# Visa's VAMP rules explained for merchants

Title: Visa's VAMP rules explained for merchants

Description: What the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program measures, from Visa's own fact sheet. Read November 9, 2026. Source pages linked. Compared with Stripe.

VAMP is Visa's Acquirer Monitoring Program. Visa's 2025 fact sheet says Visa consolidated the existing VAMP with the Visa Fraud Monitoring Program and the Visa Dispute Monitoring Program into one global program. Threshold updates in that sheet take effect 1 June 2025.

The sheet's footnotes say the advisory period ends 30 September 2025, and that programs for Brazil, Chile, and India would be announced later.

The source for every figure below is that fact sheet, not a processor's blog. Acquirers can set tighter internal limits and can fine or exit you before Visa does. Ask your acquirer which numbers they watch.

## What is the Visa VAMP ratio?

Visa's core metric is a count ratio on card-not-present VisaNet transactions:

**VAMP ratio = (fraud reports counted as TC40 + disputes counted as TC15) ÷ settled transactions counted as TC05.**

The sheet says the ratio excludes disputes resolved through pre-dispute products, and fraud that qualifies for Compelling Evidence 3.0, depending on when the data is pulled. "We won the dispute later" is not the same exclusion.

## Which VAMP thresholds does Visa's sheet name?

An acquirer's portfolio is **Above Standard at 50 basis points or more**, and **Excessive at 70 basis points or more**. Both levels use a minimum monthly count of fraud plus disputes. The footnote puts that minimum at **1,500** in Asia Pacific, Canada, the EU, and the US, and at **150** plus at least **USD 75,000** in CEMEA.

If the acquirer itself is not in the program, merchants are measured against excessive-merchant thresholds. The sheet's table shows **220 basis points** for Asia Pacific, Canada, the EU, and the US, **150** for LAC, and **220** for CEMEA, with count minimums. Footnote 5 says the excessive-merchant threshold in Asia Pacific, Canada, the EU, and the US is reduced to **150 basis points on 1 April 2026**. Today is after that date. Read the current sheet anyway, because a footnote in a PDF is how these programs move.

Enumeration is separate: an enumeration ratio of **2,000 basis points or more**, and an enumeration count of **300,000 or more**.

## What does VAMP mean when you are choosing a processor?

A processor that advertises high dispute tolerance is advertising a fight with its own acquirer. Square not charging a dispute fee, or Stripe charging $15, does not change the numerator. The fixes are fewer fraud reports and fewer disputes: clearer descriptors, delivery proof, pre-dispute tools Visa actually excludes, and a product that matches what the cardholder thought they bought. The cost-of-a-chargeback piece is the fee side of the same problem.

## Questions

### What is the Visa VAMP ratio?

Visa's core metric is a count ratio on card-not-present VisaNet transactions:

### Which VAMP thresholds does Visa's sheet name?

An acquirer's portfolio is Above Standard at 50 basis points or more, and Excessive at 70 basis points or more. Both levels use a minimum monthly count of fraud plus disputes. The footnote puts that minimum at 1,500 in Asia Pacific, Canada, the EU, and the US, and at 150 plus at least USD 75,000 in CEMEA.

### What does VAMP mean when you are choosing a processor?

A processor that advertises high dispute tolerance is advertising a fight with its own acquirer. Square not charging a dispute fee, or Stripe charging $15, does not change the numerator. The fixes are fewer fraud reports and fewer disputes: clearer descriptors, delivery proof, pre-dispute tools Visa actually excludes, and a product that matches what the cardholder thought they bought. The cost-of-a-chargeback piece is the fee side of the same problem.

### Where were the figures on this page read?

The sources list names the pages. This edition was read on November 9, 2026. Stripe's US domestic card rate in that reading is 2.9% + $0.30, and a dispute received is $15.

### When should you stay on Stripe?

Stay when the Stripe account is healthy and you still need Billing, Tax, Connect, or Terminal. Moving subscriptions costs more than a gap of a few dollars on a $10,000 month.

## Sources

Last verified November 9, 2026.

- Stripe pricing: https://stripe.com/pricing?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stripealternatives.com
- Visa's 2025 fact sheet: https://corporate.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/corporate/visa-perspectives/security-and-trust/documents/visa-acquirer-monitoring-program-fact-sheet-2025.pdf?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stripealternatives.com

## Related

- [The real cost of a chargeback, by processor](/blog/cost-of-a-chargeback.md)
- [What we found verifying processors' pricing pages](/blog/verifying-processor-pricing.md)
- [Monthly pricing and policy changes](/blog/monthly-changes.md)
- [Payfac, gateway, acquirer, or merchant of record](/blog/payfac-gateway-acquirer-merchant-of-record.md)
- [Why processors close accounts after you start processing](/blog/why-processors-close-accounts.md)
- [Payments explainers](/blog.md)
- [Stripe alternatives directory](/index.md)
- [Stripe pricing and US card fees](/alternatives/stripe.md)