What VAMP Is
VAMP stands for Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program. Visa launched it in 2025 as the replacement for the old Visa Chargeback Monitoring Program (VCMP). The shift wasn't just a rebrand — VAMP uses a fundamentally different calculation that catches more disputes than the old chargeback-count method.
The program holds your processor (called the "acquirer" in Visa's language — Moneris, Stripe, Chase, Helcim, etc.) responsible for merchant dispute ratios. When a merchant's ratio is too high, fines and enforcement flow through the acquirer. That's why processors enforce internal limits that are often stricter than Visa's published thresholds — they don't want the liability before it reaches Visa's desk.
VAMP operates at two levels:
- Above Standard: VAMP ratio between 0.9% and 1.5% (after April 1, 2026). Monitoring begins. Fines at lower rate.
- Excessive: VAMP ratio above 1.5% (dropping from 2.2% on April 1, 2026). Higher fines, potential volume restrictions, possible account termination.
How the VAMP Ratio Is Calculated — and Why It's Higher Than You Think
This is the part that catches merchants off guard. VAMP is not the same as your chargeback rate.
The formula:
Two terms to understand:
- TC15 disputes — these are what most people call "chargebacks." A customer files a dispute with their bank, the bank initiates a reversal.
- TC40 fraud alerts — these are generated when a cardholder tells their bank a transaction is fraudulent, even if they never formally file a dispute. The issuing bank sends a TC40 alert to Visa. The merchant often never sees it, there's no reversal, and no chargeback count goes up. But it still goes into the VAMP numerator.
For most card-not-present businesses, TC40 alerts typically run at 1.5 to 2× the chargeback count. A merchant who thinks their chargeback rate is 0.6% may actually have a VAMP ratio closer to 1.2% once TC40 alerts are included.
The other change: pre-dispute refunds no longer help your VAMP ratio. Under the old VCMP, some merchants would quickly refund transactions before a dispute was formally filed, keeping their chargeback count down. TC40 fraud alerts are counted in VAMP regardless of whether a refund was issued. That workaround is closed.
The April 1, 2026 Threshold Change
| Level | Old Threshold (pre-April 2026) | New Threshold (April 1, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Above Standard | 0.9% – 2.2% | 0.9% – 1.5% |
| Excessive | Above 2.2% | Above 1.5% |
A 0.7 percentage point drop in the "Excessive" threshold may sound small. For a merchant processing 5,000 Visa transactions a month, the old limit was 110 combined alerts/disputes. The new limit is 75. That's a meaningful tightening, particularly for subscription businesses and digital goods merchants where TC40 alert rates tend to run higher.
What Happens When You Exceed the Threshold
Enforcement flows through your acquirer. Visa fines the processor; the processor passes costs to the merchant.
Typical consequences, roughly in order of escalation:
- Above Standard: Fines of approximately $10 per dispute/alert above the threshold. Formal notification from your processor.
- Excessive (sustained): Fines of $25 or more per dispute/alert. Volume restrictions — processor may cap monthly transaction volume or hold reserve funds. Enhanced monitoring requirements.
- Continued Excessive (3+ months): Visa can require processor to terminate the merchant account. Getting placed on the MATCH (Member Alert to Control High-Risk) list makes it extremely difficult to obtain a new merchant account elsewhere.
Processors like Stripe, Square, and Shopify Payments operate automated risk systems. Accounts can be flagged and restricted before you've received any formal notification. This is especially true for platforms that use fully automated risk models — there may not be a human reviewing your account before restrictions kick in.
Canadian merchants using traditional processors like Moneris or Chase Merchant Services typically have more account stability and dedicated account managers, but the Visa thresholds apply to all of them equally.
How to Find Your Actual VAMP Ratio
Most processors don't surface TC40 alerts in a standard dashboard view. Here's where to find them by platform:
- Stripe: Stripe Radar section → Early Fraud Warnings. These are Visa's TC40 alerts. Also check the Dispute overview in your Dashboard. Your VAMP numerator is Early Fraud Warnings + Disputes (not refunds).
- Square: Risk alerts section in the Square Dashboard. Square's Risk Team may contact you separately if TC40 volume is elevated.
