The one-sentence version
Schedule D lists every creditor who has a legal claim against a specific piece of your property. The defining feature of a secured creditor: if you don't pay, they can take the collateral.
What "secured" means
A debt is secured if a creditor has a lien on something you own. Three main flavors:
- Purchase-money security interest (PMSI) - you borrowed money to buy a thing, and the thing is the collateral. Car loan, furniture financed at the store, mortgage.
- Statutory or judgment lien - a tax lien, a contractor's mechanic's lien, or a money judgment that's been recorded against your real estate.
- Consensual non-purchase lien - a HELOC, a title-loan against your car, a pawn-shop loan against jewelry.
If there's no specific collateral, the debt belongs on Schedule E/F, not here.
What's on the form
Two parts.
Part 1 - List all secured claims
For each lienholder:
- Creditor name and mailing address (use the address from the most recent statement - the "payments" address often isn't the right one for legal notice)
- Date the debt was incurred
- Last 4 digits of the account number
- A brief description of the collateral
- The current value of the collateral
- Amount of the claim
- The portion that's unsecured (if any - explained below)
- Whether the claim is contingent, unliquidated, or disputed
- Nature of the lien
Part 2 - List others to be notified
If anyone else has any interest in the same collateral - a loan servicer different from the lender, a co-signer's address, a collection agency working the file - they go here so they get notice of the case.
The "unsecured portion" math
A debt is only secured up to the value of the collateral. If your car is worth $8,000 but your loan balance is $11,000, the secured portion is $8,000 and the unsecured portion is $3,000. That $3,000 unsecured portion may be eligible for discharge as a general unsecured debt.
Example breakdown on the form:
- Value of collateral: $8,000
- Amount of claim: $11,000
- Unsecured portion (claim minus value): $3,000
Good to know: Even though the personal obligation to repay can be wiped out in Chapter 7, the lien itself usually survives. If you don't keep paying a mortgage or car loan, the lender can still foreclose or repossess - the lien rides through the bankruptcy on the collateral.
Common types you'll list
- First mortgage on your primary residence
- Second mortgage / HELOC
- Auto loan
- Title loan
- Personal property collateral loans (furniture stores like Aaron's, Conn's; jewelry stores)
- Mechanic's lien from an unpaid contractor
- Tax liens (IRS Notice of Federal Tax Lien, state tax liens)
- Judgment liens recorded against real estate
- Pawn-shop loans
The flip-side: Form 108 (Statement of Intention)
For every secured creditor on Schedule D, you also have to declare what you plan to do about the collateral on Form 108: surrender, redeem, or reaffirm. Schedule D and Form 108 work as a pair.
Watch out: If you've been served with a judgment lawsuit but the creditor hasn't yet recorded a judgment lien against your real estate, that debt is unsecured and goes on Schedule E/F instead. The line between "lawsuit pending" and "judgment lien recorded" matters - it determines which schedule the creditor lives on and whether the underlying obligation can be discharged cleanly.
Common mistakes
- Listing a debt as secured because the creditor sent a "secured" form letter. The lien has to actually exist in the real world - check your title, your DMV record, your county recorder's office.
- Forgetting a tax lien. The IRS records Federal Tax Liens for amounts over a threshold. Search the county recorder.
- Listing only the original lender when the servicer has changed. Notice has to go to the current holder.
- Not splitting out the unsecured portion when the collateral is worth less than the debt.
- Listing the collateral's value as the loan balance instead of its actual fair market value.
Related forms
Schedule D is paired with Form 108 (Statement of Intention) and feeds Form 106Sum. Unsecured debts go on Schedule E/F. See the complete forms index.