Getting your money back from bailiffs (Bailiffs and Chargeback)

A chargeback is a transaction reversal by your bank which returns the money to your account. It can be applied to card payments and online money transfers where the fraudster sends you a payment link

It is called authorised push payment (APP) fraud.^[2]

If a bailiff demands cash when paying to release a vehicle at a pound, it is because their card payments terminal is suspended for abuse.

When the amount outstanding^[3] is paid, the enforcement power ceases to be exercisable.^[4]

There is no legislation reviving the enforcement power after the amount outstanding has been paid.

If a bailiff puts undue pressure on you to make a money transfer you wouldn't otherwise make, ask your bank for a chargeback or an authorised push payment (APP) fraud claim.

Report the fraud online to the police and get an incident reference number. On the form, select Bank account / plastic cards then select a trusted person was involved.

When you have the police reference number, approach your bank and ask for the money refunded to your account.

Some bank staff don't know about chargeback or APP fraud, ask for a supervisor, they miraculously become an authority in chargeback and APP fraud.

Don't use the word bailiffs.

If you report the transaction to your bank as a fraud, the bank will freeze their account, but it could take weeks to get your money.

If you delay your chargeback, not exceeding 90 days, until after the bailiff pays the money to the creditor, the bailiff company has paid your debt.

If a bailiff threatens,^[5][6] harasses^[7] you, or sends a threatening text message after making a chargeback, apply for an injunction.^[8]

In 2022, the High Court said enforcement by taking an electronic money transfer is "taking control of goods". ^[9]

The cardholder, if not the debtor, must make a third-party claim to that money.^[10][11][12]

This enabled bailiff companies to apply to their bank to apply a "trusted" status to their card payments processing accounts and lodge a security deposit with the bank. This allows bailiff companies to draw money from any bank account just by having possession of the card without the cardholder's permission or knowledge.

You must get a crime or incident reference number from the police saying your card was removed from your possession, and quote the police reference to your bank. You must never sign any document or receipt for any bailiff.

This overrides the "trusted" status of the payment processing account and the money returned to the cardholder (or debited out of their escrow fund). The payment processor will levy a transaction dispute fee to the bailiff's account.

From 2021, card payment processors levy bailiff companies a transaction dispute fee, regardless of the outcome of the dispute. The fee, between £20 and £80 depends on the previous conduct of the payment processing account holder.

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^{[1] See: Government approach to authorised push payment scam reimbursement
[2] See: What to do if you’re the victim of a bank transfer scam
[3] Paragraph 50(3) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[4] Paragraph 6(3)(a) of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
[5] Section 1(1) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997
[6] Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988
[7] Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003
[8] Section 3A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997
[9] Alenezy v Shergroup Ltd | [2022] EWHC 777 (QB)
[10] Civil Procedure Rule 85.4
[11] Paragraph 60 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
[12] See: Making a third-party claim to controlled goods}