TL;DR
- The Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) no longer exists. Visa retired it on March 31, 2025 and folded fraud monitoring into VAMP.
- The 0.9% threshold that most pages still teach is dead. The live line is 1.5% of transactions under VAMP, in effect since April 1, 2026.
- VFMP measured fraud in dollars, on its own clock. VAMP counts fraud reports and disputes together, as events, in one number.
- If a page quotes 0.9%, $75,000, or a VFMP timeline, it is describing a program that ended in 2025.
Who this helps: you searched for Visa's fraud monitoring thresholds, found three different numbers on three different pages, and want to know which one is actually true in 2026.
Search for the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program and most of what ranks, including guides from major banks, still teaches a 0.9% fraud threshold. That program no longer exists. Visa retired it on March 31, 2025, and the number that governs you now is different, bigger, and calculated another way. Here is what changed, with dates.
What was the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program?
VFMP was Visa's standalone program for flagging merchants with too much reported fraud, and everything about it should now be read in the past tense. It measured a fraud-to-sales ratio in dollars: the fraud amount issuers reported to Visa in a calendar month, divided by that month's sales amount. Like Mastercard's programs, it required two tests to fail together. The standard timeline started at $75,000 in reported fraud and a 0.9% ratio. The excessive timeline started at $250,000 and 1.8%.
Standard-timeline fines began in month five and climbed from $25,000 to $75,000 a month by month ten. The excessive timeline charged from month one. Two details most summaries forgot: from month five, standard-timeline merchants also became liable for reason code 10.5 chargebacks, a fraud-liability shift that let issuers recover losses directly, and a merchant still in the program after 12 months could be disqualified from accepting Visa payments entirely.
VFMP had a sibling, the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP), which watched disputes the same way: 100 disputes and 0.9% for standard, 1,000 and 1.8% for excessive. Fraud and disputes ran on two separate clocks, and a merchant could be flagged on either.
When was VFMP retired, and what replaced it?
Visa retired VFMP and VDMP together on March 31, 2025 and consolidated fraud and dispute monitoring into a single program, the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP), effective April 1, 2025. The rollout came in stages: an advisory period with no fees through September 30, 2025, fees for excessive merchants from October 1, 2025, and a threshold that started at 2.2% before dropping to the current 1.5% on April 1, 2026.
The difference between VFMP and VAMP is more than the threshold. VFMP measured fraud dollars against sales dollars. VAMP counts events: fraud reports (TC40s) plus disputes (TC15s), divided by settled transactions, with a floor of 1,500 combined events a month before the program applies. Different numerator, different denominator, different units. There is no honest way to convert an old 0.9% into the new system, which is exactly why quoting it misleads.
| VFMP (retired) | VAMP (live) | |
|---|---|---|
| Watched | Fraud only, in dollars | Fraud reports plus disputes, as events |
| Threshold | 0.9% and $75,000 | 1.5% and a 1,500-event floor |
| Clocks | Fraud and disputes separate | One number |
| Status | Ended March 31, 2025 | In force since April 1, 2025 |
What does the change mean for a subscription business?
The two clocks became one clock, and that is the part worth acting on. Under the old system, a subscription business could be comfortably clean on disputes while fraud-coded rebills, the "I don't recognize this charge" calls that issuers file asTC40s, accumulated quietly on a separate program. Under VAMP, those fraud reports and your cancellation disputes land in the same number, against the same 1.5% line.
That merge also changed what your tools can do. Chargeback alerts remove disputes from the count when they resolve them before filing, but a fraud report attached to the transaction still counts even after the refund. Alerts empty one side of the number; the fraud side only shrinks when fewer customers call their bank confused, which is a statement descriptor and cancellation-flow problem. The first step is knowing where you stand: the VAMP calculator shows the single ratio you are judged on now, fraud reports included.
Visa retired the Fraud Monitoring Program on March 31, 2025. Any page quoting a 0.9% Visa fraud threshold is describing a dead program. The live line is 1.5% of transactions under VAMP, in effect since April 1, 2026, and it counts fraud reports and disputes together.
FAQ
What is the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program?
VFMP was Visa's standalone program for merchants with high reported fraud, measured as fraud dollars against sales dollars. Visa retired it on March 31, 2025 and moved fraud monitoring into the consolidated Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP). It no longer operates.
What were the VFMP thresholds?
The standard timeline required both $75,000 in monthly reported fraud and a 0.9% fraud-to-sales ratio; the excessive timeline required $250,000 and 1.8%. Fines ran from $25,000 to $75,000 a month, and standard-timeline merchants became liable for reason code 10.5 chargebacks from month five. All of it ended in March 2025.
Is the 0.9% Visa fraud threshold still current?
No. The 0.9% figure belonged to VFMP, which was retired on March 31, 2025. Pages still quoting it are out of date. The current threshold is 1.5% of transactions under VAMP, which counts fraud reports and disputes together.
What replaced the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program?
VAMP, the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program, effective April 1, 2025. It consolidated VFMP and the dispute-side VDMP into one number: fraud reports plus disputes, divided by settled transactions. Its threshold started at 2.2% and dropped to 1.5% on April 1, 2026.
What is the current Visa fraud threshold?
There is no separate fraud threshold anymore. Fraud reports count inside the single VAMP ratio, where the line is 1.5% of transactions with a floor of 1,500 combined monthly events. A merchant's fraud reports and disputes now rise and fall as one number.
Facts checked against Visa's published program history, including the J.P. Morgan program guide for the retired thresholds. Last reviewed September 7, 2026.
