On the other hand, smaller debts are less likely to result in a lawsuit because there's usually not enough money at stake. For example, if your total outstanding balance is only $300 and someone files a lawsuit against you for that same amount of debt (even though they have additional balances), the court might only award them back what they paid on their original loan - in this case, typically just interest and fees would be awarded since there was no principal owed on that loan).