Lifecycle statuses

Every case moves through lifecycle statuses from creation to closure. The status determines what actions are available and who is responsible for the next step.

Status	Description	Your actions
Pending Verification	The case is assigned to you and awaiting your review. Debitura's internal validation is complete.	Accept (move to Active), request more information (move to Needs Additional Details), decline, or initiate a custom quote.
Active	You have accepted the case and pre-legal collection work has begun. For standard cases, a 6-month exclusive collection period applies.	Update progress, register payments, pause, request additional information from the client, send a custom quote to recommend or require legal escalation, or close the case with an appropriate close code.
Needs Additional Details	You have requested more information from the client before proceeding.	Move to Active once information is received, or close the case with a close code (Decline is not available from this state).
Paused	Collection work is temporarily suspended (for example, pending a payment plan or client decision).	Resume (move to Active), send a custom quote to recommend or require legal escalation, or close the case.
Pending Giving Quote	You have initiated a custom quote request for a case that does not fit standard pre-legal terms. This is the status of a case already assigned to you, reached from your own review of it - not the marketplace bidding flow.	Submit your custom quote. The client will review and accept or decline.
Quote Given	You have submitted a quote and are waiting for the client to select a winner. This is the status of a case already assigned to you, not a marketplace lead you bid on.	Wait for client decision. If accepted, the case moves to Active.
Closed	The case has ended with a close code indicating the outcome.	No further actions. The case is retained for reporting and history.
Merged	This case was consolidated into another case using the merge feature. Case processing, debtor editing and amount changes are permanently disabled on it, though a Creditor Admin on the client side can still change its bank account. All original data (debtor details, amounts, client reference, and attached documents) remains visible. The case chat is closed by the merge. No message history is carried onto the combined case; continue the conversation there.	No actions available. The case header links through to the winner case, and the Activity tab carries a merge entry linking back to it. Related-case links appear when the other case is still accessible to you and has a reference; if that lookup fails the merge entry still shows, without the links.

Actions by status

In Pending Verification

When you receive a new case, review the debtor details, claim amount, and documentation. You can then:

📋 Before choosing a status - check for a merge option

A collapsible "or merge this into an existing case →" link always appears on the acceptance page. It does not mean the platform has already found something to merge with - expand it and search to see whether you have any eligible candidates. The candidate list is filtered by client, currency and lifecycle. That filter is not the full eligibility check - the complete rules are applied when you confirm, so a set can pass the search and the pricing preview and still be rejected at the final step. There is no same-debtor rule, so check the debtor on a candidate before you continue - the merge cannot be undone. Expanding the link lets you consolidate this case into an existing one and preview the recalculated pricing before confirming, and using the merge option bypasses the Accept / Request more information / Decline / Initiate custom quote flow below. If your search returns nothing, that search found no candidate - it does not prove none exists, so try both the debtor name and the case reference before concluding. With no candidate, continue with the options below. See How to merge cases for the full step-by-step guide.

Accept - Move the case to Active and begin collection. See How to review and approve a new case.
Request more information - Move to Needs Additional Details if documentation is insufficient.
Decline - Decline the case if you cannot take it (jurisdiction mismatch, conflict of interest, capacity). It normally goes to the partner network as a lead; where the client has quote sharing switched off, or is a client managed by another collection partner, it closes as Case never started instead. See How to decline a case.
Initiate custom quote - If the case does not fit standard terms (disputed, complex, requires legal action), you can start a custom quote flow instead of accepting. It is an option on an assigned case, not a requirement: the acceptance form still offers ordinary acceptance at the case's own rate, and which of the two suits the case is your call.

📋 Non-Exclusive Partners: Legal Network partners normally reach a case by winning a quote rather than through the assignment-and-review flow above, so a case awaiting your review does not usually appear in Cases Received. When you are invited to bid, a Provide quote task appears in your Task dashboard; that task is normally your only entry point to the lead, and the case appears in Cases Received once you win the quote, at which point it is already Active. The exception is a geographic routing override: where Debitura has agreed with a creditor that their cases in a country must always go to one named partner, those cases are assigned to that partner directly and follow the assignment-and-review flow above, Pending Verification included. Marketplace leads are won through your quote, so there is nothing to accept at a standard SDCA rate on that route. A case assigned directly to you is different: the case's own pricing and signed terms govern acceptance, and being a Legal Network partner does not by itself require a custom quote.

In Active

During active collection, you can:

Update case progress and communicate with the client via chat
Register payments when the debtor pays. See How to report a recovered payment.
Pause the case temporarily
Send a custom quote from the Actions menu to recommend or require legal escalation. The legal option is offered when the case is still in the pre-legal phase, was born on standard terms, and has no legal quote already awaiting the client's decision. See How to recommend or require legal action on a case you already hold.
Close the case with an appropriate close code when collection ends

You can also merge this case with another eligible case if both cases belong to the same client and share the same currency. Open the Actions dropdown in the top-right corner of the case page - a "Merge with another case..." option appears on any case in an eligible status, whether or not a candidate exists. Merging consolidates both claims and recalculates the combined principal and success fee. See How to merge cases for the full step-by-step guide.

