Your dashboard shows one number. Visa counts a different one. Work out the ratio Visa actually sees, and find out where you stand months before the letter tells you.
The 1.5% got the coverage. The line that actually costs merchants their accounts is the other one.
1.5%
Visa's line
Cross it and you're 'excessive.' Visa charges $8 per event, every month, through your acquirer until the rate comes down. It dropped from 2.2% on 1 April 2026.
0.5%
Your acquirer's line
Acquirers are scored separately and far tighter: 0.5% above standard, 0.7% excessive. Your disputes count toward their number, so they act first.
1,500
The floor
VAMP applies once you pass roughly 1,500 combined fraud reports and disputes a month. It counts events, not transactions. Below that, your acquirer's limits are the ones that bite.
Visa's line
the one you've heard of
Your acquirer's line
the one that cuts you
Threshold
1.5% excessive
0.5% above standard, 0.7% excessive
Measures
Just you
Their whole book, including you
What happens
$8 per event, every month
Reserves, payout holds, closure
Warning tier
None. You're under or you're over.
Yes. They see it coming.
Visa removed the early-warning stage for merchants. Acquirers kept theirs. So your acquirer watches a problem develop, at a threshold three times tighter, and has every reason to act before you ever trigger a Visa fee.
Being fine with Visa is not the same as being safe with your bank.
[ the catch ]
Your dashboard is not counting what Visa counts
Your processor shows chargebacks. Visa counts fraud reports plus disputes, and one bad transaction can land in both.
One call, two marks
A customer says they don't recognize a charge. The bank files a fraud report. Days later the chargeback arrives. Your dashboard shows one problem. Visa counts two.
Events, not dollars
Your processor reports a dollar-based rate. Visa counts events, and only card-not-present sales. Three different ways to be counting something else.
You find out by letter
Most merchants first see their real number in a letter from their acquirer. By then the cheap options are gone.
What your dashboard shows1.4%
Chargebacks ÷ transactions. The number you watch.
What Visa counts1.9%
Fraud reports + disputes, with fraud disputes counted twice.
Same merchant, same month. The gap is the part you can't see.
[ why you ]
Why subscription businesses cross first
Subscription businesses average a 1.85% chargeback rate, the highest of any business model, and about 70% of those disputes start in billing, not fraud.
Trials convert, customers forget
The $1 trial becomes $49. The customer doesn't remember agreeing, so they call their bank instead of you.
Cancels that keep billing
They cancel, one more rebill slips out, and the dispute beats your refund to the bank. Every rebill is another chance to be disputed.
A statement they don't recognize
Your legal entity name on their card statement doesn't match your brand. Real orders get reported as fraud, which counts twice.
Rebills compound
One unhappy customer files once. One broken cancellation files every month until you find it.
[ staying under ]
Four things move it, one doesn't
In order of impact. The first three you can start this week.
Catch disputes at the alert stage.
Refund through Visa RDR or CDRN before the dispute is filed and it never enters your VAMP count. Ethoca does the same on Mastercard, which VAMP doesn't measure.
Ethoca$49.00alert received
RDR$29.00refunded ✓
CDRN$89.00refunded ✓
0 reached the bank this week
Fix the descriptor so they recognize you.
Make the name on the card statement match your brand. It's the cheapest chargeback reduction there is.
CARD STATEMENT · AUG
SPOTIFY.COM$9.99
PAYQX*8829344who is this?$49.00
UBER *TRIP$14.20
Make canceling one click.
A cancel that takes one click never becomes a dispute that takes three months.
FFern & Forageactive
$49 / month · renews Sep 12
Cancel subscription
Watch the real number, not the dashboard one.
Track your VAMP ratio per MID, including fraud reports, with a forecast of the day you'd cross. Free in Disputeless.
VAMP ratio · all MIDs0.22%
Under both lines
×
What doesn't work: fighting them
A chargeback you fight and win still counts in your ratio. Representment gets your money back. It does not save your merchant account.
[ vamp faq ]
VAMP, answered simply
The questions merchants ask after the first warning letter. Better to ask them before.
Visa's program for spotting merchants with too many fraud reports and disputes. Every month Visa adds your fraud reports to your disputes, divides by your settled online transactions, and that's your VAMP ratio.
The Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) and the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP). Both were retired on March 31, 2025, and their thresholds, including the 0.9% fraud ratio, ended with them. If you're reading a guide built on those numbers, it's out of date.
One line for merchants: 1.5%. It dropped from 2.2% on 1 April 2026, and there's no warning tier any more, you're under it or you're excessive. It applies once you pass roughly 1,500 combined fraud reports and disputes in a month. Your acquirer is measured separately and much tighter, at 0.5% above standard and 0.7% excessive.
Yes, and this is the part most merchants miss. Your disputes count toward your acquirer's portfolio number. When theirs climbs, they cut the accounts making it worse, whatever Visa's merchant line says.
Probably not. Your dashboard counts chargebacks. Visa counts fraud reports plus disputes, and one transaction can count on both sides. Run the calculator with your fraud reports included.
A bank files one when a customer calls a charge fraudulent. Stripe calls them Early Fraud Warnings. They count against you even if no chargeback is ever filed.
No. A chargeback you fight and win still counts. Only stopping the dispute before it's filed keeps it out.
They let you refund during the window before the chargeback is filed, so the dispute never enters the count. Fraud reports can still count, which is why watching your real number matters alongside prevention.
$8 per event every month through your acquirer, counting both fraud reports and disputes, and your acquirer can add reserves or processing limits. Continued excess ends in a closed account, and a closure follows you: the next one is harder and more expensive.
Don't wait for the letter.
Most merchants learn their real number when the reserve notice arrives. By then the cheap options are gone.
Thresholds reflect Visa VAMP rules effective 1 April 2026 for the US, Canada, EU and Asia Pacific. For information only, not compliance advice: confirm the limits for your region and business type with your acquirer.
