Published:
June 5, 2025
Reading time:
4 minute read
Written by:
Forter Team
On April 1, 2025, Visa launched the newest edition of its Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP). Approximately two months later, Visa has now introduced significant updates to VAMP, affecting how fraud and chargebacks are calculated and enforced. For digital commerce merchants around the globe, these changes will impact how you track dispute metrics, resolve chargebacks, and partner with your acquirers.
Visa shared the updates during a well-attended Merchant Risk Council (MRC) webinar on May 20, 2025, which drew over 1,000 participants — reflecting how top-of-mind and important this topic is for digital commerce right now. Here are the most important takeaways:
1. Updated VAMP Ratio: Same Data, Double Counting Disputes
The new VAMP ratio from Visa is defined as:
(Fraud Disputes (TC40) + All Disputes (TC15))
———————————————————————–
Total Settled Transactions (TC05)
What’s changed?
- Previously, Visa only included only non-fraud TC15 disputes in the numerator, but this has now been expanded to include all TC15 disputes.
- Now, fraud-related TC15s that originate from TC40s are counted twice: once as fraud and once as a chargeback.
Impact: This means that if a TC40 results in a chargeback, it inflates your ratio more than it did before. Merchants will need to scrutinize their fraud workflows to minimize TC40s that escalate and remain compliant.
Relaxed Thresholds for Merchants Across the Globe
To account for the VAMP ratio changes, there have also been updates to the VAMP ratio thresholds, as shown in the chart below.
Merchants across the regions will see a relaxation in current thresholds as the new ratio takes effect. The threshold that previously went into effect on April 1, 2025, was >=150bps globally and >=90bps for LAC. Instead, the current threshold will now be >=220bps globally and >=150bps for LAC as of June 1, 2025.
Additionally, VAMP was going to enforce lower thresholds on January 1, 2026. To give merchants more time to adjust, stricter thresholds — which have also been adjusted to account for the new formula — will go into effect on April 1, 2026, instead.
2. Reinstated Exclusions for RDR, CDRN, and CE3.0
Visa is reversing a previous announcement:
- TC40 disputes resolved through CE3.0 and TC15 disputes resolved through RDR and CDRN are now excluded from VAMP calculations.
- This includes resolutions handled via Verifi and Ethoca.
This change creates a strong incentives for merchants to resolve disputes before they become formal chargebacks. By resolving disputes early, you can avoid inflating your fraud dispute ratio.
However, the resolution and the original dispute must fall within the same month for the TC40 and TC15 disputes to be excluded from your VAMP ratio.
If the resolution and dispute do not fall in the same month, the disputes will be counted in your VAMP ratio, making timely resolutions essential to staying compliant.
3. Higher Transaction Thresholds for Identification
Visa is raising the bar for inclusion in VAMP. The minimum settled transaction count has been raised from 1,000 to 1,500 for both merchants and acquirers.
This change means that smaller merchants may fall outside the scope of VAMP, but large-volume retailers remain squarely affected.
For businesses in the process of growing and scaling, this threshold needs to be top of mind because you can quickly go from falling outside the program’s scope to landing inside it. And without the proper tools in place, you may suddenly find yourself out of compliance.
4. Updated Enforcement Timeline
Since Visa is changing the program, it has confirmed a new rollout plan for enforcement:
- October 1, 2025: Enforcement begins for “Excessive” merchants and acquirers.
- January 1, 2026: Enforcement begins for “Above Standard” acquirers.
- April 1, 2026: Lowered thresholds for merchants flagged as “Excessive.”
5. Monthly Evaluation, No Grace Period
Visa has now clarified that VAMP is a monthly evaluation program, meaning there will be no grace periods for adjustment. That means that what happened in June 2025 will be evaluated in July 2025.
As a result, deflected disputes must fall within the same month to remove them from the VAMP count/ratio.
What this means: If you get a TC40 in June 2025, but the CE3.0 resolution doesn’t fall within the same month, then the deflection won’t be accounted for. Consequently, the original TC40 will still be counted in the VAMP ratio.
6. Descriptor-Level Calculations: Get Aligned with Your Acquirer
Visa provided additional guidance around merchant descriptors, though more is still needed here. They mentioned that VAMP metrics are calculated by merchant descriptor and that if a merchant believes their descriptors should be grouped in a particular manner, they should work with their acquirer.
Acquirers will be the primary party for engaging with Visa about descriptors, so it is crucial that you proactively engage your acquirer to review how your descriptors are registered and reported.
Merchants with a multi-PSP approach will be at an advantage as they will be able to strategize on how to group descriptors and acquirers to potentially spread risk.
7. Other Key Notes
Some other key points that Visa touched on were:
- 3DS liability shift does not exempt transactions from TC40/VAMP metrics.
- A merchant’s country of registration still determines VAMP thresholds—no changes there.
- No updates are being made to VAMP’s enumeration ratio or calculations.
What You Should Do Now to Prepare
Visa’s VAMP changes are nuanced, impactful, and still evolving. The time to act is now, not when enforcement kicks in. With this action plan, your business can continue to thrive.
- Audit your fraud prevention workflows: Make sure fraud disputes don’t escalate into chargebacks unnecessarily.
- Leverage RDR, CDRN, and CE3.0 tools strategically — and resolve within the same month.
- Sync with your acquirer and strategize on:
- How your merchant descriptors are grouped
- How and when TC40 exclusion data will be shared
- Track monthly performance to avoid surprises in October 2025 and later in 2026.
Clear communication with your acquirer — and smart use of dispute resolution tools—will also be key to staying below thresholds, ensuring compliance, and ultimately securing your business’s growth.
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