Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP): Full Guide

The Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) is Visa's fraud and dispute monitoring framework. It replaced the separate Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP) and Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) in 2025.

I've watched merchants get their first VAMP notice with no idea which ratio they're measured against. The number their acquirer quotes rarely matches Visa's own fact sheet. This guide gives you the current thresholds, the formula, and the one thing that moves that number.

Key takeaways

• VAMP replaced VDMP and VFMP with one combined ratio in June 2025.
• The merchant threshold is 2.2%, dropping to 1.5% on April 1, 2026.
• The VAMP ratio divides fraud plus disputes by settled transactions each month.
• Acquirers face lower thresholds, 0.5% Above Standard and 0.7% Excessive.
• Disputes resolved by a pre-dispute alert never enter the ratio at all.

What is the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program?

VAMP is Visa's single fraud and dispute monitoring framework. It replaced the separate VDMP and VFMP programs on June 1, 2025. Visa says the change folds five existing programs into one.

VAMP measures a single monthly number rather than running fraud and disputes as two programs. One ratio, one threshold, checked every month.

VAMP counts a filtered version of your disputes. It leaves out ones you resolve early through a pre-dispute alert. So your true dispute count and your VAMP count can differ.

Our chargeback monitoring program guide covers the wider category these rules sit in.

VAMP thresholds: what ratio puts you at risk

A merchant in the AP, Canada, EU, or U.S. region is flagged Excessive once their VAMP ratio hits 2.2%, or 220 basis points. That line drops to 1.5%, or 150 basis points, on April 1, 2026, according to Visa's own fact sheet. Latin America and the Caribbean already sit at 1.5%. CEMEA stays at 2.2% with its own smaller-volume trigger.

The threshold only counts once you cross a monthly minimum. Most regions need at least 1,500 combined fraud reports and disputes to enter the program. CEMEA needs 150 cases and USD 75,000.

Visa's data puts acquirers lower, at 0.5% (50 bps) Above Standard and 0.7% (70 bps) Excessive. Visa watches an acquirer's whole portfolio first.

Here's the breakdown by region:

A merchant under the count minimum never enters the program, whatever their ratio. A low-volume merchant with a high dispute rate can stay invisible to VAMP. A high-volume merchant with a modest rate can't.

Some processors mention per-transaction fees, but those figures don't appear in Visa's fact sheet. Confirm any fee with your acquirer instead.

Run your fraud-and-dispute count for each card brand through our ROI calculator to see how close you sit to the Excessive line.

How the VAMP ratio is calculated

The VAMP ratio adds your fraud reports (TC40) and disputes (TC15), then divides the total by your settled transactions (TC05). Visa runs the math each month. In symbols:

VAMP Ratio = Count of [Fraud (TC40) + Disputes (TC15)] / Count of Settled Transactions (TC05)

The numerator counts card-not-present TC40 fraud reports. That covers both domestic and cross-border. Two carve-outs shrink it.

Resolve a dispute through a pre-dispute alert, before it posts as a TC15, and it drops out. So does fraud already qualified under Compelling Evidence 3.0. Both carve-outs depend on when Visa pulls the data.

Say your business settles 100,000 card-not-present transactions in a month. It records 1,800 combined fraud reports and disputes. Your VAMP ratio is 1.8%. That sits under the current 2.2% threshold, but over the 1.5% line arriving April 1, 2026.

The ratio is a monthly snapshot rather than a rolling average.

One bad month can push you into Excessive even when your trailing average looks healthy. A fraud spike or a processing error that spawns duplicate disputes is enough to do it.

Enumeration attacks: the second VAMP trigger

VAMP also flags acquirers at an enumeration ratio of 20%, or 2,000 basis points, once enumerated volume clears 300,000. That's a separate rule from the dispute-ratio threshold.

Enumeration is a rapid, automated card-testing attack. Bots fire many small authorization attempts to find valid card numbers.

Enumeration shows up in authorization traffic rather than in disputes. So this rule measures the authorization attempts that look like testing, both approved and declined.

Your dispute ratio can be clean and your traffic can still trip this rule. The trigger reads authorization attempts on their own, apart from the main VAMP ratio.

VAMP vs. VDMP and VFMP: what changed

VAMP sums fraud and disputes into one ratio, where VDMP tracked disputes alone and VFMP tracked fraud alone.

A merchant used to stay clear by keeping under each line. That meant roughly a 1.8% VDMP dispute rate and a 0.90% VFMP fraud rate, per our Visa dispute monitoring program guide.

Now those two numbers are summed. A merchant who sat under both legacy programs can still cross the combined VAMP line. Fraud and disputes count together now.

The old figures no longer match current enforcement. Some sources still cite those same VDMP and VFMP thresholds on their own. Those describe programs Visa has retired.

For the cross-network view, our Mastercard chargeback monitoring program guide covers Visa's equivalent.

How prevention alerts lower your VAMP ratio

A dispute you resolve through a pre-dispute alert never posts as a counted TC15. So it never enters your VAMP ratio. This is what the ratio's pre-dispute carve-out is for.

Catch a dispute through an alert and that transaction stays out of the numerator.

That beats fighting and winning the dispute. A dispute you win still counts against the ratio.

On Mastercard traffic, the alerts come from Ethoca, which Mastercard owns.

On Visa traffic, they come from Verifi, a Visa solution that runs the RDR and CDRN products. When an alert fires, you issue a refund before the cardholder's dispute becomes a chargeback.

Alerts only reach disputes that arrive through a covered network, and coverage isn't complete for every card brand. Rely on alerts alone, and uncovered disputes still post as TC15s and count against your ratio.

Setting up prevention alerts is the most direct way to keep your VAMP ratio under the line.

FAQ

What is the Visa acquirer risk program?

The Visa acquirer risk program is another name people use for VAMP. Visa's own materials call it the Acquirer Monitoring Program.

Who is affected by Visa VAMP?

VAMP monitors acquirers, their registered agents, and the merchants inside their portfolios. Acquirers face their own lower thresholds on top of the per-merchant line.

How do I comply with Visa VAMP?

Keep your combined ratio under your region's threshold. You do that by resolving disputes early with alerts and by using clear billing descriptors.

Does VAMP apply to acquirers, merchants, or both?

Both. Visa applies one set of thresholds to individual merchants, and a separate lower set to the acquirer's portfolio.