In response to an increasingly complex payment ecosystem—and the corresponding rise of disputes and enumeration attacks—Visa’s Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) is focused on reducing excessive fraud and chargeback rates. For merchants, this is critical as VAMP defines the rules you must follow to maintain positive relationships with Visa.
The card scheme rolled out global updates for VAMP in April 2025. While the changes have already taken effect, enforcement for both acquirers and merchants is expected to begin in just two weeks, starting on October 1, 2025.
But not to worry, we’ll get you up to date on the latest and give you the best practices for avoiding VAMP penalties. Orchestration platforms like IXOPAY reduce technical lift and help merchants stay compliant and agile. Recent industry discussions point to growing merchant concerns around transparency, acquirer accountability, and descriptor-related confusion—all of which we’ll break down below.
What Is the Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP)?
The Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) is designed to uphold the security and reliability of the Visa network by actively monitoring transaction activity for signs of fraud. Its purpose is to safeguard the ecosystem so that merchants, acquirers, and consumers can trust the integrity of payments made through Visa, with the added benefit of simplifying the calculations that govern compliance.
VAMP applies to the United States, along with Canada, Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions, for processing Visa card-absent transactions. Under VAMP, acquirers are accountable for ensuring their merchants stay within acceptable risk thresholds. This involves having strong monitoring practices in place, regularly analyzing transaction patterns, and taking prompt action when signs of fraud or dispute issues emerge.
How is VAMP Enforced?
But how, you may ask, is VAMP enforced? The VAMP ratio is a count-based metric calculated by adding the total monthly count of TC40s (dispute report for fraudulent transactions) and TC15 (non-fraud dispute report), then dividing that by the monthly transaction volume.
This means the higher your fraud and non-fraud disputes, the worse your VAMP score — which can trigger compliance enforcement or monitoring by Visa if thresholds are exceeded. Current thresholds for acquirers and merchants are as follows:
Merchant Threshold |
Acquirer Threshold |
|---|---|
≥ 150 – 220bps |
≥ 70bps |
What Happens If You’re Flagged?
Being flagged for VAMP means entering monitoring phases (early warning, standard, or excessive) with added requirements for both merchants and acquirers. Businesses may also incur financial penalties, reputational risk, and heightened scrutiny from networks. In rare cases, merchants may lose their ability to process payments with their acquirer.
Why It’s a Concern for Growing Global Merchants
VAMP is a major concern for global merchants looking to scale. Operating across borders, in high-risk verticals, and/or card-not-present environments inherently increases exposure to complex disputes. Likewise, merchants often cannot see their own aggregated VAMP scores or their acquirer’s performance, leaving them “flying blind” and unable to mitigate risks until it’s too late. This vulnerability is compounded because a merchant’s score is negatively impacted by a chargeback even if they later win the dispute.
How Merchants Can Navigate VAMP
So what can merchants do to prepare for VAMP enforcement on October 1, 2025? One option is to utilize an integrated risk management and reporting module with a tokenization and payment orchestration provider like IXOPAY.
Integrated Risk Management Tools
IXOPAY helps merchants navigate VAMP by integrating with leading fraud and risk management software. Tools like Riskified use advanced machine learning models trained on global transaction data to analyze each order in real time. It assesses hundreds of data points—including device fingerprinting, behavioral patterns, geolocation, and historical fraud trends—to flag potentially fraudulent transactions before they're approved. The platform provides insights and dashboards showing fraud trends, chargeback rates, and dispute patterns. These reports can help merchants adjust risk thresholds, optimize fraud rules, and target problem areas proactively.
Acquirer-Level Reporting
IXOPAY also helps merchants avoid Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) penalties by giving them structured visibility into chargebacks and acquiring relationships across all payment providers. By guiding merchants to configure their tenant and sub-tenant structures properly—mapping each payment provider and merchant account in a one-to-one relationship—IXOPAY enables accurate tracking of TC40 (fraud) and TC15 (non-fraud) disputes. This allows merchants to calculate chargeback ratios at the acquirer level, which is essential for VAMP compliance. Even when merchants process through different gateways or platforms, IXOPAY acts as the middleware that consolidates chargeback data, ensuring merchants can monitor and manage their risk exposure effectively before Visa enforces penalties.
Monitor Merchant Descriptors
Another pro tip is to keep an eye out for chargebacks that may be linked to incorrect or confusing merchant descriptors. Visa uses these descriptors—such as business names and locations from transaction statements—to calculate chargeback ratios. When descriptors are dynamically generated or vary by campaign, it can cause attribution issues, and merchants may be unfairly penalized for chargebacks tied to similar but unrelated transactions. If a chargeback does occur, the acquirer may issue a credit to the customer, or the merchant can respond to their acquirer, who can escalate the issue to Visa through its remediation process.
Best Practices for Avoiding VAMP Penalties
Staying ahead of VAMP requires a proactive approach. Key strategies include:
Monitoring Key Metrics: Regularly track chargeback ratios at the acquirer level.
Leveraging Technology: Implement dynamic fraud tools and strategic 3DS2 authentication.
Demand Visibility: Partner with a PSP or platform that provides unified insights and control across all providers.
Standardize Descriptors: Ensure billing descriptors are unique, clear, and follow a consistent format to prevent misattributed chargebacks.
Train Your Team: Educate staff on chargeback prevention tactics.
Final Thoughts
As Visa tightens its oversight through programs like VAMP, merchants must be more intentional than ever about how they manage risk, disputes, and acquirer relationships. The stakes are high—especially for global businesses navigating fragmented payment stacks and cross-border complexity. By investing in the right infrastructure, such as IXOPAY’s orchestration and risk management capabilities, merchants can not only stay ahead of VAMP enforcement but also gain the visibility and control needed to build a more resilient, trusted payment experience.
Want to better understand how your fraud and chargeback rates stack up—and what to do about it? Let’s talk.