Visaโs new Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) has been one of the most actively discussed industry topics throughout the past year. We ourselves have covered it here, here, and here. Initially, these discussions were mostly hypothetical and future-facing; but for the past five months, the program has been in effect โ and starting from the 1st of October 2025, enforcement has already started (with more demanding thresholds coming into effect next year).
At the recent ChargebackX event, we had a chance to hear firsthand from merchants, acquirers, and other ecosystem participants about their initial experience with the program. Here is what we learned:
Confusion is (still) rife
From the sheer volume of VAMP-related questions we heard during the panels and Q&A sessions at ChargebackX โ as well as the nature of some of these questions โ we can infer that thereโs still quite a bit of confusion about VAMP. Even sophisticated and experienced payment teams were uncertain about issues such as:
- Will 3D Secure (3DS) transactions be exempted from TC40 rates? (The answer is โno, but using 3DS should reduce your overall fraud rateโ.)
- What happens if you were on an early warning program in VDMP or VFMP? (The answer is that these programs are no longer live since April 1st, and that your VAMP ratio is calculated regardless of your performance in these programs.)
These are all nuanced topics, and itโs easy to get lost in said nuances. However, seeing as the program is already active, merchants should make a serious effort to plug any gaps they have in their understanding of the program. At this point there is a wealth of resources out there, for example:
- Visaโs fact sheet (PDF)
- Our previous articles on VAMP from May and July
- Justtโs Guide to Getting Ready for VAMP
These should probably cover most of your questions. Merchants are also welcome to address their questions to us – we will do our best to help you demystify what still remains unclear about VAMP.
Reminder: get in touch with your acquirer(s)!
Weโve mentioned previously that the new VAMP rules require you to actively communicate with the acquirer(s) or payment service provider(s) you work with. They have several important pieces of information which you cannot easily get elsewhere:
- Whether you are currently above 30 basis points: Visa has granted all acquirers access to 15 months of data from the Visa analytics platform, which enables them to see any merchants that are above 30 basis points (with 220 being counted as โexcessiveโ for VAMP purposes). You should check whether your acquirer has opted into this program and how you can get access to these signals.
- Your TC40 data: A TC40 report should be submitted by the issuer for every completed transaction where fraud has been claimed . Acquirers receive this data from Visa, so you should check with them how they can make it available to you (as the number of TC40s is essential for understanding the numerator of your VAMP ratio).
- The acquirerโs own policies: Itโs widely estimated, although, to the best of our knowledge, not yet confirmed, that some acquirers will look to apply their own limits to VAMP, as they will be looking to keep their merchant portfolio under VAMP ratios in order to avoid penalties. Different acquirers will likely develop different policies in this regard, and in some cases you might be able to negotiate specific terms. You should try to find out what your acquirers are planning as early as possible.
So let this be another reminder to go ahead and check in with your acquirers. You can also get in touch with Justt, or whichever chargeback management solution youโre partnering with, who might be able to communicate with the acquirer on your behalf.
Keeping ratios low is good for business โ even if youโre below thresholds
Merchants who have less than1500 TC40 (fraud reports) + TC15 (disputes) per month are excluded from VAMP, regardless of the ratio between this total and their overall transactions (TC05s). However, itโs still a good idea to monitor your VAMP ratios, and try to keep them as low as possible.
There are a few reasons for this. The obvious one is that your business might grow, and when that moment comes you do not want to be scrambling to fix issues with the risk of VAMP enrolment hanging over your head. On a more strategic level, a high VAMP ratio will typically indicate a systemic issue: mishandled fraud, issues with customer service, technical implementation problems, or sub-optimal use of pre-dispute tools. All these problems eat into your revenue โ and fixing them will likely help you grow your business sustainably, regardless of Visaโs monitoring programs.
As weโve highlighted before, data is one of the most important tools in your arsenal. Having a centralized view of your chargebacks โ especially if youโre working with multiple PSPs and across different regions, customer segments, and product lines โ will help you identify trends and pinpoint upstream issues that eventually manifest in your VAMP ratio (fraud, chargebacks). Make sure you collect the data, that you trust the data you collect, and that you have tools to easily gain insights from it.
Weโre here to help.
We canโt speak for other chargeback management platforms, but at Justt we see our role as more than โwin rate improversโ โ rather, we are your revenue recovery partner. This includes helping you understand programs like VAMP and choosing the best strategies to reduce risk and potential losses that can stem from them.
ย If you have any questions about this topic or would like to learn more about optimizing your approach to chargeback mitigation, please donโt hesitate to get in touch or request a demo.
