 The investors who took the least amount of risk prior to the bankruptcy are generally paid first.For example, secured creditors will have taken less risk, because the credit that they will have extended is usually backed by collateral, such as assets of the debtor company.Fully secured creditors—that is, creditors, 
such as collateralized bondholders and mortgage lenders, for whom the value of collateral equals or exceeds the amount of debt outstanding—have a legally enforceable right to the collateral securing their loans or to the equivalent value, a right that generally cannot be defeated by bankruptcy.