On April 1, 2026, Visa dropped the chargeback ratio that triggers its Excessive Dispute status from 2.2% to 1.5%. A merchant that was comfortably under the old line crossed it overnight, and the acquirer behind that merchant took on a new monitoring fee along with it.
Visa calls the full program VAMP, the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program, and it replaced the separate dispute and fraud monitoring programs ISOs tracked for years. For acquiring banks and ISOs underwriting new merchants in 2026, VAMP changes which applications deserve a second look before approval, not just after a dispute spike.
What Changed in Visa's VAMP Rules for 2026
VAMP combines two things ISOs used to track separately: reported fraud transactions (TC40 reports) and disputes. The ratio is the sum of both divided by total settled transactions.
A merchant or acquirer also has to clear a minimum activity level before VAMP measures it at all: at least 1,500 combined disputes and TC40 fraud reports in a month. Below that count, the ratio does not apply, regardless of how high it would otherwise run.
Enforcement at the excessive tier for both merchants and acquirers began October 1, 2025. The lower 1.5% merchant threshold followed on April 1, 2026, and an above-standard enforcement tier for acquirers started January 1, 2026.
How VAMP Thresholds Work for Merchants and Acquirers
Merchants and acquirers are measured differently. A merchant's ratio covers its own transactions; an acquirer's ratio rolls up every merchant in its portfolio.
That means an acquirer can land in an enforcement tier even when no single merchant it sponsors looks excessive on its own. A portfolio of borderline merchants adds up the same way one bad merchant does.
| Acquirer Tier | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Above standard | 0.5% |
| Excessive | 0.7% |
Visa does not maintain a separate "early warning" tier below those two. An acquirer running between 0.4% and 0.5% may get an informal notice, but only the above-standard and excessive tiers carry enforcement and fees.
What VAMP Enforcement Costs When a Merchant Crosses the Line
VAMP fees are charged per dispute and per TC40 report, not as a flat monthly penalty. A merchant in the excessive tier is charged $8 for every dispute or fraud report, applied to each one individually.
Acquirers are charged $4 per dispute or report at the above-standard tier and $8 at the excessive tier. A high-volume merchant with a modest ratio can still generate a large bill, because the fee scales with dispute count, not with how far over the threshold the ratio sits.
Why MCC-Level Benchmarking Matters More Under VAMP
A flat 1.5% threshold treats every merchant category the same way, but dispute rates do not work that way in practice. Subscription services and travel bookings tend to run higher baseline dispute rates than, for example, a hardware store.
Underwriting a new merchant against its own merchant category code, rather than against a single flat number, shows whether an application is likely to start near the VAMP line before the first transaction ever posts. Gratify's underwriting tools score applications against MCC-level chargeback benchmarks and 62-plus configurable data points, so an ISO can see where a prospective merchant sits relative to its category before approval, not after a dispute spike triggers a VAMP review.
Building VAMP Risk Into the Underwriting Decision
Dispute tolerance is not the same for every ISO or every vertical inside one ISO's book. A portfolio built around card-not-present subscription merchants needs a tighter underwriting bar than one built around retail.
Gratify lets an ISO or PayFac set its own configurable underwriting rules by vertical, flagging applications that would start close to VAMP thresholds instead of approving first and finding out at the next monitoring cycle. Every decision carries a full audit trail, which matters when an acquirer has to show Visa how a flagged merchant was underwritten in the first place.
Review how a merchant's expected dispute profile looks before it ever reaches a VAMP threshold. Schedule a Gratify demo to see MCC-level benchmarking and configurable underwriting rules in action.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Visa's VAMP program?
VAMP stands for the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program. It combines merchant fraud reports and disputes into a single ratio that Visa uses to flag merchants and acquirers for monitoring and fees.
What is the current merchant excessive dispute threshold under VAMP?
The merchant excessive threshold dropped to 1.5% of settled transactions on April 1, 2026. A merchant must also have at least 1,500 combined disputes and fraud reports in a month to be measured against it.
How much does VAMP cost a merchant that stays above the excessive threshold?
A merchant in the excessive tier is charged $8 for every dispute or fraud report, not a flat monthly fee. Acquirers are charged separately at their own above-standard and excessive tiers.
Do VAMP thresholds apply the same way to every merchant category?
The threshold itself is a single flat number, but underlying dispute rates vary widely by merchant category. A category with a naturally higher dispute rate needs a tighter underwriting standard to stay under the same line.
How can an ISO reduce VAMP risk before approving a merchant?
Benchmarking a new application against chargeback rates for its merchant category code, rather than against a flat industry average, shows which applications are likely to run close to VAMP thresholds. Catching that during underwriting is less costly than catching it after a monitoring notice.
Sources
Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program fact sheet, Visa Corporate
VAMP: What You Need to Know About Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program, NMI
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