Start a Case

Transition a case from PendingVerification to Active via the Collection Partner API.

Overview

When Debitura assigns a case to your agency, it arrives in PendingVerification. Once you have verified the details and are ready to begin collection, call POST /cases/{id}/start to activate it.

For an explanation of case statuses and the actions available in each, see Case Status Definitions.

Implementation

Starting a case requires identifying the actor — the team member whose name appears on the welcome message sent to the creditor. Identify them with either userEmail or userId; at least one is required. This is distinct from the assigned user (assignedUserEmail / assignedUserId), which optionally sets who handles the case ongoing. Retrieve valid team members from GET /users before calling this endpoint.

POST https://collectionpartner-api.debitura.com/cases/{id}/start
XApiKey: YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "userEmail": "collector@agency.com",
  "welcomeMessage": "We have received your case and will begin collection proceedings.",
  "collectionPartnerReference": "GET-2025-0042",
  "reminderFees": 100.00
}

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
userEmail	string	Yes*	Email of the active team member sending the welcome message. Recommended over userId. Use GET /users to list valid users
userId	UUID	Yes*	Deprecated — legacy alternative to userEmail. Still accepted for backwards compatibility
welcomeMessage	string	Yes	Message sent to the creditor confirming activation (max 5000 chars)
collectionPartnerReference	string	No	Your internal reference for the case (max 128 chars)
assignedUserEmail	string	No	Email of the team member assigned to handle the case ongoing. If omitted, no one is assigned — the actor is not used as a fallback
assignedUserId	UUID	No	Deprecated — legacy alternative to assignedUserEmail
interestFees	decimal	No	Interest fees added to the debtor's obligation
reminderFees	decimal	No	Reminder fees added to the debtor's obligation
collectionFees	decimal	No	Collection fees added to the debtor's obligation

* Provide at least one of userEmail or userId (userEmail takes precedence if both are sent). If neither is supplied, the request returns 400 with error MissingUserIdentifier.

Business context: See Additional Fees for how fees are calculated and applied.

A successful call returns 200 OK:

{
  "caseId": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "caseReference": "Q8OAXF3W",
  "status": "Active",
  "activatedAt": "2026-02-27T10:15:00Z",
  "collectionPartnerReference": "GET-2025-0042"
}

Error Handling

Status	Cause
400	Case is not in PendingVerification; neither userEmail nor userId was provided (MissingUserIdentifier); the actor or assigned user is not a valid active team member; welcomeMessage is too long; or the case requires custom terms
404	Case does not exist or is not assigned to your agency
500	Internal server error

What's Next

Once a case is active, update case progress to log activities and communicate with the creditor. When a payment is received, record it via the API.