Lent money to someone who stopped paying it back? Take it to small claims
Tell SueEasy what you lent, and it helps you prepare a complete small claims filing that turns the loan into an enforceable judgment, ready to file with the court, with fees starting at $199.
File a Lawsuit
The cost of waiting for them to come good
The clock started at the missed payment
Not at your last text, and not when you finally stopped asking. Four years with something in writing, two if it was only spoken.
Your proof lives on a phone
Texts, transfer records and chat histories vanish with a lost handset or an app cleanup, and for a personal loan that is usually the whole file.
They get harder to find
People who owe money move, change numbers and go quiet. A judgment against someone you cannot locate is worth nothing.
So is this worth filing on?
Winning and collecting are two separate problems. These are the patterns that tend to decide both.
Worth filing on
- Something in writing, even a text where they agree to pay you back
- A transfer record showing the money leaving your account
- They repaid something already, which is hard to square with calling it a gift
- A current address where they can actually be served
- Something to collect against later, like a job or a bank you know they use
Harder going
- Nothing written down and nobody who witnessed the arrangement
- The money changed hands as cash, with no record either side
- They call it a gift and you have nothing from the time that says otherwise
- They have moved and left no forwarding address
- They have filed for bankruptcy, in which case stop and get advice before contacting them
What it costs to sue over money you lent
Start free, see everything before you pay
- Full guided intake
- Loan amount and paper trail checked for common problems
- Defenses they are likely to raise
- Draft demand letter preview
Priced by how much is at stake in your case
- Amount claimed under $12,500: $199
- Amount claimed $12,500-$35,000: $699
- Amount claimed over $35,000: $1,299
- Complete demand letter and filing, ready to go
- Court fee collected in one checkout
Extra confidence, priced by case size
- Everything in File it yourself
- Licensed CA attorney review
- Revisions before filing
- Attorney can appear on your behalf if your case is filed outside small claims; small claims still requires you to appear yourself
Court filing fees are separate, paid to the clerk. This covers preparing your filing. It does not include legal representation unless you add attorney review.
When you might not need us
If the sum is small and the relationship matters more than the money, a plain written request often does the job by itself. And if the person genuinely owns nothing and earns nothing you could reach, a judgment can sit unpaid for years. SC-100, California's small claims form, is free from any court, and every county provides a free small claims advisor.
The value is in the analysis, not the forms
SC-100 is free everywhere. What we actually charge for is working out whether you are on the four-year clock or the two-year one, pinning that date to the right event, assembling the transfers and messages into something that answers the gift defense before it is raised, and writing the demand around whichever version of the story is easiest to prove.
What decides a personal loan claim in California
"CCP" below is California's Code of Civil Procedure, which sets the small claims limits and filing deadlines.
The transfer record
A bank transfer, a payment app history or a cashed check shows the money moved and when. Start here.
Anything in writing
A signed note is best, but a text agreeing to pay you back does the same job. Four years to sue. CCP 337.
Purely spoken
Still enforceable, but the clock is two years and you prove it through conduct. CCP 339.
Part payment helps you
Any repayment admits the loan. It is the single hardest fact for them to explain away.
A witness works
Someone who heard the arrangement can come and say so. Small claims takes that seriously.
Show the running total
One page: what you lent, what came back, what is left. Judges follow a total.
Expect the gift defense
They will say you gave them the money. This is the argument that decides most of these cases.
Words from the time
What was said or written when the money moved carries most weight. "I'll pay you back Friday" ends the argument.
How you labelled it
A transfer marked as a loan at the moment you sent it beats any explanation offered afterwards.
Repayment behaviour
If they paid anything back, even once, that is conduct nobody describes as accepting a present.
Size and context
A judge weighs whether a gift that large makes sense between you two. Big round sums between casual friends rarely read as presents.
Family is harder
Money between relatives is more readily assumed to be a gift, so expect to need more than your own account of it.
Four years, in writing
A signed note, or a message trail agreeing the terms. CCP 337.
Two years, spoken
A verbal arrangement with nothing written down anywhere. CCP 339.
