What is a referral partner?
A referral partner is a business that brings clients to Debitura and earns a share of Debitura's revenue on their collection cases. Software platforms usually connect through the Starter Integration or the Full Integration.
Referral partners typically include:
Accounting software providers
Credit management platforms
Invoicing and billing systems
ERP and business management tools
Key distinction: Referral partners bring clients to Debitura. This is different from collection partners (who perform the collection work) or individual creditors (who submit their own cases).
For a complete overview of the program benefits and commercial terms, see Referral program overview.
Step 1: Contact the partnerships team
Email [email protected] to start the application process.
In your email, include:
Your company name and website
A brief description of your platform and target market
How you envision integrating debt collection into your product
Your expected client volume
The partnerships team will review your application and schedule a call to discuss the opportunity.
Step 2: Sign the partnership agreement
After initial discussions, you will receive:
Referral Partnership Agreement - Defines commercial terms including revenue share percentage
As a referral partner you will not sign the Standard Debt Collection Agreement but you should read these terms, as they apply to the cases your users upload.
Step 3: Receive your API credentials
Once the partnership agreement is signed, the partnerships team will provide:
Credential | Purpose |
API Key | Authenticates your requests to the Referral Partner API |
Partner ID | Your unique identifier in the Debitura system |
Test environment access | Sandbox credentials for integration development |
Dashboard login | Ask the partnerships team to invite your first administrator. Your API key and Partner ID do not sign you in to the dashboard |
Your developers can use the test environment to build and verify the integration before going live.
Developer Docs: For technical implementation details including API endpoints, authentication, and code examples, see the Referral Partners Developer Documentation.
Step 4: Build your integration
You can build your integration in one of two ways. Both use the same clients, cases and earnings rules:
Starter Integration - Your platform puts a collection button beside an unpaid invoice, and your server sends one collection request per invoice. Debitura handles sign-up, onboarding, connection approval, agreements, identity checks and invoice corrections, and returns one link that your button opens. See the Starter Integration quickstart. For a non-technical explanation of what you build and what your users see, read Starter Integration: how the collection button works.
Full Integration - Your platform builds onboarding, case submission and status tracking into its own screens. See Developer Docs: Referral Partners for both ways.
The Full Integration involves three main capabilities:
Client onboarding - Create client accounts for your users via the API. Debitura provides a co-branded onboarding flow where clients sign the required agreements.
Case submission - Submit debt collection cases on behalf of your clients using bearer tokens.
Status tracking - Monitor case progress and receive updates via webhooks or polling.
For a high-level overview of what you can build, see API and integration overview.
Debitura's onboarding pages are co-branded: they show your logo and primary color, and Debitura is visible as the platform provider. See Co-branded onboarding - customization and branding options for details.
To see where the button can sit in a product before you build, click through the demo journey: a made-up accounting app, from an overdue invoice to the client onboarding.
Step 5: Go live
Before launching to production:
Complete integration testing in the sandbox environment
Verify client onboarding flow works correctly
Test case submission and status updates
Confirm webhook endpoints receive events (if applicable)
With the Starter Integration, confirm that your button opens the link Debitura returns and, if you subscribe to it, that you receive the collection_request.updated webhook
Request production API credentials from the partnerships team
For a detailed checklist, see How to go live (non-technical checklist).
Your first referral:
Here is what a successful first referral looks like with the Starter Integration:
Your user requests debt collection - A customer in your platform clicks the collection button beside an unpaid invoice.
You send one collection request per invoice - Your server sends the invoice to Debitura in its own collection request.
The client completes any open step - Your platform opens the link Debitura returns, and the client completes whatever is still needed on Debitura pages that show your logo and colour: sign-up, approving the connection, signing agreements, identity details or fixing the invoice.
The invoice becomes a case - When the required steps are done, the invoice becomes a collection case. You follow it by reading the collection request or through its update webhook.
Collection begins and you earn revenue - Debitura assigns the case to a collection partner. When the debt is recovered and fees are collected, you receive your share according to your partnership agreement.
With the Full Integration, a first referral looks like this:
Your user requests debt collection - A customer in your platform wants to collect an unpaid invoice.
You create a client via API - Your system calls the Referral Partner API to create or link the client account.
Client completes onboarding - The client is redirected to a co-branded page to sign the SDCA and Power of Attorney.
You submit the case - Using a bearer token, your system submits the debt collection case to Debitura.
Collection begins - Debitura assigns the case to a collection partner who begins the recovery process.
You earn revenue - When the debt is recovered and fees are collected, you receive your share according to your partnership agreement.
What happens next
After your first successful referral:
Track your revenue - Use the reporting API to monitor fees earned and payment status. See Revenue sharing and financial reconciliation.
Monitor case status - Set up webhooks to receive real-time updates. See Webhook events glossary.
Scale your integration - Expand features based on customer feedback and usage patterns.
Optimize conversion - Work with the partnerships team to improve client activation rates.
Developer Docs: For API reference documentation including endpoint schemas, request/response formats, and error handling, see the Referral Partner API Reference.