Tips to Reduce VAMP Penalties

In April 2025, Visa launched the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) which brought significant changes to the way fraud and chargebacks are measured and monitored. In an effort to create a more comprehensive view of fraud and chargebacks, it replaced the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP) and the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP) with a new framework. Merchants and acquirers that exceed the defined risk thresholds are subject to fees. For more information, see our detailed VAMP overview.

Starting October 1, 2025, Visa began to levy fees on merchants and acquirers with VAMP ratios classified as "excessive" and on January 1, 2026, acquirers with "above standard" VAMP ratios are also being charged fees.

To reduce the likelihood of being subject to VAMP penalties, merchants should take proactive steps to prevent fraud and chargeback disputes from happening. Furthermore, when fraud and chargeback disputes do occur, merchants should avail themselves of tools that can help them resolve disputes, so they do not impact the VAMP ratio.

Step 1: Take Proactive Steps to Prevent Chargeback and Fraud Disputes

Tips to Reduce Chargebacks

Customers dispute transactions for a variety of reasons, ranging from forgetfulness to product quality issues. These tips address common issues that cause chargebacks.

• Communicate effectively and set appropriate customer expectations. This includes providing accurate product descriptions and photos, setting clear shipping policies/timelines, providing tracking information and proactively notifying customers of delays.
• Use clear billing descriptors that match the name under which you do business and include contact information in the billing descriptor.
• For subscription billing, ensure terms and cancellation policies are clear, and send a reminder in advance which includes the price the customer will be charged.
• Address customer inquiries and complaints in a timely fashion, be clear about next steps and have an FAQ page that addresses common customer concerns.

Tips to Reduce Fraudulent Transactions

Take measures to identify and prevent fraudulent transactions.

• Use verification tools such as the Card Verification Value (CVV), the Address Verification Service (AVS) and 3D Secure when verifying card-not-present transactions
• Use network tokens to make it difficult for fraudsters to misuse stolen payment information
• Keep fraud prevention tools up to date as out-of-date tools may not address the latest fraud methods
• Monitor for abnormal patterns — some processors offer services that identify inconsistencies, such as comparing the shopper country/region and the card issuer country/region, or comparing the shopper's name and email address
• Keep tracking/delivery records, photographic evidence of delivery and signature confirmations

Step 2: Proactively Resolve Disputes so the VAMP Ratio is Not Impacted

Tips to Resolve Chargeback and Fraud Disputes

Merchants can use a number of tools to resolve disputes when they are raised and before they are included in the VAMP ratio. Merchants can also use Visa Compelling Evidence to fight friendly fraud. Use of these tools will reduce the number of incidents included in the VAMP ratio.

Visa Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR)

Visa's RDR is an automated system that allows merchants to create rules and set parameters that dictate which disputes they would like to resolve automatically by refunding the cardholder, thereby preventing the dispute from becoming a chargeback.

Verifi Cardholder Dispute Resolution Network (CDRN)

Verifi CDRN is a system that notifies merchants in real-time when a customer disputes a transaction, giving them a 72-hour window to resolve the issue, for example by issuing a refund, before the dispute becomes a chargeback.

Ethoca Alerts

Ethoca shares fraud and dispute data from issuers in near-real-time, enabling merchants to quickly respond by stopping order fulfillment or refunding the purchase, to prevent the fulfillment of fraudulent orders and chargebacks, respectively.

Visa Compelling Evidence

Visa introduced Compelling Evidence to help merchants defend against friendly fraud — instances where legitimate customers falsely claim fraud after receiving goods or services. It only applies to card-not-present Visa transactions.

Compelling Evidence leverages historical purchase evidence. If a merchant can prove certain elements (device fingerprint, IP address, etc.) used in the transaction being disputed were also associated with two previously undisputed transactions, the fraud claim will be denied.

For a more comprehensive overview of how VAMP affects merchant fees and compliance strategies, see our CFO's guide to Visa's fraud and dispute monitoring rules.