you list in your schedules, along with an Order of Automatic Stay. The stay is a restraining order that prevents creditors from pursuing collections, making harassing phone calls, filing lawsuits or initiating repossessions and foreclosures while the bankruptcy case is open. Form 9 provides instructions and deadlines for filing documents as well as the date scheduled for a meeting of the creditors.

If you fail to list a creditor on one of the schedules, that creditor won't be notified of your bankruptcy and the court won't issue an automatic stay. The court has no way of knowing who your creditors are unless you list them, or unless a creditor that you omitted comes forward with a claim. Any creditor that you've left off the schedules may file a Proof of Claim with the court, and you may be required to file an amended creditor schedule, or you could be found in contempt and your case may be dismissed.