A couple of people owe most, unfortunately (7)
I believe the answer is:
twosome
'a couple of people' is the definition.
'owe most unfortunately' is the wordplay.
'unfortunately' indicates anagramming the letters.
'owe'+'most'='owemost'
'owemost' anagrammed gives 'TWOSOME'.
(Other definitions for twosome that I've seen before include "Item" , "match" , "Couple" , "Pair, duo" , "game of golf" .)