If you have an unpaid bill, a creditor or collection agency might threaten garnishment. Garnishment is a legal procedure to take your money, for example from your bank account or your wages. However, garnishment is not allowed until a court has determined that you owe the money. A creditor can not garnish any of your income until it first sues you and gets a court judgment. When you file bankruptcy, an automatic stay goes into effect that prohibits and stops most collection activities by creditors. This means that wage garnishments are also stopped as long as the bankruptcy stay is in effect. If a creditor wants to resume collection efforts, it must ask the court to lift the stay. The court will lift the stay only if the creditor has a valid reason for doing so. An unsecured creditor such as a credit card company simply wishing to resume a wage garnishment is not a valid reason for the court to lift the stay.