What Is Visa VAMP? Ratio, Regional Thresholds, Exclusions

Visa’s Acquirer Monitoring Program, or VAMP, is Visa’s unified fraud-and-dispute program for flagging acquirers and merchants with too much fraud and too many disputes. It divides counted fraud reports and disputes by settled card-not-present transactions. On April 1, 2025, VAMP consolidated five existing fraud and dispute programs into one, according to Visa’s own program overview.

It also cuts 38 distinct remediation processes down to one. Acquirers that Visa rates "Above Standard" or "Excessive", and merchants rated "Excessive", face fees, reserves, and termination risk under their acquirer agreements.

VAMP Visa rules and Mastercard rules are separate programs. The figures below are not Mastercard thresholds.

Mastercard runs a similar program for merchants with excessive chargebacks, called the Excessive Chargeback Merchant program. From April 1, 2027, the Mastercard GMAP (Global Merchant Audit Program) replaces ACMP. Like VAMP, it scores fraud and non-fraud disputes together, with ECM, HECM and EFM carried forward, per acquirer and provider summaries.

Chargebacks and fraud reports now affect whether a merchant can keep taking Visa payments. Weak ecommerce fraud prevention raises the number of events that VAMP counts, and recent chargeback statistics and trends show why card networks keep tightening monitoring.

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What Is the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP)?

VAMP is Visa’s unified system for tracking fraud and disputes. Visa judges merchant risk through the acquirer.

Visa formerly ran the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP) for chargebacks and the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) for fraud. On April 1, 2025, both were merged into one framework under VAMP.

The "A" in VAMP matters. Acquirers are front and center, a focus neither earlier program had. Even a merchant with few chargebacks can be affected if its acquirer’s portfolio is under pressure.

The same applies to platforms and PayFacs. Running a white-label chargeback service under your own brand does not take sub-merchant disputes out of the acquirer’s VAMP count.

If you run multiple stores or processors, you need one view of all dispute and fraud activity. That view belongs in a broader chargeback management strategy.

How VAMP Differs from VDMP and VFMP

The old programs measured chargebacks and fraud apart, each with its own thresholds and remediation steps. VAMP counts both in one ratio and adds a separate enumeration measure for card testing.

How Does the VAMP Ratio Work?

The VAMP ratio is Visa’s measure of fraud reports and disputes against settled transactions. Enumeration gets its own ratio. Merchants can calculate their chargeback ratio for internal tracking, but an internal dashboard can use another numerator or denominator than Visa’s VAMP measure.

The metric folds in fraud reporting alongside disputes. A single fraudulent transaction can generate both a TC40 (fraud report) and a TC15 (dispute). Stripe’s monitoring program docs state that any transaction appearing in both reports counts twice in the VAMP count. This double counting explains higher-than-expected ratios.

How One Fraud Order Becomes Two Counted Events

Two separate decisions: capture controls whether the authorization becomes a completed payment; fulfillment controls whether goods or services are delivered. An order can be unshipped but already captured. Check both statuses before treating a cancellation as a monitoring-prevention action.

Where you stop a bad order decides how many events it adds. According to Stripe, issuers must report suspected fraud on a captured payment, even if you refund it. They do not report an authorization you reverse before capture. Early fraud warnings count for VAMP whatever the outcome, while inquiries that never escalate do not.

Separate authorization and capture, with a review step for risky orders, turns fraud you catch late into fraud that never reaches the ratio.

Exclusions: Visa excludes disputes resolved through qualifying pre-dispute solutions. It also excludes TC40 fraud that qualifies for Compelling Evidence 3.0, subject to data extract timing.

Checkout.com’s docs add that the dispute and its resolution must fall in the same month. Refunds and dispute outcomes do not take an event out of the count. A fraud report alone also does not prove customer abuse. Explore friendly fraud prevention for controls before fulfillment.

