# Collection as a Service

Collection as a Service allows merchants to upload a portfolio of obligations to the Monato platform and have the platform manage the collection lifecycle. The platform creates and submits charges according to the defined collection strategy — the merchant provides the obligations, and Monato handles the rest.

## Concepts

### Portfolio

A Portfolio is the full set of obligations a merchant provides to the platform for collection. Each upload or update replaces the active state of the portfolio for the upcoming collection cycle.

### Portfolio Debt Record

A Portfolio Debt Record is a single obligation within the portfolio — one item to be collected. A debt record contains the amount, the associated customer and instrument, and the merchant-assigned debt identifier. A single debt record may generate more than one charge over its lifecycle, depending on the collection strategy applied.

### Debt Id

The Debt Id is a merchant-provided identifier used to link charges back to the original obligation. It is set by the merchant when uploading the portfolio and appears across charge results, webhook events, and reports — allowing merchants to reconcile collected charges against their own records.

## Uploading a Portfolio

Portfolios are uploaded via the Monato Portal. Each upload is a CSV file that conforms to the layout specification.

**Download the Obligations Upload Layout**

The file defines one row per debt record, including the debt identifier, customer details, instrument details, amount, and any other parameter required by the collection strategy.

## Daily Activation Requirement

Debt records must be activated daily to be included in that day's collection cycle. The platform activates debt records when it receives an upload for the day.

**If no portfolio upload is made for a given day, no debt records will be activated for collection on that day's cycle.**

This means merchants must upload or re-upload the portfolio each business day they want collections to run. An upload that includes a debt record activates it for that day; omitting a record from the upload means it will not be collected that day, regardless of its status in previous uploads.

## Charge Creation and Collection Strategy

Once debt records are activated, the platform creates charges according to the collection strategy configured for the merchant. The strategy determines:

- How many charges are created per debt record
- The timing and sequencing of charge attempts
- How retries are handled for declined charges


Because one debt record can have multiple associated charges, the `debt_id` is the stable identifier for tracking the full collection outcome of an obligation across all its charge attempts.

## Tracking Results

All charge results — whether delivered via webhook, API, or the Portal — include the `debt_id` so merchants can link each charge back to the corresponding obligation in their own system.

### Webhook Events

The [`charge_result`](/products/directdebit/content/reference/webhook-events#charge_result) event includes a `debt_id` field when the charge is associated with a Collection as a Service debt record. The `debt_id` is also included in the `charge_reference` field.


```json
{
  "event": "charge_result",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-29T12:01:30.000000Z",
  "data": {
    "charge_id": "683b4a12-ebf9-40c2-9226-f97f4b7782ab",
    "charge_result": "confirmed",
    "charge_reference": "DEBT-00482",
    "debt_id": "DEBT-00482",
    "declined_reason": null,
    "risk_status": "ok",
    "risk_reason": null,
    "ownership_verification_result": null,
    "ownership_verification_result_at": null,
    "ownership_information": null
  }
}
```

### Charge Reports

Charge reports downloaded from the Portal include a `debt_id` column, making it straightforward to reconcile collection outcomes against the original portfolio file.