In Paused

Collection work is temporarily suspended (for example, pending a payment plan or client decision). From this state you can:

Resume the case by moving it back to Active
Send a custom quote from the Actions menu to recommend or require legal escalation. Paused cases are deliberately included here, not an oversight - pausing usually means the debtor disputes the claim, and that is often exactly when legal action is right. The legal option is offered when the case is still in the pre-legal phase, was born on standard terms, and has no legal quote already awaiting the client's decision.
Close the case with an appropriate close code

In More Info Required

You have requested more information from the client before proceeding (Needs Additional Details state). From this state you can:

Move the case to Active once the required information is received
Close the case if the information cannot be obtained
Decline (and the Case never started code) is only available in Pending Verification, so it is not offered here. If the client never answers your request, close with the Unresponsive Client code; use Invalid Case Data only when the case information itself is wrong or unusable.
Moving the case to More Info Required already resolves your case verification task, so the close code you select afterwards does not turn the assignment into an ignored case for your engagement multiplier. Invalid Case Data always counts in your collection score, so on a case with no recovery it contributes a 0% recovery outcome. Unresponsive Client is treated differently: when the case has no collection start date, meaning the client went silent before you were able to begin, it is left out of your collection score entirely. It counts as a 0% recovery outcome only when collection had already started and the client went silent later.

Closing a case

When closing a case, select a close code that accurately describes the outcome. Close codes affect your performance scoring and reporting analytics.

Close codes

Close codes indicate the outcome when a case ends. Some codes affect your performance score while others are recognized as legitimate declines. For a complete guide, see Case close codes.

Success codes

Code	When to use	Scoring impact
Paid	Debtor paid the full outstanding amount	Positive - counts as collection success
Partially paid	Debtor paid some amount but not the full debt	Positive - counts toward collection rate

Validation: The system requires at least one registered payment. Paid requires total payments equal to or greater than the outstanding amount; Partially paid requires payments greater than zero but less than the full amount.

Validated decline codes (no engagement penalty)

These codes represent legitimate reasons you cannot proceed. They do not count against your engagement multiplier. Only Case never started, Case never started - Internal, No Quotes Received and Quotes Expired – Not Accepted are unconditionally excluded from the collection score; the other four validated decline codes count toward it. Unresponsive Client is a fifth exclusion, but a conditional one and not a validated decline code: it drops out of the collection score only when the case has no collection start date.

Code	When to use
Invalid Case Data	Critical case information is incorrect or missing (wrong debtor details, invalid documentation)
Debtor Insolvent/Bankrupt	Debtor has filed for bankruptcy or is officially insolvent
Debtor Untraceable	All reasonable efforts to locate the debtor have failed
Statute of Limitations Expired	The legal deadline to collect this debt has passed per jurisdiction laws

Case never started is not one of these codes - it is not selectable in the Not Recovered dropdown. It is assigned automatically when a case is declined through the Decline case action during Pending Verification, or by the 30-day Pending Verification SLA if the case sits unactioned. Legal Network partners do not normally see a case in Pending Verification, so this code rarely arises for them - it does in the rare case where Debitura has configured a geographic routing override sending a creditor's cases to you. See How to decline a case.

Client decision codes

These codes reflect decisions made by the client that prevent collection from continuing.

Code	When to use
Withdrawn by Client	Client requested to stop collection
Disputed – Legal Action Declined by Client	Debtor disputes the debt and client declines to pursue legal action
Settlement Rejected by Client	You negotiated a settlement but the client rejected the terms
Unresponsive Client	Client stopped responding to your communication

Process completion codes

Code	When to use
Pre-Legal Exhausted – No Payment	All pre-legal collection efforts exhausted without payment (after the collection period ends)
Uneconomical to Pursue	Recovery cost exceeds the claim value - further collection would cost more than the debt is worth
Other	Any reason not covered by specific codes (always provide a detailed comment)

Partner type differences

Your experience with case statuses and actions depends on whether you are an Exclusive or Legal Network partner. See Understanding partner types for a full comparison.

Aspect	Exclusive Partner	Legal Network Partner
Case assignment	Automatic - cases matching your coverage are assigned directly	Normally quote-based - you receive lead notifications and submit competitive bids. See Initial status below for the routing-override exception, where cases are assigned directly
Initial status	Pending Verification	Normally none - you get a Provide quote task instead of the case appearing in Cases Received. Under a Debitura-configured geographic routing override the case is assigned to you directly and starts in Pending Verification like any other.
Pricing	Standard SDCA rates on an assigned case; custom pricing is an option where the case falls outside standard terms	Custom pricing on network leads - you set your own rates in the quote. A directly assigned case is priced on its own terms
Declining a case	Case normally goes to the network as a lead; closes as Case never started where quote sharing is off or the client is managed by another collection partner	Normally just do not submit a quote - no penalty. A case assigned to you under a routing override is declined the same way an Exclusive partner declines one

Where to view case status

View all your assigned cases and their current status in your Cases Received list. Click any case to see the full timeline, chat with the client, register payments, and take actions.

Use the debtor type filter (Company / Private) on the Cases Received page to narrow your list to business debtors or individual debtors.

Cases in Debitura - Overview of what cases are and how they move through the system
Case close codes - Complete reference for all close codes
Standard Debt Collection Agreement (SDCA) - Key terms for standard pricing
How to merge cases - Step-by-step guide to merging two or more of your open cases for the same client

Collection Partners: Case status definitions and allowed actions