Timing: Visa assigns a fraud report or dispute to the month it receives it, not the month of the sale. It then measures it against settled transactions in that calendar month, according to Stripe’s monitoring program docs. Results are reported the following month, so an October spike appears in November’s report.

Descriptors and accounts: Visa identifies an account by the static part of the billing descriptor plus the acquiring bank, according to Stripe’s docs. In Stripe’s documented setup, stores sharing a static descriptor prefix can be measured together. Confirm the grouping with your acquirer, and coordinate any legitimate descriptor change so reporting remains reconcilable; changing a descriptor does not erase prior activity.

Why Your Processor’s Dispute Rate Differs From Your VAMP Ratio

Merchants often see a lower dispute rate in their processor dashboard than Visa reports. Stripe’s docs explain its own reporting differences. Use these as checks, then confirm how your processor groups and dates records:

Mastercard works another way: it divides a month’s chargebacks by the previous month’s transactions, while Visa uses the same calendar month.

Read the Applicable Merchant Threshold With Its Count Conditions

These are the Visa acquirer monitoring program 2026 thresholds for merchants, also called Visa VAMP thresholds, as shown in Visa’s VAMP fact sheet. The fact sheet presents the Excessive Merchant criteria for when the acquirer is not Above Standard or Excessive.

It also notes coming programs for Brazil, Chile, and India. Check your acquirer’s notice rather than guess status from one percentage.

VAMP 2026 Merchant Thresholds by Region

The 1,500 minimum counts fraud and dispute events, not 1,500 settled sales or transactions.

The enumeration row measures automated card testing, including BIN attacks, by authorization attempts rather than disputes. Stripe’s docs state that Visa does not assess fines for enumeration monitoring.

Acquirer Criteria Are Separate From Merchant Criteria

These acquirer figures are not the complete set of acquirer criteria, and Above Standard is not a merchant tier. Check the Visa fact sheet for the full conditions. The merchant table only applies when the acquirer is not Above Standard or Excessive. An acquirer under pressure may tighten terms, raise reserves, or offboard merchants that add to its numbers.

The merchant table above is the case where the acquirer is not flagged. Braintree’s docs tie a much lower merchant trigger to a flagged acquirer. That trigger is a VAMP ratio of at least 0.5% with at least 5 counted events, and the merchant can be notified and fined.

Stripe lists the same 0.5% and 5-event figures as a Non-Compliant threshold alongside the Excessive one. A merchant at 0.6% is far from the 1.5% line and can still be in the program.

Compare your own numbers with the chargeback threshold limits that apply to your processor and region. For Visa and Mastercard side by side, see chargeback thresholds across the card networks.

What Happens If You Exceed VAMP Thresholds?

Crossing a threshold can lead to Visa fees, scrutiny, and possible loss of Visa processing. Enforcement for the Excessive level began on October 1, 2025, and Visa announced a stricter Above Standard level for acquirers from January 1, 2026. The April 1, 2026 merchant threshold change described above is now in effect.

Visa’s fact sheet does not publish fee amounts, but processor docs do. The figures below come from Braintree and NMI, and Stripe confirms that fees apply at the Excessive level without stating an amount. Your acquirer decides how much is passed through, and any amount adds to your overall chargeback fees and costs.

VAMP Fee Amounts Reported by Processors

Example math, not a real merchant: 100,000 settled transactions with 1,600 counted events is a 1.6% ratio. It meets the standard 1.5% and 1,500-event conditions in AP, Canada, EU, U.S. and LAC when the acquirer is not Above Standard or Excessive. Other country programs may differ.

At $8 per event, that is 1,600 multiplied by $8, or $12,800 for the month, before any reserve change. The same merchant at 1,400 events is at 1.4% and below both conditions.

What can follow:

• Enforcement fees: Above Standard and Excessive status can trigger Visa fees.
• Loss of processing: ongoing non-compliance risks penalties and account closure under your acquirer agreement.
• Acquirer pressure: acquirers may act quickly if you worsen their numbers. If processing ends, the alternatives often include high risk payment processors, which come with their own terms.

