What you will accomplish
By the end of this guide, you will have:
Uploaded your first collection case
Signed the Standard Debt Collection Agreement (SDCA)
Added your bank account details for receiving recovered funds
Prerequisites
Before you begin, ensure you have:
A Debitura client account (if you do not have one, create a free account)
Your company's bank account details (IBAN, SWIFT, or local format)
Information about the debt you want to collect: debtor details, invoice amount, and due date
Steps
You can see our "getting started" widget on your dashboard
Step 1: Upload your first case
Start by creating your first collection case. During submission, you will see the success fee before confirming.
Go to Create Case.
Choose Manual.
Enter the required debtor and invoice details and upload supporting documents (if available).
Review the success fee shown before submission, then click Submit.
Debitura uses a "no cure, no pay" model - you only pay a success fee if your debt is collected. For details on how pricing works, see Success fees: how pricing is calculated.
For detailed field guidance, see How to create and submit a case.
Step 2: Sign the Standard Debt Collection Agreement and Power of Attorney
After submitting your case, you will be prompted to sign the SDCA (if you have not already) and the Power of Attorney (PoA) for the assigned collection partner.
Standard Debt Collection Agreement (SDCA)
This agreement defines the "no cure, no pay" pricing model and your relationship with collection partners. You only need to sign this once.
Go to Contracts.
Draw your signature and enter the verification code sent to your email.
Click Sign.
For more details on the key terms, see Standard Debt Collection Agreement (SDCA): key terms.
Power of Attorney (PoA)
When your case is matched with a collection partner, you will sign a PoA authorizing that partner to act on your behalf. This is required before the partner can begin collection activities.
For details on the signing process, see How to sign agreements.
If anything in this guide conflicts with the Standard Debt Collection Agreement (SDCA), the SDCA is the legally binding source of truth.
Step 3: Add your bank account
Your bank account is where recovered funds will be sent. Without this, collection partners cannot process payouts.
Go to Bank Accounts in Settings.
Click Add bank account.
Enter your account holder name and bank details (IBAN, SWIFT code, or local format).
Save the account.
Accounts do not become your default automatically. When adding an account, choose an assignment rule (such as “Use as default account”) to control which cases it applies to. For multi-currency setups or advanced rules, see Bank accounts: how to add, update, and archive.
What happens next
After completing the steps above:
Internal verification - Debitura reviews your case to confirm the claim is valid and complete. One hour after creation, the auto-validation system runs. If it passes, your case moves forward automatically. If not, the Debitura team performs a manual review (typically 1-2 business days), which can result in: approval, a request for more information, or decline if the case cannot be validated
Partner assignment - Your case is assigned to a collection partner in the debtor's jurisdiction. The partner reviews and accepts the case.
Active collection - The partner begins pre-legal debt collection. The standard collection period is six months. For details on the collection process, see What to expect during pre-legal collection.
Updates and tasks - You will receive case updates. If the partner needs information, a task will appear on your Cases page.
Track your case status anytime from the Cases list. For status definitions, see Case status definitions.
Next steps
Now that your first case is submitted, explore these topics:
Monitor your cases
Track a case: Monitor progress, timeline, and partner activity
Contact your collection partner: Use the case chat for questions
Respond to tasks: Handle information requests promptly
Understand pricing and collection
Success fees: Understand how pricing works
What to expect during pre-legal collection: Learn about the collection process
Automate your workflow
If you submit cases regularly, consider setting up an integration to automate case creation and receive real-time updates:
Integration options: Compare native integrations, Zapier, CSV/ZIP, and API
Connect Zapier: Automate case creation from your tools
Webhooks: Get real-time case updates in your systems
API key: Generate credentials for custom integrations
Set up integrations from Settings > Integrations.
Custom integrations? Check our developer docs
Want to automate case creation with the API? See Developer Docs: Create a case (API). Want real-time updates via webhooks? See Developer Docs: Webhooks.