what can a creditor do if a debtor doesn t pay 
creditors do have some recourse to collect when a debtor fails to pay a debt they can attempt to repossess the collateral if the debt is backed by it such as mortgages and car loans that are backed by houses and cars the creditor can also take the debtor to court in an attempt to have the debtor s wages garnished or to secure another type of repayment order example of a debtorconsider sal who s looking to take out a mortgage to buy a home sal works with a bank to finance a property the resulting loan is for 250 000 sal now owes the bank 250 000 and is in debt to them making them a debtor the bank is the creditor sal s home is used as collateral for the mortgage loan the bank can take possession of the property through foreclosure and sell it to recoup the money owed if sal defaults on the mortgage 3