VAMP Enforcement Timeline

For a question-by-question walkthrough of what these rule changes mean for smaller merchants and their processors, see our guide to Visa VAMP rules.

Do not wait for a warning letter. Chargeback Alerts connects Verifi, Ethoca, and the Chargeflow Network, so brewing disputes can be refunded before they post as chargebacks. When the resolution qualifies for exclusion, that keeps them out of your TC15 count.

How Do You Stay Below VAMP Thresholds and Out of Monitoring Programs?

Staying below your threshold depends on events never being counted, so prevention and pre-dispute resolution matter more than recovery. VAMP counts both TC40 fraud reports and TC15 disputes, so work on both as part of a layered chargeback mitigation approach: review risky payments before capture where supported, protect fulfillment separately, and deflect disputes before they post.

Monitor TC40 reports and TC15 events, and use Verifi and Ethoca tools. Answer Visa disputes through Visa Resolve Online when a case needs a response. Track VAMP metrics by processor.

Many merchants also prune risk at the source through a standing merchant fraud protection program. They look for spikes in products, regions, or shipping issues, and tighten billing descriptors, receipts, and refund policies.

A practical playbook:

1. Check capture status before acting: reviewing an order before shipment can protect inventory, but it does not undo a captured payment. Where supported, review risky authorizations before capture and cancel through the permitted route. A later refund does not automatically prevent or remove a TC40 report.
2. Resolve inquiries early: answer pre-dispute inquiries before they escalate to card disputes.
3. Deflect with alerts: refund brewing disputes through Verifi and Ethoca alerts before they post. Alert fees depend on the network and billing trigger. Check the chargeback alert break-even against your order values and the effect on your VAMP ratio.
4. Recover what posts: build compelling evidence from your chargeback evidence sources and submit through one owner. Your team then reviews outcomes instead of filing a parallel response. Recovery wins back revenue but does not remove the dispute from your VAMP count.
5. Keep monitoring: track ratio, count, and disputes by processor and descriptor, and compare them with the criteria that apply to you.

The goal is to stay well below the line that applies to you, not to sit just under it. Each payment service provider may set its own internal targets.

Fraud keeps changing. As shoppers delegate purchases to AI shopping agents, AI agent chargeback liability questions and agentic commerce chargebacks are becoming part of the same monitoring conversation.

Your Monthly VAMP Check

Visa counts events in the month it receives them, so the useful routine is monthly:

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Chargeflow’s VAMP Compliance Solution

VAMP counts events, so the Chargeflow products that matter most act before an event is counted. Recovery returns revenue after the fact but does not take a dispute out of your ratio.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is VAMP the same as a merchant’s ordinary chargeback rate?

No. VAMP uses defined Visa fraud and dispute events and transaction scope. A dispute-rate dashboard can use another numerator or denominator.

Does the 1.5% VAMP threshold apply to every merchant globally?

No. Geography, event-count conditions, amount conditions, and effective dates matter. Use Visa’s criteria for your region and your acquirer’s notice, including CEMEA’s own conditions.

What is the VAMP ratio threshold for merchants?

In Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, the US, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the Excessive merchant ratio is at least 1.5% (150 basis points) with at least 1,500 counted fraud and dispute events. CEMEA uses 2.2% with at least 150 events and USD 75,000.

The enumeration ratio applies at 20% or more with at least 300,000 enumerated authorization attempts. Aim well below the line that applies to you.

What does the VAMP rate mean?

The VAMP rate, or VAMP ratio, is a month’s counted Visa fraud reports (TC40) and disputes (TC15), divided by that month’s settled card-not-present transactions (TC05). At 1.5% with at least 1,500 counted events, a merchant meets the standard Excessive criteria in most regions.

Does VAMP count a fraud dispute twice?