- Moneris: Contact your account manager directly for TC40 alert data — it's not surfaced in the standard Merchant Direct portal.
- Shopify Payments: Shopify's risk reviews section. Shopify surfaces some fraud signals, but detailed TC40 data may require contacting Shopify Support.
- Helcim: Contact Helcim's support team — as a Canadian processor with dedicated account management, they can pull TC40 data for your account.
A rough estimate: take your monthly chargeback count, multiply by 2, divide by your monthly Visa transaction count. If that number approaches 1.0%, you're in a position where the formal VAMP calculation deserves attention.
Industries Most at Risk
Not all businesses see the same TC40 alert rates. Higher-risk categories include:
- Subscription and recurring billing businesses — cardholders who forget they're enrolled often flag the charge as fraudulent before disputing or cancelling. This generates TC40 alerts at high rates even when the merchant has clean consent records.
- Digital goods and software — no physical delivery confirmation, often immediate delivery that "disappeared," and frequent buyer's remorse that becomes a fraud claim rather than a refund request.
- Health, wellness, and supplement merchants — high incidence of friendly fraud; customers who don't see results file fraud claims instead of return requests.
- Travel and event ticketing — high-value CNP transactions, long gaps between purchase and consumption, and significant disruption-related disputes.
Merchants in these categories operating near the 1.0% mark should treat VAMP monitoring as ongoing hygiene, not a crisis response.
Actions to Take Now
You don't need to overhaul your business. Most merchants can improve their VAMP position with a handful of targeted changes:
1. Respond to TC40 alerts within 24 hours. Even though TC40 alerts are already counted in VAMP, a fast refund after a TC40 can prevent the subsequent TC15 dispute from also being filed — avoiding a double-count in the numerator.
2. Use 3DS2 for high-risk transactions. 3D Secure authentication shifts fraud liability back to the issuing bank. A transaction with a successful 3DS2 authentication typically does not generate a TC40 alert against the merchant even if the cardholder later claims fraud. See our 3D Secure guide for Canadian merchants for setup details by processor.
3. Review and tighten velocity rules in your fraud filter. Unusual purchasing patterns — multiple orders from the same device with different cards, unusually large order values from new customers — generate a disproportionate share of TC40 alerts. Most processors offer configurable velocity rules; Stripe Radar, Shopify Fraud Protect, and Square's risk tools are the main options for Canadian merchants.
4. Audit your billing descriptor. One of the most common causes of "I don't recognize this charge" TC40 alerts is a vague or shortened billing descriptor. "ACME INC 888-555-0100" generates fewer alerts than "PAYMENT*ACME2847." Make sure your descriptor matches your business name and includes a phone number or URL.
5. Segment high-risk SKUs or audiences. If specific products or traffic sources generate outsized TC40 volume, isolating them to a sub-merchant account or a different processor can protect the ratio on your primary merchant account.
Checking Your VAMP Status as of April 2026
Visa maintains a public-facing fraud monitoring program registry. For Canadian merchants: if your processor has flagged you under VAMP, you will receive written notification with your ratio data. You can also request your VAMP history directly from your acquirer's risk management team.
If you're a high-volume merchant (5,000+ Visa transactions/month) or in a high-risk category, proactively requesting your TC40 data from your processor before April 1 is worth the call. It gives you a baseline and time to act before the lower threshold is enforced.
The Honest Bottom Line
Most Canadian merchants with healthy dispute management won't be materially affected by the April 1 threshold change. If your chargeback rate is under 0.4% and you're not in a high-fraud category, the VAMP tightening is background noise.
The merchants who need to pay attention are those running subscription billing, digital goods, or high-fraud-signal categories with dispute rates in the 0.6–1.5% range. For them, the combination of TC40 alert counting and the lower "Excessive" threshold creates real exposure that a chargeback count alone won't reveal.
If you've had any processor risk notifications in the past 12 months, or if you're in a category that runs elevated fraud alerts, pull your TC40 data now. Don't wait for April.
Related reading: Chargeback triage guide for Canadian merchants — when to refund, when to fight, and what evidence matters. Friendly fraud in Canada — the patterns behind most TC40 alerts. High-risk merchant accounts in Canada — processors for categories with elevated dispute ratios.