# Overview

Learn how to collect payments from your customers using Tendar's Recollection Service.

The Recollection Service is the backbone of payment collection on Tendar. It provides a suite of APIs that let you tokenize cards, set up direct debits, create virtual accounts, automate loan repayments, and run scheduled collections — all through a single integration.

Whether you're building a lending platform that needs to recover disbursed loans, or a SaaS product that collects recurring payments from customers, the Recollection Service gives you the tools to move money inward reliably.

### Getting started

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<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Recollection</strong></td><td>Record repayments against a loan — either manually (cash, transfer) or automatically through a saved card or direct debit.</td><td><a href="recollection">recollection</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Accept Payment</strong></td><td>Initialize one-time payments and redirect your customers to a secure checkout page powered by Paystack.</td><td><a href="broken-reference">Broken link</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Card Tokenization</strong></td><td>Securely save a customer's card details for future charges without asking them to re-enter their information.</td><td><a href="card">card</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Debit</strong></td><td>Authorize recurring debits on a customer's bank account and charge them on a schedule you define.</td><td><a href="direct-debit">direct-debit</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Collect</strong></td><td>Set up mandate-based collections with automatic installment generation, checkout flows, and scheduled debit runs.</td><td><a href="collect">collect</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Virtual Accounts</strong></td><td>Assign dedicated bank accounts to your customers so they can pay via bank transfer at any time.</td><td><a href="virtual-accounts">virtual-accounts</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

### How it works

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Integrating the Recollection Service typically follows three steps:

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

#### Authenticate

Every request requires a valid API key passed via the `Authorization` header. Your key is scoped to your company and can be generated from the Tendar dashboard. All endpoints also check that your company has an active subscription before processing.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### Set up a payment method

Before you can collect money, your customer needs a payment method on file. The service supports three options:

| Method              | Description                                                                                                       |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Card**            | Tokenize a card through a hosted checkout. Once verified, the card token is stored and can be charged repeatedly. |
| **Direct Debit**    | Create a debit authorization on the customer's bank account. Supports Paystack-backed banks in Nigeria.           |
| **Virtual Account** | Provision a dedicated account number for the customer. Inbound transfers are automatically matched and recorded.  |
| {% endstep %}       |                                                                                                                   |

{% step %}

#### Collect payments

With a payment method saved, you can collect payments in several ways:

* **One-time payment** — Initialize a checkout session and redirect the customer to pay a specific amount.
* **Recollection** — Record a loan repayment (with or without a payment provider) against an existing loan.
* **Collect (mandates)** — Create a collection plan with installments. Tendar automatically debits the customer's mandates on the scheduled dates, tracks amounts collected vs. remaining, and updates the plan status in real time.
  {% endstep %}
  {% endstepper %}

### Base URL

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All Recollection Service endpoints are served under:

Production:

```bash
https://api.tendar.co/recollection
```

Sandbox

```bash
https://tendar-recollection-dev-v2.fly.dev
```

### Key concepts

***

| Concept             | What it means                                                                                                                       |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Payment**         | A single inbound transaction — initialized through checkout or triggered by a virtual account transfer.                             |
| **Card**            | A tokenized card linked to a customer. Can be set as default and charged on demand.                                                 |
| **Direct Debit**    | A bank-account-level authorization that allows you to pull funds from a customer's account.                                         |
| **Virtual Account** | A dedicated bank account number assigned to a customer for receiving transfers.                                                     |
| **Collect**         | A collection plan tied to a customer's bank accounts. It defines the total amount, duration, frequency, and mandate requirements.   |
| **Mandate**         | A bank account linked to a Collect plan. Mandates are activated through a consent flow and debited on schedule.                     |
| **Installment**     | A single scheduled payment within a Collect plan. Auto-generated or manually defined.                                               |
| **Recollection**    | A repayment record against a loan — can be provider-backed or manual (cash, offline).                                               |
| **Webhook**         | An event notification sent to your `callback_url` when a payment status changes, a mandate is activated, or a collection completes. |

***

## Next steps

Ready to start collecting? Dive into the feature-specific guides:

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Recollection</strong></td><td>Record and track loan repayments.</td><td><a href="recollection">recollection</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Accept Payments</strong></td><td>Initialize and verify one-time payments.</td><td><a href="payments">payments</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Card Tokenization</strong></td><td>Save and manage customer cards.</td><td><a href="card">card</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Debit</strong></td><td>Set up and charge bank account authorizations.</td><td><a href="direct-debit">direct-debit</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Collect</strong></td><td>Automate installment-based collections with mandates.</td><td><a href="collect">collect</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Virtual Accounts</strong></td><td>Create dedicated accounts for inbound transfers.</td><td><a href="virtual-accounts">virtual-accounts</a></td></tr></tbody></table>