AL ALDENBURGMerchant Claim Recovery Check your file
Withheld settlement & reserve recovery · EEA & UK

Your processor is holding funds that are yours.

If a regulated payment processor, EMI, acquiring bank or payment institution is sitting on your settlement balance, your rolling reserve, or deductions it can't substantiate — that's an accrued claim. It can be recovered. Check whether yours fits in five minutes.

Check your file → What counts as a claim
Counterparty home state DE · NL · IE · LT · MT · CY · GB · ES · LU · + EEA
€0
paid up front by the merchant
No-win, no-fee basis
€180k+
typical claim quantum that fits
Institutional scale
3–12 mo
indicative time to recovery
Settlement preferred
Common file triggers

If one of these happened to you, read on.

Merchants rarely arrive thinking "I have a legal claim." They arrive after a concrete payment event. These are the patterns that usually turn out to be recoverable.

01

Settlement withheld after termination

Your processor closed the account and kept the final balance — citing "risk" or chargeback exposure that never materialised, with no itemised set-off.

02

Reserve held past its release date

A rolling reserve accrued under your agreement, but the contractual release dates came and went and the money never came back.

03

Deductions you can't get explained

Fines, "internal adjustments" or chargeback allocations hit your settlement with no calculation, no scheme notice, and no answer to your written requests.

04

Scheme recoveries that never passed through

Visa or Mastercard issued credits or reversals owed to you — and the processor collected them but never passed them on.

How recovery works

You assign the claim. They fund and pursue it. You keep the larger share.

Step 01

Assignment

The recovery partner takes legal title to your accrued claim and becomes the claimant of record — pursuing it in its own name. You contribute the documents and cooperation, no funds.

Step 02

Demand & supervision

A forensic reconciliation isolates the disputed sum, a formal demand is served, and where the counterparty won't engage, its home regulator is brought into the frame.

Step 03

Settlement

Most files settle on mutual release. Recovered funds are split on agreed terms — costs only come out of your share once recoveries reach twice the costs advanced.

Who does what

Aldenburg introduces. Our recovery partner carries the file.

Aldenburg's role is to assess whether your situation is a genuine, recoverable claim and to introduce qualifying files. All claims are handled in cooperation with our specialist recovery partner. Once your file is pre-approved, the recovery agreement and the work itself sit with that partner — they become your contractual counterparty — unless something else is expressly agreed. It's a clean division: we open the door, they do the recovery.

Aldenburg — your first point of contact
Reviews your file against the fit criteria, answers your questions, and introduces qualifying claims. No cost to you.
Recovery partner — the contractual party
Once your file is pre-approved, takes assignment of the claim, funds the costs, and pursues recovery under its own agreement. This is who you contract with.
The commercial bargain

No cost to you during the recovery.

€0
Up-front cost

All legal costs are funded by the recovery partner in the first instance. If nothing is recovered, you owe nothing.

50 / 50
Default recovery split

On the net recovered amount — calibrated by file complexity on a scale from 75/25 in your favour to 75/25 in theirs.

2×
Cost-recovery threshold

Costs are deducted from your share only after cumulative recoveries reach twice the costs advanced. Early recoveries are protected.

01

The deal-breakers, first

A few facts decide instantly whether a claim can be pursued at all. Better to know now.

02

Who's holding the money, and who are you

Names only — no account numbers, no contracts. Just enough to identify the file.

03

The claim itself

What kind of money is being held, and roughly how much.

04

What's on paper

Don't send anything yet — just tell us what exists. The strength of a file is mostly the strength of its record.

05

Where to reach you

So we can come back to you, and pass the file on if it fits.

Common questions

What merchants ask first.

Nothing up front. All legal costs are funded by the recovery partner in the first instance, on a no-win, no-fee basis — if nothing is recovered, you owe nothing. Costs only come out of your share once cumulative recoveries reach twice the costs advanced, so early recoveries are protected.
Withheld settlement balances after an account is closed, rolling reserves held past their contractual release dates, scheme recoveries from Visa or Mastercard that were never passed through, programme fines imposed with no underlying notice, chargeback assessments with no calculation, and unexplained "internal adjustments" or deductions.
Regulated, economically reachable counterparties — licensed payment service providers, electronic money institutions, payment institutions, acquiring banks and banks across the EEA and the United Kingdom. If the party holding your money is unlicensed, this particular route generally won't apply.
Indicatively three to twelve months. Most files resolve through a negotiated settlement on mutual release rather than drawn-out litigation, though the timeline depends on the counterparty and the strength of your documentary record.
The route is built for institutional-scale claims — typically from around €180,000 upward. Smaller sums can still be considered where the facts and the paper trail are unusually strong, but they're the exception.
No. The fit check only asks what documents exist — you don't upload contracts, statements, account credentials or ownership details here. Anything sensitive is handled later, directly by the recovery partner, under its own engagement and diligence.
Aldenburg pre-qualifies and introduces your file. All claims are handled in cooperation with our recovery partner — and once your file is pre-approved, the recovery agreement and the work are carried out by that partner, who becomes your contractual counterparty, unless something else is expressly agreed. Aldenburg is the introducer; it is not the counterparty to the recovery itself.
No. Aldenburg (a trade name of USW OÜ) is an independent referral partner — not a law firm or a regulated payment institution. Nothing here is legal advice or a guarantee of recovery. The actual recovery engagement is formed solely through the recovery partner's own Claim Assignment and Recovery Agreement.