Concepts
Creditors
A creditor is the company or private individual to whom money is owed — that is you. All data you create and read through this API belongs to your creditor. Your creditorId is shown on the API page in the creditor portal.
Customers
Represents your end-customer relationship. A customer has a reference id, which can be the customer number, client id, membership number, patient id, or another identifier from your own system. Each customer can have one or more users attached — typically the debtor, and optionally alternative contacts.
Cases
A case represents a specific debt or matter associated with a customer. Each customer can have multiple cases. A case is always linked to a customer and includes a list of case vouchers, which represent the amount owed. A case moves through the statuses PENDING, VERIFIED and ENDED. When a case is ended, an end reason describes why — for example PAID.
You do not create cases directly. You only create the customer and add case
vouchers to the customer. The platform automatically determines when to create
a new case or update an existing one.
Case vouchers
A case voucher is a financial entry linked to a specific case, representing an amount that is either owed or credited. Case vouchers are used to define the financial components of a case and can include various types of entries such as invoices, credit notes, reminder fees and deposits.
Each case voucher includes key information such as the amount, currency, source, date, and a reference id (e.g. an invoice number). Amounts are in the base currency unit: 1.00 should be sent as 100. A negative amount (e.g. -100) represents a debt, while a positive amount (e.g. +100) represents a credit note or deposit.
The type of a voucher is defined by its voucher type. See the Voucher types page for the list of ids.
Documents
A document is a file attached to a case or to your creditor — an invoice copy, a
contract, a photo that proves the claim. Attaching them means your debt
collection partner does not have to ask for them, and a document can optionally
be made visible to the debtor in the self-service portal.
Documents also carry legal meaning in the collection process: a signed
acknowledgement of debt or a court verdict is what gives a claim a foundation
and decides when it expires. Those types are set by your debt collection partner
as the case progresses; the documents you attach are of type OTHER.
Attributes and case groups
Attributes — properties in the API — are your own fields on a case or a case
voucher, such as a meter number or a contract id. Case groups segment your
portfolio into product lines, business units or brands, and decide how your debt
collection partner treats and reports on the cases in them. Both are set up in
the platform by your partner, who gives you the handles and ids to send.
Billings
A billing is a settlement between you and your debt collection partner: how the
money collected on your cases was split, and what you are charged for the work.
It is the record you post in your own books when the money comes back. See the
Settlements guide.
