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Attribution

How referral partner revenue is calculated based on client attribution.

Overview​

Attribution determines which cases generate revenue for your platform. The key distinction is whether a client was brought to Debitura by your platform (attributed) or already existed (non-attributed).

Attributed Clients​

A client is attributed when they did not exist in Debitura before your integration introduced them.

Identified by: isAttributedClient: true

Revenue scope: You earn on all cases from this client, regardless of how they're created:

  • Cases submitted via your API integration
  • Cases created directly in the Debitura portal
  • Cases imported via CSV
  • Cases from any other channel

When it happens:

  • POST /clients returns 201 Created (new client)
  • POST /clients returns 202 Accepted (new client, onboarding required)
  • POST /clients re-links a client you withdrew earlier (see Re-submitting a withdrawn client)

Non-Attributed Clients​

A client is non-attributed when they already existed in Debitura before being linked to your platform.

Identified by: isAttributedClient: false

Revenue scope: You earn only on cases whose creation source is recorded as ReferralPartnerBearerToken. This includes normal Customer API submissions using a bearer token and embedded cases replayed after a link approval, which are stamped with the same source even though the original POST /clients used an API key.

When it happens:

  • POST /clients returns 409 with ClientExistsNeedsLinking
  • Client approves a genuine first-time link to an existing account, or the user creates a new account from the choice page

Debitura can also link a client to your account manually; attribution is then set as agreed with you.

If the same partner previously had an archived attributed link to that creditor, approval preserves isAttributedClient: true rather than converting the relationship to non-attributed.

Case referral rates​

Debitura records the applicable plan and base referral rate on each case when it is created. Later payments on that case keep its plan and base rate. A plan change or tier change affects new cases, including new cases for an already-linked client; it does not reprice existing cases.

  • Contract plan: preserves your agreed terms. The case rate comes from the client's agreed link snapshot, not your current account-wide percentage. Older cases without a stored rate fall back to that snapshot.
  • Link plan: starts at 30%. A new case gets 50% when you already have at least 100 eligible collection cases in the rolling 365-day window, counted from terms acceptance. Case 101 is the first at 50% in a simple sequence. If the count falls below 100, new cases return to 30%; existing cases retain their rates. Only non-deleted production collection cases across your linked clients count, not source invoices or test/demo cases. A new case created at or after the client link's third anniversary gets 0%; cases created earlier keep their rates for later payments.
  • Integration plan: records a 50% base rate on the case, without the Link plan's three-year limit. The separate payout allowance below can increase earnings; the case does not carry a permanent 100% rate.

Existing contract exceptions remain. An applicable jurisdiction pricing-zone assignment override takes precedence over the base case rate. Attribution still determines whether a case earns a referral fee at all.

Integration payout allowance​

At a payout's first revenue recognition, the standard Integration allowance pays 100% on the portion of Debitura revenue covered by the partner's remaining allowance, then 50% on the rest. The allowance covers the partner's first 5,000.00 USD of cumulative referral earnings, including recognized earnings across plans. A payout crossing the allowance is split; it is not paid entirely at one percentage.

For example, with 4,800.00 USD already earned and 700.00 USD of Debitura revenue, 200.00 USD earns 100% and the remaining 500.00 USD earns 50%: the referral fee is 450.00 USD. Agreements can set a different allowance or waive the 100% step (50% from the first dollar). Assignment-override payouts use their agreed rate without this allowance.

Before recognition, Integration earnings use the 50% base rate as an estimate. Read the returned earnings and estimate flags from Revenue reporting; do not calculate the final fee from the link snapshot alone.

Revenue Calculation​

Referral earnings are a share of Debitura's revenue, separate from the client's collection price. Without an Integration allowance allocation, the calculation is:

Partner Revenue = Debitura Revenue × Effective Referral Fee Percentage

Debitura Revenue is calculated according to the case's commission model and caps, so it is not always the product of collection amount, partner success fee, and a single Debitura-fee percentage. The effective referral percentage comes from the case's base rate or an applicable assignment override. Integration allowance allocations are applied separately as described above.

Illustrative example: If a $10,000 collection produces $450 of Debitura revenue and the effective referral split is 50%:

  • Debitura revenue before referral share: $450
  • You receive: $225 (50% of $450)

Business context: See Referral program overview for detailed revenue model documentation.

Checking Attribution Status​

GET https://referral-api.debitura.com/clients/{externalTenantId}
XApiKey: YOUR_API_KEY

Response includes isAttributedClient. You can also see attribution status in the client.linked webhook event.

If cases are not generating expected fees, see Missing lead attribution for common causes and self-serve checks.