Yes. When the same transaction appears in Visa’s TC40 fraud report and as a TC15 dispute, Stripe’s docs state it counts twice in the VAMP count. Voiding suspected fraud before capture, Compelling Evidence 3.0 and qualifying pre-dispute resolutions are the ways to keep one or both events out.

Is there a VAMP fee per dispute?

Processor docs report $8 per counted fraud or dispute event when a merchant is at the Excessive level. They report $4 per event for merchants flagged under an Above Standard acquirer. Visa’s fact sheet does not publish fee amounts, and your acquirer decides how much is passed through, so ask for your current notice.

Does winning a dispute lower my VAMP ratio?

No. Stripe’s docs state that monitoring programs ignore dispute outcomes and refunds. They measure how well you prevent disputes rather than whether you win them. Visa counts a dispute in the month it receives it.

Only qualifying pre-dispute resolutions and Compelling Evidence 3.0 fraud are excluded, subject to timing, so recovery protects revenue while prevention and alerts protect the ratio.

Do RDR resolutions count toward the VAMP ratio?

Visa excludes disputes resolved through pre-dispute solutions and TC40 fraud that qualifies for Compelling Evidence 3.0, subject to data extract timing.

Sources differ on Rapid Dispute Resolution in the fraud count. Checkout.com’s docs list RDR, CDRN, Verifi, and Ethoca resolutions as exclusions when the dispute and resolution fall in the same month. Other industry commentary reports that RDR-resolved TC40 fraud still counts. Confirm the treatment with your acquirer before relying on any tool to lower the ratio.

Who is the acquirer in VAMP?

The acquirer is the bank or payments company that holds your merchant account and settles your Visa transactions. Visa measures each acquirer’s whole portfolio and also flags individual merchants. That is why an acquirer may tighten terms even when your own ratio looks fine. If you process through a payment service provider, ask which acquirer sits behind it.

How do I check my VAMP status on Stripe, Shopify, or another processor?

Ask the processor or acquirer for the notice that applies to your account, including your region, the counted events, and whether the acquirer is flagged.

On Stripe, the Radar VAMP dashboard shows program standing, a daily ratio trend, and Visa’s own data by statement descriptor. Visa’s data arrives with a one-month delay.

Merchants on Shopify should ask the payments provider behind the store. Braintree documents TC40 reports by SFTP and open Visa chargebacks in its dispute reports. Do not infer status from the 1.5% figure alone.

Can low chargeback ratios still trigger VAMP penalties?

Yes, by two routes. If your acquirer is flagged, Braintree documents a lower merchant trigger of 0.5% with at least 5 counted events. Stripe lists the same figures as a Non-Compliant threshold.

Also, your dispute activity adds to the acquirer’s portfolio ratio. That can lead to higher reserves, stricter terms, or offboarding even when you are below every merchant threshold.

When did VAMP enforcement begin?

Enforcement for the Excessive level began on October 1, 2025. Visa announced a stricter Above Standard level for acquirers beginning January 1, 2026. The standard Excessive Merchant ratio fell to 1.5% on April 1, 2026 in AP, Canada, EU and the U.S. LAC already used a 1.5% criterion. Other country programs and acquirer ratings can also apply.

Is VAMP the only Visa monitoring program?

No. Visa also runs the Merchant Elevated Risk Program (MERP) in Asia Pacific, which Checkout.com dates to October 9, 2026. Visa evaluates merchants one by one on signals such as fraud and dispute volume and rate, decline rates, and activity spikes. Stripe notes that Visa does not publish the thresholds.

Consequences can include fines, an extended fraud dispute window, and termination, and the controls that keep a VAMP ratio low apply here too.

How do you reduce your VAMP ratio?

Reduce exposure by screening before capture where supported, resolving eligible cases before a formal dispute, and monitoring TC40 and TC15 activity by processor. Post-capture cancellation or refund alone does not remove a fraud report. Tightening billing descriptors and refund policies and using chargeback alerts can also reduce counted events.