Visa Lowers VAMP Threshold to 1.5%

This is not an April Fool’s joke: Many Merchants Will Be Flagged Overnight

Starting April 2026, Visa is lowering the merchant VAMP threshold from 2.2% to 1.5%.

At first glance, this may look like a simple adjustment. It’s not.

This change will quietly push a large number of merchants, including many who were previously considered “safe”, into risk categories they weren’t in before. 

And most don’t even realize it yet.

What actually changed

Visa’s Visa Acquirer Monitoring Program (VAMP) already redefined how merchant risk is measured by combining fraud and disputes into a single metric.

If you're not familiar with how VAMP works, we break it down here: What VAMP Means for Online Merchants

At its core, the VAMP ratio is:

(Fraud Notifications TC40s + Chargebacks TC15s) ÷ Total Settled Transactions

The key update now is simple:

• Old excessive threshold: 2.2%

• New threshold (April 2026): 1.5%

Same formula. Lower tolerance. But the real impact goes far beyond a percentage change.

This isn’t just a lower threshold. It’s a wider net.

Most merchants are still thinking about VAMP in terms of chargebacks. That’s already outdated.

The inclusion of fraud notifications (TC40s), which many merchants don’t even have visibility into, means your actual risk level is likely higher than what you think.

Now combine that with a stricter threshold. The result: Merchants who were previously below the limit may now exceed it without any change in their business.

Same transactions. Same dispute behavior. Different outcome.

Why many merchants will be flagged for the first time

Under the old system, fraud and disputes were tracked separately. Now they are combined. And this creates a structural shift:

• Fraud Notifications (TC40s) inflate your ratio

• Lower threshold reduces your margin for error

• Acquirers apply pressure faster

This means:

• Merchants who were operating comfortably below 1% in chargebacks

• May now find themselves above 1.5% in VAMP

Not because performance worsened, but because measurement changed.

The merchants most exposed

This change does not affect all merchants equally. The highest impact will be seen in business models that naturally generate:

• Higher dispute rates

• More fraud signals

• Lower transaction values

This includes:

• Subscription businesses

• SaaS platforms

• Digital goods and gaming

• Free trial models

• High-volume, low-ticket ecommerce

These businesses were already closer to the edge. Now the edge just moved.

The hidden layer: acquirer enforcement

Here’s where things get more complex and more dangerous. Visa publishes thresholds. But acquirers enforce them. And many are already operating with internal limits closer to 0.5%.

So, while 1.5% is the official threshold:

• Your actual acceptable number may be much lower

And this gap is where most merchants get caught off guard.

What merchants should do now

Waiting until 2026 is a mistake. The merchants who adapt early will have a significant advantage. Start here:

1. Understand your real VAMP ratio.

If you don’t have fraud data (TC40 data), you’re operating blind. Request it from your PSP or acquirer.

2. Focus on prevention, not recovery.

Resolving disputes is no longer enough. You need to stop the dispute before an alert or RDR is triggered.

3. Address fraud upstream.

Enumeration, card testing, and bot activity now directly impact your risk.

4. Fix customer-driven disputes.

A large percentage of disputes is not fraud.  They’re confusion.

• Billing descriptors

• Cancellation flows

• Communication

These are now compliance levers.

5. Align with your acquirer. 

Ask one simple question: “What VAMP threshold are you holding us to?”

The answer may surprise you.

Final takeaway

The drop from 2.2% to 1.5% is not just a tighter rule. It fundamentally changes who is considered at risk. And because of fraud inclusion (TC40s), most merchants are underestimating their exposure. VAMP is already live. The threshold is tightening. And the window to adapt is shrinking.

Want the full breakdown?

If you want to understand exactly where you stand and how to reduce your risk: Download the VAMP Guide

You’ll find:

• Real-world ratio calculations

• Industry benchmarks

• Step-by-step compliance checklist