Most merchants accepting Visa payments know that there are some key ratios to keep an eye on: fraud-to-sales and dispute-to-sales ratios. When these ratios exceed a certain threshold, your processing fees and penalties increase. Currently, these ratios are monitored separately; fraud falls under the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) and non-fraud disputes are tracked by the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP). These programs track merchant ratios for their respective criteria and penalize those that exceed the thresholds they set.

Effective April 1, 2025, Visa will consolidate its fraud and dispute monitoring programs into a single framework called the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP). This policy will apply globally, affecting three key changes:​

  1. Calculation of the Fraud/Dispute Ratio Thresholds
  2. Accountability for Compliance
  3. Criteria Included in the Ratios

1. Calculating VAMP Ratios

VAMP introduces a unified ratio to determine standard versus excessive thresholds for fraud and disputes:​

Total TC40 Notices + Total TC15 Notices
Total Settled Transactions

  • TC40 Notices: Reports of fraudulent transactions.​
  • TC15 Notices: Non-fraud dispute reports.​

TC40 fraud notices are combined with TC15 dispute notices and divided by total monthly transaction volume. For example, if a merchant has a monthly dispute ratio of 0.75% and a fraud ratio of 0.75%, both compliant under VDMP and VFMP respectively, the combined VAMP monthly ratio would be 1.5%, which exceeds the new thresholds.​

KEEP IN MIND, PART 1

Under VAMP, merchants & acquirers must also be vigilant against enumeration attacks (also known as “card testing”), where fraudsters attempt a series of low-dollar transactions to validate stolen payment credentials. Merchants should ensure that enumeration transactions remain below 20% of their overall volume to maintain compliance.​

2. Accountability for the VAMP Ratio

VAMP will now include acquiring banks in its liability scope; acquirers must maintain acceptable ratios over their entire merchant portfolio. The ratio is calculated by dividing the total TC40 and TC15 notices from the acquirer’s portfolio by its total transaction volume. Each acquirer must stay below the following thresholds, using basis points (100bps = 1%):​

VAMP Thresholds, updated

April 1, 2025 introduces Excessive thresholds for both acquirers and merchants. Come 2026, an “Above Standard” threshold is imposed on acquirers and ratios overall are tightened. Acquirers exceeding these thresholds will be notified through Visa’s OneERS platform, including details on:​

  • Reason for identification​
  • Expected response timeline​
  • Consequences for noncompliance​
  • Best practices (when applicable)​

KEEP IN MIND, PART 2

While VAMP charges acquirers with overseeing their merchants, Visa will continue to monitor certain merchants directly. If an acquirer enters the “Above Standard” level (above 0.3%), Visa will also monitor the acquirer’s merchants directly.​

Starting April 1, 2025, Visa will reset the ratios for all participants, meaning acquirers and merchants alike start with a ratio of zero. A six-month grace period will be in effect until September 30, 2025, after which enforcement will commence. Subsequently, acquirers are granted a grace period before enforcements are applied for identifications within a rolling 12-month period.​

3. Exclusions to the VAMP Ratio

There has been a lot of back and forth on this from Visa, but certain fraud and dispute resolutions will not count against the VAMP ratio. As it stands right now, any generated TC40/TC15 will count towards your ratio unless it can be invalidated by Visa’s Compelling Evidence 3.0 framework. Order Insight deflections technically count because no TC record is generated.

List of exempt and non-exempt VAMP products

KEEP IN MIND, PART 3

Rapid Dispute Resolutions and CDRN Alerts were announced as ratio-exempt, but Visa has since walked that back. HOWEVER, don’t forget, non-exempt resolutions still retain their benefits for merchants. Refunding alerts may no reduce VAMP ratios, but they do reduce the cost of chargebacks. Representments can’t undo your ratio, but they still recover your revenue. Also, Order Insight/Consumer Clarity deflections are technically VAMP-exempt; since no dispute arises from these, they do not generate TC40/TC15s.

ChargebackHelp is Here to Help!

ChargebackHelp is closely monitoring the implementation of VAMP and its impact on the dispute management ecosystem. Our clients will continue to benefit from the protections our solutions provide. Although Visa is not tracking individual merchant ratios, acquirers are. Be sure to keep the following in mind:​

  • Monitor your VAMP ratio monthly.​
  • Identify synergies in fraud/disputes to identify RDR automation opportunities.​
  • Develop a compliance plan in the event of exceeding thresholds
  • Consult with us on fraud and dispute management strategies.​

As always, clients can reach out to their ChargebackHelp relationship managers with any VAMP-related questions they might have.

If you are considering a partnership with ChargebackHelp, this is all the more reason to build a dispute management strategy with us. Start the conversation today! Send us an email, call us at 1.800.975.9905 or contact us here.

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