The short answer
VAMP (Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program) is Visa's 2025 replacement for the separate Visa Dispute Monitoring Program (VDMP) and Visa Fraud Monitoring Program (VFMP). It consolidates dispute rate, fraud rate, and CNP data quality into a single "merchant ratio" measured monthly.
In plain English
Before VAMP, merchants were tracked on two separate Visa programs for disputes and fraud — with different thresholds, different fines, and different paperwork. VAMP combines them: one number, one threshold, one escalation ladder, enforced monthly by your acquirer.
The VAMP ratio
The headline metric is (TC40 fraud count + TC15 dispute count) / monthly authorized transaction count, measured on CNP volume. Visa publishes two tiers:
- Standard threshold — 0.65% merchant ratio (early warning).
- Excessive threshold — 1.50% merchant ratio (enrollment in VAMP, fines start).
What operators need to know
- Counted on count, not dollar amount — a $10 dispute counts the same as a $1,000 dispute.
- Acquirer-level aggregation — your processor sees your VAMP number daily and can take action before Visa does.
- Fines scale — start around $5/dispute in early months of enrollment, escalate to $25+ after ~6 months, and uncap if you stay in program.
- RDR + Order Insight can take refunded-then-disputed transactions out of the ratio. Enable both.
- 3DS2 authenticated transactions may be excluded from the fraud count (liability shifted to issuer), which helps the ratio.
- Exits are 3 consecutive clean months — plan for a 90-day remediation window at minimum.
Numbers to know
Historical VDMP exit bar was 0.9% / 3 months; VFMP was 0.9% fraud ratio / $75K monthly fraud. VAMP tightens the combined bar to 1.50% excessive and issues early warnings at 0.65%. Merchants who ran comfortably under VDMP/VFMP are finding themselves near-threshold under VAMP because the inputs are summed.
Why multi-brand operators care
VAMP is assessed per-MID. Consolidating multiple brands onto one aggregated MID pools the risk — a spike on one brand pulls the other brands toward threshold. Dedicated MIDs per high-risk brand isolate VAMP exposure so a single chargeback spike doesn't put all brands in program.