It runs from the missed payment
From the day repayment was due and did not come, not the last time you brought it up.
No date ever agreed
Where nobody set a date, the clock generally starts once you asked for it back and were refused.
It is a defense they raise
The clerk will not check it. But if they raise it, the case ends there.
Do not restart it by accident
Getting someone to admit an old debt in writing can cut either way. Ask before you try.
$12,500 for an individual
The most one person can claim, which is the usual ceiling on a personal loan. CCP 116.221.
$6,250 through a company
If you lent through an LLC, corporation or partnership, the ceiling is half. CCP 116.220.
Two large claims a year
Only two claims over $2,500 a year, anywhere in California. Smaller ones are unlimited. CCP 116.231.
No splitting
One loan is one claim, even if you advanced it in three payments. Over the cap, drop the extra or move up to limited civil.
Interest
Only where you agreed a rate. If none was agreed, Civil Code 3289 gives 10% a year from the missed payment.
Costs, not attorney fees
You can get your filing and service costs back. Not lawyer fees, since CCP 116.530 keeps lawyers out of the hearing.
Putting it in writing, or filing the claim
With money between people who know each other, this fork is as much personal as legal. Both routes are worth understanding before you pick.
A written demand first
- Costs a few dollars and an afternoon of your time
- Works more often than people expect, because a dated letter turns a favour back into an obligation
- Leaves the relationship survivable, which matters when it is family
- Nothing enforceable if they ignore it, and it does not stop the clock running
Filing in small claims
- $30 to $75 to file, with a hearing 20 to 70 days later and no attorneys on either side
- Ends in a judgment you can enforce against wages, a bank account or property
- Uses one of the two filings over $2,500 California allows you each year
- Usually ends the relationship, which is a real cost and belongs in the decision
Winning is the easy half. A judgment is a right to enforce, not money in your account, and tracking down the wages, the bank account or the property is your job. Work out what you would actually go after before you pay a filing fee, not after.
File a LawsuitHow to sue over a personal loan in small claims
Pin down what you lent
One number, built from records, before anything else.
- AmountWhat actually left your account, and when
- RepaymentsEverything that came back, in date order
- ExtrasAnything you agreed on top of the principal
- BalanceA single running total on one page
Find the writing
Your strongest version is the one that exists on paper.
- The agreementA signed note, or a text agreeing terms
- The transferBank statements or payment app history
- AcknowledgmentAny message admitting the amount
- RepaymentsProof that anything came back
Answer the gift defense early
Expect them to say the money was a present.
- Words at the timeWhat was said or written when it moved
- The labelHow you described the payment when you sent it
- ConductAny repayment at all, however small
- A witnessSomeone who heard the arrangement
Check the clock
The first thing the other side will look at.
- In writingFour years from the missed payment, CCP 337
- SpokenTwo years from the missed payment, CCP 339
- No date setGenerally from your demand and their refusal
- CarefulDon't try to restart an old clock without advice
Send a written demand
The highest-return step, and courts expect it.
- ItemizedThe running total, with records attached
- A deadlineFourteen days is common and reasonable
- PlainState the facts, name the amount, stop
- Proof of mailingCertified mail, and keep the receipt
File and serve
SC-100 opens the case. Service is where people stall.
- Filing fee$30 up to $1,500, $50 up to $5,000, $75 up to $12,500, set by Gov. Code 70613
- WhereThe county where they live or where the deal was made
- The nameTheir full legal name, spelled correctly
- Deadlines15 days ahead in-county, 20 if outside, and longer for substituted service
Judgment, then collection
Plan this before you file, not after you win.
- The hearingLead with the running total, then the records
- JudgmentA right to enforce, not a payment
- ToolsWage garnishment, bank levy, property lien
- Debtor examA hearing under CCP 708.110 that makes them disclose assets
Personal loan and money owed FAQs
SueEasy is a self-help legal technology product built by LegalForce RAPC Worldwide, P.C. Using SueEasy does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not provide legal advice. We are not a law firm and cannot represent you in court. Every California county provides a free small claims advisor, and we can point you to yours.