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Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program

Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP)

Effective April 1, 2025, the Visa Dispute and Fraud Monitoring Programs were consolidated into the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP).
There are two facets to this program, with processing activity monitored at both the Acquirer Portfolio and Merchant level:

  1. Acquirer Portfolio Activity (Acquirer Level): Visa monitors this portion of the program at the Acquirer level, meaning all merchants processing on the acquirer's BID are combined for this program's monitoring. Should the Acquirer BID exceed one of the chargeback ratios below, merchants who've received at least 5 chargebacks and have a 0.50% ratio could be assessed a fine in correlation with the threshold the acquirer was identified in.
    "Excessive" = 0.70% ($8 per VAMP)
    "Above Standard"* = 0.50% ($4 per VAMP)
  2. Merchant activity (Merchant Excessive Level): There are two ways merchant activity can be identified in the Excessive Merchant VAMP:
    1. Excessive enumeration activity (ie, carding)
    2. excessive VAMP figures
    • Merchants will be identified in the program if their figures exceed the below thresholds:
      • 1500 instances of both "reported fraud" and chargebacks (otherwise known as the VAMP Count)
      • 1.50% VAMP-to-sales ratio
      • CEMEA merchants only: VAMP Volume of at least $75,000.00
      • or
    • Merchants who have an enumeration ratio that exceeds 2000 bps and at least 300,000 transactions

Calculating VAMPAnchorIcon

  • VAMP Ratio Calculation:
    • VAMP Count (Count of CNP fraud [TC 40] + +count of all opened chargebacks) / Total settled transactions Non-fraud coded disputes resolved through Rapid Dispute Resolution, or cases won by the Merchant using Compelling evidence 3.0 will not be included in the total
  • Enumeration Ratio Calculation:
    • Enumerated transactions / total settled transactions.
    • Enumerated transactions include all verification and transaction attempts

FAQAnchorIcon

What is the VAMP Count?


The VAMP count is the total number of opened chargebacks and "reported fraud" filed in a given month.


How is the ratio calculated?     


The ratio can be found by dividing the VAMP Count by the sales count of the same month (August VAMP Count / August Visa Sales Count). What transactions are included in the VAMP? CNP, domestic and cross-border VisaNet transactions.


Can all merchants flag in this program?


If the Acquirer BID is flagged, any merchant with a 0.50% VAMP ratio and a VAMP Count of at least 5 could be notified of their inclusion in the program. If the Acquirer BID has not been flagged, Merchants must have a minimum monthly VAMP count of 1500 and a 2.20% ratio to enter monitoring under the Merchant Excessive Level. *CEMEA Merchants also must have a VAMP Volume of at least $75K.


Are cases actioned through RDR, CDRN or Compelling Evidence 3.0 included in the VAMP count?


Non-fraud RDR and CDRN disputes will be removed from official chargeback figures, and Compelling Evidence 3.0 will be removed from both chargeback and fraud figures.


What are the fines?


The fine will depend on the identification type. Both Merchant Excessive and Acquirer Excessive levels will receive a fine of $8 per VAMP Count. However, if the Acquirer flags in the Above Standard level, merchants could receive a fine of $4 per VAMP Count.


How can merchants monitor their VAMP figures? Can they obtain TC-15 and TC-40 reporting?


The VAMP program will essentially use activity recorded via two reports: TC-15 and TC-40. The TC-40 logs all instances of "reported fraud" and can be accessed by merchants via their SFTP connection. The TC-15 logs all chargebacks and isn't available at this time; however, merchants can pull two very similar reports through the Braintree Gateway: - download a dispute report for the selected timeframe, filtering specifically for "open" "Visa" "chargebacks". This shows dispute details. - Disputed transaction details can be retrieved by downloading a transaction report, removing PayPalor Venmo payment methods, and searching by "disputed date range" instead of the default "created date range".


If you have any questions regarding these programs, check out our FAQ or Contact us.